Maverick's World

President Elect Donald Trump's Russia Problem

The baby boomer generation grew up being told that Russia was a nuclear armed threat to the US. They were told to be ready at moment's notice to "duck and cover" and that Russians were plotting to kill their parents, relatives, friends etc... and to reduce their country to ashes.

The boomers then faced a major cognitive dissonance when they learned in the late 80s that the Russians were just as human as they were and there was nothing to fear but a lot to gain. By the late 90s they were being told that Russia was this land of milk and honey where everything was for sale and it was the best place to pick up a bargain or a gas company or a mining concession or a oil well...

Most baby boomers didn't know how to process the information they were being handed. They reacted as all human beings to when presented with new information - they turned to fear and eventually to came to accept it.

Now those two narratives are fighting each other inside President Elect Donald Trump's head. They are also playing out vocally and visibly in his transition team. If Donald Trump the candidate had done his homework during the campaign and set up a real policy desk - he could have produced much greater consonance between his own team members. The policy desk would have enforced intellectual discipline and created space for accord and discord.

But Donald Trump the candidate didn't do that. He setup a policy desk but then didn't pay the staffers any salary for months. After some waiting and dilly-dallying they all left the operation and joined the ranks of Donald Trump's detractors.

Now President Elect Trump is paying the price for Candidate Trump's mistakes.

His team is comprised of people who get their news from Twitter. These people have no background in actual policymaking or comprehension of the historical evolution of policy. They are disconnected from the past, present and future. And so are all of President Elect Donald Trump's utterances.

Per James Henry's article in the conservative magazine The American Interest - it appears that most of the "Successful Businessman" tag that Donald Trump enjoys can be attributed to a well-masked infusion of conflict or flight capital from the FSU. When the USSR fell, elements of the KGB moved to quickly seize control of critical economic sectors. To that end any criminal alliance deemed necessary was entertained and actively engaged. This is how all those PhDs and Masters degree holders came to grace the ranks of the Bratva. This how a well trained economist came to reincarnate himself as the "Brainy Don".

The James Henry article also explains why the DTC is such a complete rats nest of LLCs and why Donald Trump will never release his income tax returns. You only do that kind of thing when you want to hide the source of your funds.

The article also explains Bill O'Rielly's comments about Donald Trump being hard up for cash. If you are investing money for the xKGB/Bratva - you have no idea what their idea of an IRR is. You are perpetually afraid of a rate hike and you are living on a pay-day loan. Given the rat's next of LLCs - you have no idea which way the debt is actually flowing and how much your next payment might be.

Since Candidate Donald Trump insisted that he was funding his own campaign - it is fair to assume that the funds for the campaign came from the usual xKGB/Bratva sources but since so many neutral sources have indicated that in fact Candidate Donald Trump didn't fund his own campaign - it is not fair to say that the xKGB/Bratva bought the election.

That said - all this is water under the bridge - the average Midwestern white male has been seduced by the GOP fantasy of being the only-thing-that-really works-in-this-country and he has bought into the idea that Candidate Donald Trump is the best negotiator that can be had under the circumstances. A large section of Midwestern women who seem infatuated with this fake image of manhood are drawn towards Donald Trump - this must just be the midwestern equivalent of the Carrie Bradshaw character of Sex and the City fame.  Together this group of people has ensured that Candidate Donald Trump becomes President Elect Donald Trump.

Will the Bratva follow the model of the 1990s FSU republics? will they deliberately pump and dump the economy and create a depression in the process? - Most likely - firstly because they know it works, and secondly because they have been sold nonviable notions of portfolio growth and when confronted with the reality of US economic stagnation - they will be left with no choice but to push as hard as they can and break the system in the process.

Will the Midwesterners who voted for Candidate Trump be screwed-six-ways-to-Sunday by their idol's relationship with Russia? will they see their living standard evaporate? will they see their social security, medicaid, medicare benefits end? will they see accountability of the political classes diminish? - Most likely.

Will they learn anything from it?  - Most unlikely. Any lessons that are learned will be learned by their children and grand children - not by the people that actually voted. As reported in may surveys after the polls, a majority of these people do not want Donald Trump to release his tax returns because they already know it will highlight their personal failure to choose properly. Rather than face this deeply personal embarrassment - they would prefer to feed the country to criminal hordes.

That says about as much about the future as one can at this time.

posted by maverick @ 7:20 AM