3/30/17

HISTORY’S FUTURE DEMANDS: DEPOSE TRUMP & ASSOCIATES, THE USURPERS OF OUR DEMOCRACY; FIGHT WAR WITH RUSSIA TO SAVE OUR AND THE WORLD’S DEMOCRACY; ELIMINATE PLUTOCRATIC INFLUENCE AND RESTORE OUR DEMOCRACY

The Trump catastrophe is a consequence of the perverse and dominating influence of money in our politics. Vladimir Putin wants to destroy democracy all over the world. He envisions himself as the leader of a collective of right wing heads of government in Europe, Asia and North America. He wants to destroy democratic institutions, destroy the dominant media and replace it with his own, and sew division the world over — divide and conquer. He was a heavy influence in our 2016 elections — providing tactical subversion operations and big cash to the seditionists also known as Trump and Associates. Putin had heavy influence on the British Brexit vote, and the leader of the Brexit movement Nigel Farage. Putin is influencing elections in Western Europe. He met with Marine Le Pen, the racist far-right French presidential candidate yesterday. He is behind the California separatist movement — and Nigel Farage is his front man here again. He wants division everywhere, so he and his ever-expanding international gang of oligarchs can exploit the resulting weakness and steal the economies of the world.

In local news, Putin is currently one of Donald Trump’s two main clients.

The other client is Robert Mercer, the American Plutocrat, a computing billionaire worth $25 billion. Mercer set up a genius hedge fund, Renaissance Technologies relatively late in life. He is a principal owner of Breitbart News, and a patron of Steve Bannon. Mercer thinks that there is no white racism in America. He sees black racism here however. He thinks the radiation from the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in World War II was good for the overall health of the people of that nation. He is a right-wing nut job who funded Trump’s run from the post-convention period to Election Day.

Trump’s policies seem so outrageous and out of step with the needs, desires and values of the American people because they are not designed to serve the needs, desires and values of the American people. The policies are designed to satisfy a Russian gangster and an American whack job.

History will require us to first depose Trump and his illegitimate government, then fight a war with Putin’s Russia to preserve democracy in the United States and around the world, and finally to get the corrosive power of money out of our politics and restore our democracy. All voices must be heard as we decide our course — not the fever dreams of greedy delusional self-interested billionaires with no sense of reality and devoid of empathy, and foreign dictators who want to rob us blind while murdering our system and traditions by establishing a puppet regime.

Copyright 2017 Richard Thomas

President as Surrogate

Trump’s job is not much different than Kellyanne Conway’s job, just a little bigger. He’s only there to spin bullshit for the owners, Mercer and Putin. He’s a brand. He fronts the Mercer/Putin Administration with his name the way he fronted Trump University and many other businesses.

Mike Ditka in 2020!

Copyright 2017 Richard Thomas

Thanks for this retweet and article, Mark Nutter

Retweeted Robert Reich (@RBReich):

Billionaire Robert Mercer & Steve Bannon have been working w/ Cambridge Analytica to change the way Americans think. https://t.co/qNDKZxvkQIhttps://t.co/CX5ZNwndkl

I wondered about this when Bannon was named CEO of the Trump campaign, and again when he was named Senior Advisor to the President. (See article below.)

The two most powerful people shaping American life at the moment are Robert Mercer and Vladimir Putin. These two Plutocrats, one American and one Russian, are dictating the major policy and personnel choices of the Trump Administration. Mercer got Bannon (and the domestic Cabinet that Bannon assembled. Priebus and Pence were just recruiters who reported back to the home office) and Kellyanne Conway (now marginalized as ineffective.). Putin got Mike Flynn and Rex Tillerson. (The generals , Mattis and Kelly, were appointed to national security administrative positions because the cabal needed technicians with the skill to execute Putin and Mercer’s plans. The generals may not be fully aware that they are being used in this way yet. Kelly at Homeland Security may have an inkling since his dirty work has begun.)

Mercer wants the war on media and the deconstruction of the administrative state — among other things. Putin wants the lifting of American sanctions on Russia, and the partnership with Western oil technology to maximize profits for Russian state oil industry — among other things.

Trump is a total puppet — a known brand to put a face on what they are doing. Mercer was originally for Ted Cruz, but he lucked into Trump who is perfect for what he wants to do. Trump is a fascist by breeding and disposition who is also lazy and uninterested in detail. Trump is generally sympathetic to Mercer and Putin’s points of view, and he is suitably superficial so he will never challenge any specifics for moral, ideological or intellectual reasons. He is completely malleable to the will of his masters. He just goes out and sells their messages every day.

The Trump Administration is a Frankenstein created by Citizen’s United — the Supreme Court decision that was the worst since Dred Scott.

This is not an administration that serves the interests of the rich in general. The Trump Administration serves the peculiar world views of two Plutocrats —- a reclusive computer science billionaire and a Russian mega-oligarch schooled by his experiences in the KGB.

Bannon isn’t an intellectual. He is a marketing exec who frames messages that serve Mercer’s weird interests.

Trump has small time wealth compared to Mercer. Trump is an actor hired to play an executive on TV. Mercer is the show runner.

Putin is driven by an insatiable urge to never-ending personal and dominant wealth and power.

Mercer is a megalomaniac that wants to shape the world to the inhumane abstractions of his alienated mind.

We can’t just get rid of Trump. We have to get rid of the Plutocracy that brought us to this point. We must restore our constitutional democracy.

Citizen’s United did not only empower publicly traded corporations to the detriment of our democracy. It also elevated the barons of privately held entities that amassed great personal wealth.

We heard of the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson etc., but Mercer and Putin have trumped them all.

It is the investigations of the treasonous collusion of Trump, Trump’s men and Putin, and Trump’s personal ethical and legal troubles that will rid us of this government established by coup.

But Mercer and Putin will get off scot free. Their type always does.

And we will have a new fight — to make sure that wealthy maniacs like Mercer and Putin never get control of our lives again.

Copyright 2017 Richard Thomas

The post below was written in late November 2016:

Who are Robert and Rebekah Mercer? Trump’s Silent Partners? The Wizards of Oz?

A lot of talk about the controversial Trump appointment of Steve Bannon today (11/15/16). Should we be talking about these people pictured above? I’m no reporter. I’m a citizen. I don’t have huge resources. This is an “art “blog. It is simply focused on my response to the world. I didn’t do all of these Trump posts by design. I just respond to what tweaks me. I have an emotional response to something and then I think and write about it. Like millions of other people I’ve had quite a few emotional responses to Trump. Are curiosity and suspicion emotions? Because those feelings are tweaking me at 12:32 am on November 15, 2016. Robert Mercer is the guy in the photo. He is flanked by his daughter Rebekah on the left and his wife Diana on the right. Who are Robert and Rebekah Mercer? Rebekah just got named to Trump’s transition team. Here is what an article by Zachary Mider of Bloomberg Politics said about Robert and Rebekah on November 11, 2016. Robert Mercer made his fortune as co-CEO of Renaissance Technologies, one of the most profitable hedge funds in history. Armed with her father’s money, Rebekah Mercer oversaw a pro-Trump political action committee that poured millions of dollars into advertising during the run-up to Tuesday’s election. And two of the family’s closest political advisers, Stephen Bannon and Kellyanne Conway, guided the Trump campaign to victory over its final months and are now positioned for senior roles in the Trump administration. Through spokesmen, both Mercers declined to comment. Rebekah Mercer is a mother of four and a political rookie whose previous experience includes working as a Wall Street trader and operating a gourmet cookie company. Beginning in 2010, her father started pouring millions of dollars into conservative causes, and Rebekah handled the details of his political and charitable projects. Before this week, many of their biggest political efforts ended in failure, including support for Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, and for Ted Cruz in this election cycle’s Republican primary. Trump was a victory for the family on several fronts. They helped fund a 2015 book, “Clinton Cash,” by Peter Schweizer, that highlighted conflicts of interest involving Hillary Clinton and her family’s foundation — conflicts that Trump drew on to shape his message. This year, Rebekah Mercer was a co-executive producer of a “Clinton Cash” movie. And the Mercers are key investors in Cambridge Analytica, a data and analytics company that uses “psychographic” models to target individual voters based on their personality types. Some previous clients have questioned the effectiveness of the company’s work, but Rebekah Mercer encourages politicians and campaigns that benefit from her family’s money to give Cambridge a try. Originally skeptical of the company’s pitch, the Trump campaign hired it around the same time that the Mercers shifted their financial support into Trump’s column earlier this year. Cambridge is already bragging about its role in a historic electoral upset. The timing is especially good because the company is gearing up for a long-planned push into commercial advertising following the election. “We are thrilled that our revolutionary approach to data-driven communications played such an integral part” in Trump’s victory, Alexander Nix, the Cambridge CEO, said in a statement this week. The Mercer family also has a financial stake in Breitbart News, the populist media outlet that was run by Bannon before he joined the Trump campaign. An ardent advocate for Trump, the site shattered traffic records during the campaign, and reached 37 million unique visitors in October. The Mercers keep a low profile and have never spoken publicly about their political views outside of a series of written statements they made during the course of this year. The statements mention their opposition to gun control and “open borders and open trade.” “America is finally fed up and disgusted with its political elite,” the Mercers said in an Oct. 8 statement. “Trump is channeling this disgust and those among the political elite who quake before the boom-box of media blather do not appreciate the apocalyptic choice that America faces.” Robert Mercer is intrigued by monetary policy and, in years past, has funded efforts to try to resurrect the gold standard. One sign that his views may get some traction in the administration: in August, Trump added economist Judy Shelton to his advisory team. Shelton is a well-known advocate for the gold standard, and spoke at a Mercer-funded conference on the topic in Wyoming last year. One thing to keep an eye on during the Trump administration: the resolution of a long-running tax dispute between Renaissance Technologies and the Internal Revenue Service. The tax agency is challenging a series of financial maneuvers that reduced Renaissance managers’ tax bills. Although the amount in dispute isn’t public, a Senate report in 2014 estimated that the moves may have saved $6 billion or more. The dispute has languished in internal IRS litigation for years, and a person with knowledge of the matter said it’s still unresolved. Were Renaissance to prevail, however, Mercer wouldn’t be the only one to celebrate. Renaissance’s founder and chairman, James Simons, is a leading Democratic donor who spent at least $7 million supporting Hillary Clinton. OK, so Robert Mercer is super-rich and the biggest contributor to Trump’s campaign. Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway were political advisors to the Mercer family. (They have political advisers because they invest in many right-wing political action committees. I very consciously use the word “invest” and not donate. Do the Mercers spend money to gain control of, or at least aspects of, the government in the same way investments give them control of businesses?) Did the Mercers require that Trump give Bannon and Conway their jobs with the Trump campaign? Did Trump agree in order to save his campaign? Were strings on the Mercers’ money to Trump requiring Trump to give Bannon a powerful position in the Administration? I read in the New York Times that Mercer funded a SuperPac for John Bolton. Bolton is being discussed for Secretary of State. If he doesn’t get that he will probably get another big job in the new administration. Are the Mercers getting Bolton in power for their money? What do the Mercers want — besides tending their personal business interests? What do they believe in? Are they going to run the country? Why doesn’t the corporate media discuss the Mercers more? I’ve found information about the Mercers on credible mainstream journalism web pages Bloomberg and the New York Times. A humble Google. I have never heard the Mercers’ names uttered on TV. When the controversy over Bannon’s appointment today came up why weren’t they discussed on CNN or MSNBC? TV pundits wondered for many hours tonight about why Trump picked the controversial Bannon. Wasn’t it logical for them to ask how much influence the Mercers have on the coming administration including the Bannon appointment? Why don’t the Democrats ever talk about these people? The Mercers seem to have a lot of unchallenged influence. Political and media elites have to know who they are, right? Before Trump ran for office he reminded me of old Chicago Bears’ coach Mike Ditka. They were both media icons who represented the ideal of winning and were prominent in glamorous industries (glamorous to a certain type of person) in the 1980s. They both didn’t sustain their success into the 90s and then successfully re-invented themselves as product pitchmen. They exploited their old media images and worked as endorsers and as front men for other people’s businesses. They didn’t have any real executive control of the businesses. Maybe they had a small non-controlling capital interest. Are the Mercers Trump’s silent partners? Is Trump a puppet of the Mercers? Is he the phony independent billionaire front man for a family of real ones? Is the country going down a rabbit hole dug by a crazy delusional alt-right family? Who’s in charge? I can’t come to any firm conclusions because as a citizen I don’t get the information that I need. Did I read too many political potboilers when I was a kid? I don’t think so. Bannon produced propagandistic Hollywood movies for a time. His production company was called Citizen’s United Productions. Citizens United is of course the Supreme Court decision that said that money was speech in politics. Antonin Scalia the late lamentable Supreme Court Justice said rich people should be unregulated in their political spending because their wealth shows that they know more than the rest of us. Citizens United greatly empowered small families that have amassed great wealth not dependent on publicly traded corporations. The Koch brothers are the most famous Citizens United beneficiaries. Sheldon Adelstein. Koch Industries — privately held. Adelstein’s casinos — I think privately held. The Ricketts family — not sure. What is the nature of Mercers’ financial interests? Is this a more important question than what’s on Trump’s tax returns? What do these people want? Could the publicity shy Mercers have trumped Koch and Adelstein and the rest of the people and families with huge private fortunes in 2016? Do these families and individuals compete for control of the government in a way they might compete for domination of an industry? Do they all have differing and strange personal ideologies that have nothing to do with democracy? Could Robert and Rebekah Merritt be wealthy white nationalists with dangerous ideas that saw an opening with the floundering pitchman Trump? Did they buy — takeover — Trump’s campaign this summer? Does the campaign takeover extend to the government? Did Trump easily slide into the role of front man because that is what he naturally does and does for a living? Did Trump fall silent for a long period when he learned that he won the election because he realized he was fronting something very evil with extraordinary implications? Did he just think the campaign would end with himself as the face of a Fascist news network? Was he stunned that he is now instead the face of a Fascist government? Did Citizens United make America vulnerable to legal coups where a group of people as small as a wealthy family could take over the United States government? Are we in an age of boutique fascism? Are quirky alt-right theories of Citizens United billionaires now our national policies? Is insanity masquerading as political theory more threatening to us even than the takeover of the government to further individuals’ financial interests? Why did Bannon work for Goldman Sachs? Why are these weird fascist ideas coming out of Wall Street? Why don’t the television news divisions and cable news networks ever talk about the Mercers? They have to know about them. We’ve been looking at Trump — and Bannon. Have we been paying no attention to the man behind the curtain — Mercer? And his daughter? Did Citizens United kill American democracy? How do we get it back? Something doesn’t smell right here. The poet Rilke counseled, “Live the questions.” We’ll figure this out. And democracy will be re-established in America. I have no doubts or questions about that. My optimism is born from history. These type takeovers of governments without informed popular support never work. They aren’t sustainable. We can’t let what’s going on freak us out. We have to be big boys and girls now. Ordinary people will overcome perversely rich freaks. Copyright 2016 Richard Thomas