A fairly well-known tactic in today’s political world is this: if you want to get President Donald Trump’s attention, there is no more effective way than to go on Fox & Friends (his favorite television show) and make a public appeal for a policy change.

Such was the case when Blackwater founder Erik Prince appeared on the right-of-center morning show to argue for the privatization of the Afghanistan War. Prince argued that the US Military efforts in Afghanistan have, at best, become static. And it is true that American military forces have been ensconced in something of a stalemate for 17 years since invading shortly after the attacks after 9/11.

Prince argued in this segment that the US military efforts are NOT winning the war, or in his words, US military efforts are a “continuous litany of death and failure”, “worst than a stalemate.” He also criticized that US airpower does not show up reliably. Oddly, host Brian Kilmeade did not criticize his guest for critical comments towards our men and women in uniform.

Prince made a specific appeal to the White House saying “President Trump should appoint a special envoy,” someone “that the president can hold in charge, give them the title 50 authorities like when we went in after 9/11.” One can only imagine who Prince has in mind for that role.

Prince is an intriguing figure in the Trump world. He is not only a reliable advisor with a sympathetic point of view for this particular White House, but he is also brother to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. Oh, and there is also the report that he made a mysterious visit to a Seychelles hotel in which he is alleged to have helped establish a secret back channel of communication with Vladimir Putin.

But Prince is best known as the founder of Blackwater — which was renamed Xe Services — a private military support company, or as author Jeremy Scahill called them the world’s “most powerful mercenary army.” If such a massive overseas military operation were to be privatized, Prince would almost certainly stand to win an enormous contract for the work and, as a result, make millions and millions of dollars.

So here’s where we are: the founder of a private military company is using a conservative-friendly morning show as a military sales presentation. One person’s infotainment is another person’s psych-ops.

Watch the clip above, courtesy of Fox News.

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