Category Archives: Trump

Trump says: A nation without borders is not a nation

Controlling the US southern border

“For a nation of immigrants and immigration, the United States adjusts its immigration policies only rarely, largely because the politics surrounding immigration can be deeply divisive.” (1) President Donald Trump spoke on 01/25/2017 about his new executive orders during a visit to the Department of Homeland Security with increased border security plans between the US and Mexico.

Executive order 01/25/2017: Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements

Executive order 01/25/2017: Enhancing Public Safety inside borders

Donald Trump during the 2016 Presidential election campaign said that he would build a wall along the border and “Mexico will pay for it.” He wanted to increase enforcement of the existing immigration laws, as well as not allowing the “bad people” to hide in sanctuary cities.

The speculation whether Donald Trump’s “wall” was serious has been ended. Trump announced the “immediate construction of a border wall” as part of his immigration reform. Mexico is not controlling their southern border. “We are in the middle of a crisis on our southern border” from an influx of immigrants coming up through Mexico from Central America. People are fleeing through Mexico heading north to the United States to escape gang violence and poverty.

Fleeing violence to the American dream

“El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras are called the “Northern Triangle” and gripped with gang violence. The Council on Foreign Relations has estimated that “nearly 10 percent of the Northern Triangle countries’ thirty million residents have left, mostly for the United States.”

Image result for central america triangle

Monetary “aid” sent to assist the region is not enough. Trump says that a wall on the US southern border to deter entry into the United States would also help Mexico.  Perhaps Mexico also needs a wall or fence on their southern border.  The flow of people through Mexico drawn to the “American dream”  has caused problems for our southern border neighbor.

There are unaccompanied children from Central America heading to the United States. These children often actively seek out Border Patrol agents when crossing the US border requesting sanctuary. The influx can overwhelm local communities. The Department of Homeland Security locates a relative within the U.S. to send the children on after processing. There is no ongoing tracking of the children until their immigration hearings nor proper vetting of those who receive the children.

Children in Delaware

Mexicans continue crossing back and forth across the US border and also heading north to Canada. In 2010 Canada set up a visa requirement for Mexicans entering their country, but this was lifted in December 2016. There is expectation that the visa requirement will need to be added back in future, if there is another surge of immigration.

“eliminating all remaining barriers”

Controlling the borders is a part of Trump’s “nationalism”. Globalists have a preference for open borders. There has been a slow and diligent movement towards a “North American Union”. The plan is for a “free flow of people” across the three countries. Central America was not included in the original planned trade region. NAFTA was a step on this plan.

Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin met at U.S. President George W. Bush’s  Waco, Texas ranch in March 2005 to discuss how to further integrate the three countries and further open up the borders. A report from the meeting by the Council on Foreign Relations gave recommendations to further these goals.
Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (emblem).png

The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) was set up after this meeting with annual meetings. There have been 9 additional meetings between leaders of the three countries. President Obama set up additional dual bi-lateral meetings. Will the new US President participate in the globalist planned meetings to continue integrating the 3 North American countries?

This is a sample from the CFR report of recommendations from 2005.

“Move to full labor mobility between Canada and the United States. To make companies based in North America as competitive as possible in the global economy, Canada and the United States should consider eliminating all remaining barriers to the ability of their citizens to live and work in the other country. This free flow of people would offer an important advantage to employers in both countries by giving them rapid access to a larger pool of skilled labor, and would enhance the well-being of individuals in both countries by enabling them to move quickly to where their skills are needed. In the long term, the two countries should work to extend this policy to Mexico as well, though doing so will not be practical until wage differentials between Mexico and its two North American neighbors have diminished considerably.”

Immigration agents support Trump

The unions of the Border Patrol agents and ICE agents supported Donald Trump’s candidacy. They now support his new immigration control measures. Chris Crane is the national spokesman for a union of over 5,800 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security.  Crane sued the Obama administration in 2012 over their lax immigration policies. Brandon Judd is President of the Border Patrol Council, which is a union of 16,000 border patrol agents. President Donald Trump thanked Brandon Judd and Chris Crane and said they would soon be very busy.

What will the wall be made of?

Donald Trump’s “Wall” may not be literally a wall of concrete and re-bar steel along the entire border.

Steve Inskeep of NPR’s Morning Edition interviewed Brandon Judd in November 2016 about border security with Mexico and asked about the Trump wall. President George W. Bush in 2006 began to build fencing along the border. The border patrol agent said that currently “about 10 to 15 percent of our border has an actual fence.” President Bush said that a fence would “help protect the American people” and “make our borders more secure.” Adding the fence was “an important step toward immigration reform.”

Judd said the real issue wasn’t a wall.  “The debate’s about border security. That’s what the debate is about.” He thought that there wasn’t going to be fencing across the entire southern border. There were needs for increases up to 30% of the border of “actual fence, comma wall” at strategic locations.

Fencing alone won’t stop the drug flow. Drug cartels have dug extensive tunnels to continue their trade to bypass the border fencing, which will require additional technology to thwart them. Judd said,”If we integrate intelligence strategy to combat the cartels, we absolutely can be effective – 100 percent effective.”

Donald Trump plans to build his “Wall” to protect the country. “Beginning today the United States of America gets back control of its borders.”

(1) Migrationpolicy.org: August 2013 Immigration US legislative reform

NPR Morning Edition 11/17/2016: Border Patrol Agents’ Union Confers With Trump On Securing The Border

NPR: Immigration Employees File Suit Against Obama’s New Immigration Policy 2012
Border Patrol Council (union)

BBC – Secure Fence Act to a real wall?

Wikipedia: Secure Fence Act of 2006

Center for Immigration Studies: Sanctuary Cities

Wikipedia: Sanctuary cities

A review of the “Building a North American Community” meeting from March 2005

Migrationpolicy.org: US unaccompanies children through southern border

CFR report: Northern Triangle violence Jan 2016

NBC: More than 10,000 unaccompanied minors on US southern border

MSNBC: Mexico’s southern border

Canada preparing for a potential flood of Mexican migrants

National ICE Council (union)

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

US Citizenship and Immigration Services

US Immigration and Citizenship information

Senator Brown grills Steven Mnuchin, nominee for US Treasury Secretary

US Treasury Secretary Confirmation Hearing by US Finance Committee

Nominee: Steven Mnuchin

Senator: Sherrod Brown of Ohio

Date: Thursday, January 19, 2017 

Time: 10:00 AM

Location: 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Senator Brown (B): Let’s clear up one thing.. your words…

“Banks are not highly incented to do modifications for their borrowers.“

That’s why we had a systemic breakdown. That’s why so many families lost their homes and banks were forced to pay millions of dollars in fines and remediation. So put that aside… I want to talk about your situation.

Senator Brown leans on his hand during questioning

You bought the ability to help families stay in their homes. That’s not what you did.

I understand your defensiveness, both in individual meetings – mine and others, and in this committee about what happened at OneWest.

But… let me lay this out, in 2006, businessman Donald Trump responded to a question about the possibility of a real estate crash by saying “I sort of hope that happens because then people like me would go in and buy.”

Now you didn’t just buy properties. You bought the bank. You bought the ability to help families stay in their homes. That’s not what you did.

So my questions are these. You’ve been saying that OneWest is a success. Let’s look at the record, I really want yes or no answers because I have a lot of questions and what I will say is factual in my view. I’d like you to confirm with yes or no.

Is it true that community groups say that OneWest, specifically the California Reinvestment Coalition, foreclosed on 60,000 families nationwide and denied 3/4ths of mortgage modification applications.

Mnuchin (M): I am not aware of that, I know they…

B: Well, they did.

Steven Mnuchin frustratedly looks down and waves hands while being questioned.

If you know they did, then why are you asking me? I don’t have it in front of me.

M: If you know they did, then why are you asking me?

B: I want to hear it from you. If you don’t know it…

M: I don’t have it in front of me.

B: I’m going to keep interrupting because we don’t have a lot of time. I apologize if you see that as rude.

M: I don’t see that as rude. That’s okay. Thank you.

B: Is it true that OneWest regulators, that’s the OCC (Office of the Comptroller of Currency – US Department of the Treasury), said that you had deficient mortgage practices, closed on 10,000 plus borrowers without proper procedure and at least 23 who were current on their mortgages?

M: So, what I would say is we followed the same procedures that the…

B: Did the OCC say that?

M: …the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) followed. We inherited the FDIC procedures.

Senator Orrin Hatch: Let him answer the question.

Senator Brown presses the questions gesturing with both hands

Yes or no?

B:   Is it true that OneWest independent audit firm said that it violated the Service Members Civil Relief Act by initiating foreclosures on 54 active duty military families? That’s what the independent audit firm said. Yes or no?

M: Well, you have the document in front of you. I don’t. Ok, so… let me just say..

B: I’m pretty surprised… sorry Mr. Mnuchin that I’m surprised you don’t know these things because you’ve been rather defensive, for probably good reason, about what happened at OneWest.

M: I do want to just comment for the record. We unfortunately did foreclose on certain people in the military. It was quite unfortunate. It was inappropriate. We responded to those people and made them whole. As I said, that every single person had the opportunity to have their mortgage reviewed and we corrected any errors. Our errors were less than anybody else, so it is not that I’m being defensive but I’m proud of our results.

Mr. Mnuchin twitches and purses his lips while answering questions

it is not that I’m being defensive

B: I would not be proud of these findings, but…

Is it true that the California Attorney General’s office said that OneWest backdated 96% of the documents they examined and then you aggressively obstructed their investigation? That’s what the Attorney General’s office said. Did they say that?

M: So first let me comment that I sought the leaked memo, as you did. I think it is highly inappropriate that somebody at the Attorney General’s office would leak internal..

B: Was there no truth to backdating…

M: Again, what I would say is the primary regulator was the OCC. They were the one’s who had the obligation to regulate.

B: The OCC said… Mr. Mnuchin, I’m sorry, but OCC said you had these deficient mortgage practices, which you couldn’t remember when I asked you about OCC. Now you are citing OCC in response to California Attorney General.

Senator Brown asks tough questions.

Is it true…

Is it true that one of the employees who was in charge of the modifications. One of employees accused OneWest of not having any process to help its 3,000 FHA and VA mortgage borrowers avoid foreclosure and that this same employee, who was in charge of modifications, has accused OneWest of not having a proper process in place to help those VA mortgage borrowers avoid foreclosures and submitting false claims.

M: It seems to me, in all due respect, that you just want to shoot questions at me and not let me explain what are complicated issues.

B: I’ll let you explain after I go through the questions because I know one answer will take my whole time, so I’ll let you explain when I’m done.

M: Well, then let’s… at least understand these are complicated questions.

B: They are complicated questions.

Mr. Mnuchin is frustrated in having questions asked with no chance to explain.

Let me explain…

M: Let me at least explain them and otherwise there is no point in shooting them all at me when I don’t have the ability to respond.

B: You don’t, but these are factual things.  You can follow-up a response later in more detail.

One example of, you can answer this and take as long as you need, One example of an insider loan that was a Relativity Media deal that the FBI denied a FOIA  (Freedom of Information Act) request related to Relativity Media where you were co-chair siting enforcement procedures. Have you been questioned by law enforcement on this? Yes or no?

M: I have not and I saw that you wrote that letter yesterday. I assume that the FBI did a thorough review of my background report. I have no idea why they didn’t approve the FOIA issue. I’ve been told that we have no reason to believe that’s any issue associated with me.

B:  Fair enough.

M: That you should direct that to the FBI. When I had the opportunity to meet with you…

Mr. Mnuchin often purses his lips when looking frustrated at the questions.

Mnuchin purses his lips and twitches his shoulders when appearing frustrated at the questioning.

B: I accept your answer that you are not being investigated, but I find it interesting that you know about the letter I sent yesterday. The letter I sent with all those questions detailing all of the issues that I just asked about with Bank West – West Bank – One West.

M: OneWest

B: OneWest, I apologize.

M: My father forgot the name sometimes as well.

B: But the letter I sent you back in mid-December about this you’ve not even taken the time to answer and it really laid all those… I think the issue is the OneWest purchase went well for the Treasury Secretary designee, but it was a disaster for homeowners, for employees, for investors in Relativity and for taxpayers. We can talk more about taxpayer cost on this whole process and the amount of money that he bought it for and sold it for, but mostly subsidized by taxpayers.

Orrin Hatch: Senator your time is up. Now you take as much time you want to answer.

M: Thank you very much. First of all, Senator. I did enjoy meeting you.

B: Thanks.

I don’t believe we had the opportunity to meet before that time. If I’m confirmed I look forward to spending more time with you.

B: Thank you for saying that.

M: I know that you have some.. although we may not agree on everything, there were certain things we did agree on when we met and I have a lot of respect as you as a Senator to hear your issues. Now I did tell you, I did acknowledge that you sent me the letter. I was advised by the staff that the appropriate thing was for me to come here and answer questions , or meet with all of you independently and answer questions that you have. And if I don’t satisfy that you have the ability to make questions afterwards which I will respond to.

When I came to your office I told you that and I said that I would spend as much time with you as you wanted answering those questions and they were quite significant and, you know, because I knew they were complicated. So I did tell you although I wouldn’t respond to them in writing. At that point that I did understand your questions and I wanted to address them.

Steven Mnuchin chastised Senator Brown for not letting him answer questions, then ends without actually answering anything.

I did tell you although I wouldn’t respond to them in writing.

Mnuchin stopped speaking without actually addressing any of the questions. He sat up straight and stared straight ahead. Another Senator started to welcome him to begin their questioning.

End of transcript. (Transcribed by my listening to Hearing with screen grabs on 01/24/2017)

Senate Finance Committee Hearing to consider the nomination of Steven Mnuchin for Secretary of the Treasury

Is this who should be our next Secretary of the Treasury? I vote no and have written to my two state Senators.

Contact your state Senators to let them know what you think about this nominee.

Senate.gov

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www.senate.gov US Finance Committee

https://www.finance.senate.gov/library/executive-session-transcripts Official transcript of meeting should show up in Library in a couple of months after session.

Wikipedia: US Senate Finance Committee

Wikipedia: Senator Sherrod Brown (Ohio)

Wikipedia: Steven Mnuchin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secretary_of_the_Treasury

US Secretary of the Treasury

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency The OCC charters, regulates, and supervises all national banks and federal savings associations as well as federal branches and agencies of foreign banks. The OCC is an independent bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), formerly known as the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Civil Relief Act (SSCRA), is a federal law that provides protections for military members as they enter active duty. It covers issues such as rental agreements, security deposits, prepaid rent, eviction, installment contracts, credit card interest rates, mortgage interest rates, mortgage foreclosure, civil judicial proceedings, automobile leases, life insurance, health insurance and income tax payments.

Onewest Bank

Wikipedia: Onewest Bank

Relativity Media

Wikipedia: Relativity Media

FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States, which simultaneously serves as the nation’s prime federal law enforcement agency.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is an independent agency created by the Congress to maintain stability and public confidence in the nation’s financial system by: insuring deposits; examining and supervising financial institutions for safety and soundness and consumer protection; making large and complex financial institutions resolvable; and managing receiverships.

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a law that gives you the right to access information from the federal government. It is often described as the law that keeps citizens in the know about their government.

FHA Loans – Housing and Urban Development An FHA loan is a mortgage insured by the Federal Housing Administration. Borrowers with FHA loans pay for mortgage insurance, which protects the lender from a loss if the borrower defaults on the loan.

Veteran’s Administration (VA) Loans The VA Loan is a home-mortgage option available to United States Veterans, Service Members, and eligible surviving spouses. VA Loans are issued by qualified lenders and guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

CFR members in past Presidential administrations

Members of Council on Foreign Relations in past 3 presidential administrations

Council on Foreign Relations members have dominated past administrations.

Republican or Democrat hasn’t made much actual difference, as past administrations were all filled with CFR members. There was often mostly an illusion of choice for the voters between the two parties. There have been candidates, such as Congressman Ron Paul (Republican / Libertarian), who have exposed the goals of the globalist agenda. The idea of America First and distrust of globalism has been gaining traction.

Republican Presidential debate 2007

The CFR had only had one candidate, Hillary Clinton, in this election.  Hillary Clinton’s administration would have been as equally filled with CFR members as the prior Presidents’.

Hillary Clinton speaking at CFR in 2010

Below is a list of the Council on Foreign Relations members in the last three Presidential administrations, including Cabinet members, advisers and nominations.

(links are Wikipedia)

President Barack Obama (Democrat)

John Kerry – Secretary of State  (Teresa Heinz Kerry wife of John Kerry is also CFR member)

Timothy Geithner – Secretary of Treasury

Jacob J (Jack) Lew – Secretary of Treasury

Robert Gates – Secretary of Defense

Chuck Hagel – Secretary of Defense (resigned)

Ashton Carter – Secretary of Defense

Tom Vilsack – Secretary of Agriculture

John Bryson – Secretary of Commerce

Penny Pritzker – Secretary of Commerce

Sylvia Burwell – Secretary of Health and Human Services

Ernest Moniz – Secretary of Energy

Janet Napolitano – CFR Staff bio – Secretary of Homeland Security

Jeh Charles Johnson – Secretary of Homeland Security

William Daley – Chief of Staff

Peter Orszag – Director of Office of Management and Budget

Susan Rice – Ambassador to the UN (prior member Trilateral Commission)

Michael Froman – US Trade Representative

Michael Chertoff – US Secretary of Homeland Security (Trilateral Commission member)

Thomas E. Donilon – National Security Adviser (Bilderberg Group)

Cecilia Rouse – Council of Economic Advisers

David Howell Petraeus – 4 star Army General, Director of the CIA 2011 – 2012 (resigned), Commander of United States Central Command 2008 – 2010, Commander of the International Security Assistance Force

Janet Louise Yellen –  Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System nominated by Barack Obama

Paul A. Volcker – Chair of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, prior Chair of Federal Reserve –  (member Trilateral Commission)

Henry Kissinger – Secretary of State for President Richard Nixon, adviser to every President since, and a close friend and adviser to Hillary Clinton.

President George W Bush (Republican)

Richard (Dick) Cheney – Vice President

Steve Preston – Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

Henry Paulson – Secretary of the Treasury (and worked at Goldman Sachs Founders corporate member)

Robert Gates – Secretary of Defense

Mary Ann Peters – Secretary of Transportation

Condoleeza Rice – Secretary of State

Tommy G. Thompson – Secretary of Health and Human Services

Elaine L Chao – Secretary of Labor

Colin Powell – Secretary of State

Susan C. Schwab – US Trade Representative

Robert Zoellick – US Trade Representative (also Trilateral Commission) – been President of The World Bank, also a managing director of Goldman Sachs, steering committee Bilderberg Group (was a Deputy Secretary of State)

Michael Chertoff – US Secretary of Homeland Security (Trilateral Commission member)

Richard Holbrook – United States Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan (Bilderberg Group)

John Wolfowitz – United States Deputy Secretary of Defense (Bilderberg Group) – President The World Bank

Karen Parfitt Hughes – Councilor to the President

John Bolton – US Ambassador to the United Nations

Brent Scowcroft – United States National Security Advisor

Marc Alexander Thiessen – Speech writer for GWB

President Bill Clinton (Democrat)

Bill Clinton – President (current member 2016)

Chelsea Clinton – daughter (current member 2016)

Note:  not listed as a member, speaks at meetings and called New York City branch “The Mothership”. Hillary Clinton –  First Lady to President Clinton, Senator, ran for President twice

Lawrence Summers – Secretary of Treasury (also member Trilateral Commission)

Togo D. West – Secretary of Veteran Affairs

William B. Richardson – Secretary of Energy

William M. Daley – Secretary of Commerce

Madeleine Albright – Director Emerita CFR – Secretary of State (also member Trilateral Commission)

William Cohen – Secretary of Defense

Federico F. Peña – Secretary of Energy, Secretary of Transportation

Mickey Kantor – Secretary of Commerce, US Trade Representative

Daniel Glickman – Secretary of Agriculture

Robert Rubin – CFR staff bio – Secretary of the Treasury

William J. Perry – Secretary of Defense

Donna Shalala – Secretary of Health and Human Services

Charlene Barshefsky – US Trade Representative

Lloyd Bentsen (deceased past member – no longer listed)

Richard Holbrook – United States Ambassador to the United Nations (Bilderberg Group)

George Stephanopoulos – White House Director of Communications, Senior Adviser to the President (now major media pundit)

Sidney Blumenthal – Senior Adviser to the President

Rahm Emanuel – Senior Adviser to the President (not listed as CFR member, but his brother, Ezekiel Jonathan “Zeke”, is a member) (later Mayor of Chicago where Barack Obama was from)

Cecilia Rouse – National Economic Council 1998 to 1999

Zoë Baird – CFR Staff bio – nominated by President Bill Clinton as the first woman to be Attorney General of the United States, but she withdrew her nomination over “nannygate”

Bobby Inman – nominated by President Bill Clinton for Secretary of Defense, but he withdrew from consideration

Stephen Gerald Breyer – US Supreme Court Justice nominated

Vernon Jordan – Presidential adviser

Links:

(1) End-Times for Liberal Democracy? from CFR articles

CFR published individual membership roster Jan 17, 2017

CFR Membership from 2015 Annual Report (PDF file)

CFR Corporate membership roster Jan 17, 2017

Note: I appreciate that the Council on Foreign Relations has their membership listed publicly. Some conspiracy folks claim there is a secret list of additional members.

Other related and overlapping memberships include The Trilateral Commission and The Bilderberg Group.

Trilateral Commission membership list 2016 (PDF file)

Bilderberg meeting participants (public list)

CNN proposed Donald Trump Cabinet November 2016

Barack Obama Cabinet Members

George W. Bush Cabinet Members

Bill Clinton Cabinet Members

List someone else has done claiming connections of Goldman Sachs

Geithner Haunted by a Goldman Past He Never Had AUGUST 19, 2010 from NY Times

Trump election causes “exploding brain syndrome”

Head in the clouds?

If you view the world from 30,000 feet travelling at 500 miles per hour, then you are going to miss things. The corporate media and elitist establishment were completely surprised by the successful Presidential race by Donald Trump. Hillary appeared to have been promised the Presidency. She had been patient in other duties for many years waiting for her turn.  All that was left was to haul her tired body and heavy baggage across the finish line. They settled in to watch the incoming election results with glee knowing the fait accompli with their head in the clouds dreaming of how Hillary would continue with their planned globalist agenda.

Hillary had prepared only a victory speech to be given at a location with an actual glass ceiling (1) to further symbolize breaking the barrier to become the first woman President of the United States. The Hillary supporter’s shock and disbelief of the electoral college count quickly turned to tears when Trump was announced be the next President.(2)

How did this happen?

The analysis of the new reality was almost more than could be fathomed.  The educated bright minds of the globalist elites wondered how Trump voters out-foxed them. Their brains were literally about to explode trying to grasp how so many in power had been blind-sided by ignorant louts who placed a loose-cannon buffoon as the next President of the United States of America. The Republican establishment wondered how they lost control over the process because they also didn’t support Trump as their party candidate.

The controlled media and the globalists discussed among themselves and wrote op-eds to each other puzzling over the new paradigm. Lauren Green and Judith Miller, Pulitzer prize winning reporter and member of The Council on Foreign Relations, discussed the election outcome on Fox News “Bias Bash” on 11/11/2016. They were both obviously Hillary supporters. (3)

When I talk to people who are really disappointed about Hillary losing, a lot of them have the idea only uneducated, ignorant, stupid people voted for Trump and that’s their attitude. That’s why we don’t pay attention to Trump’s supporters. Did the media play that game too?

Yes, globalist elites and establishment media, you did play that game.

Better than you

Hillary and her supporters looking through the prism of “identity politics” viewed Trump supporters as “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it”  cretins. Hillary described half of Trump voters as a “basket of deplorables” garnering laughter from her “better than thou” audience. Deplorable comes from the French word déplorer meaning “to give up as hopeless” with no chance for redemption. Coming from her mouth this righteous tongue lashing was particularly outrageous. She dismissed the other half as just wanting someone to listen to them, which her party wasn’t doing.

Trump’s supporters didn’t split hairs over being “half” and all took offense. A New York billionaire elite was an unlikely champion for the disenfranchised “deplorables” in his campaign’s response to Hillary.

 For the first time in a long while, her true feelings came out, showing bigotry and hatred for millions of Americans. How can she be President of our country when she has such contempt and disdain for so many great Americans? (4)

I’m With Her

“I’m with Her” was the Democratic party slogan. (5) The party of “her” was obliged to look the other way as they dragged her collected ‘baggage’, false memories, poor judgement, lies and moral hypocrisy behind them. They worked to smooth her path and knock away obstacles, but more kept popping up that were of her own making. Democrat operatives were sent into Republican rallies to try to illicit violence, as an attempt to portray the Trump supporters negatively. (6)

Admission by someone considering voting for Trump would only illicit shaming taunts from liberal voters. (7) Democrats failed to note the irony of considering themselves to be tolerant and inclusive while shaming and trying to silence those who disagreed with their world view. Trump voters began to lie about who they were actually voting for to avoid outing themselves. The pollsters gathered false data, which resulted in garbage in and garbage out statistical analysis.

The “identity politics” (8) of Hillary supporters was never the heart of the Trump revolution. Distrust of the globalists, concern for socialist liberal agendas and control of the future Supreme court nominations were much larger factors.

Trump supporters were called racist because they dared to say “All Lives Matter”, xenophobic for wanting to stem illegal immigration, sexist because they wouldn’t vote for Hillary by default or perhaps because they disapproved of government funding for abortion on demand, homophobic for not automatically accepting gender neutral bathroom privileges, and Islamaphobic because they were concerned about terrorist extremism.

The Trump supporters turned her ridicule into a rallying cry and sense of pride. “Deplorables Unite”became a rallying political battle cry and anthem. Donald Trump’s failure to be politically correct and chastised by Democrats into silence merely endeared him more to the so-called “deplorables”.

Deplorables Around the World Unite

This is an example of a video for the song played as Trump entered into his rallies.

We will fight back against globalism. We will stay vigilant and proud of our nations.

Join the fight against globalism. Join the fight against Islamic terror. Join the fight against Soros. Join the fight against the Clintons. Join the fight against Big Banks. Join the fight against the Establishment. Join the fight against Tyranny. The Deplorables of the world unite. Let’s make the world great again.

Trumpennials

I’m NOT With Her

“I’m with Her” was not a very inspiring message. Her cronies didn’t even believe in her message to draw voters. Evidence leaked showed the party insiders and media puppets worked to get Trump as the Republican candidate for a straw man to knock down and sabotaged Democratic party rival Bernie Sanders’ chances. (9)

Bashing Trump was a low bar and not pulling many to support of her. In non-swing states many stayed home or voted for a third party. Fewer voters came out for Hillary than voted for Obama in 2012. Many Democrats in several crucial states stayed home or voted for Trump because they were not “with her”. The Republican Establishment wouldn’t back Trump, but in the end Republican voters against Trump voted for him holding their nose with an attitude of “I’m NOT with Her”.

Trump brought out nearly 3 million more voters than Romney pulled in 2012. (10) (11) Trump had more minorities and women than anyone anticipated, which was only a surprise to the blind sided Hillary fans. They even crossed the line proudly declaring themselves “deplorable” too. The support was evident in the Trump rallies and on-line, if anyone cared to pay attention.

That Hillary won the popular vote is repeated often for a faux victory. They don’t take into account that the campaign was always for the electoral college and want to live in a delusional alternative reality. Many want to believe the election wasn’t really lost and merely stolen from them by a technicality.

Divided America

Bill Maher, liberal political comedian, in an on-line with ATTN on 12/18/2016 (12), spoke out for first time since the election showing the disdain for large swathes of the country as merely places to fly over.

Why do we need two Dakotas? Can we just start with that? There definitely should not be four Senators from the Dakota territory. If there’s two Dakotas, we should have fifteen f*king Californias. (12)

James E. Campbell is a UB distinguished professor of political science at the University at Buffalo, SUNY, and is the author of “Polarized: Making Sense of a Divided America”. He wrote a good explanation of the popular vs electoral college results.

Clinton’s popular-vote plurality over Trump depends on the votes in a single state: California, which single-handedly turns a Trump plurality into a Clinton plurality.

Under our electoral-vote system, American voters elected a national president, not California’s choice.

James E. Campbell (13)

Perhaps the country should be “The United States of California” instead of “The United States of America”? Even if Hillary had edged out Trump in critical close states, such as Florida and Pennsylvania, she still lost most of the population in the country-side in those states. Perhaps the liberal elites and media want a world like “The Hunger Games” novels with the big cities ruling the country districts?

Hillary called several states her “firewall”. (14) She forgot her own words about how many supporters of Trump were disenfranchised, but  continued to take them for granted. The Democrats lost in the mid-west and around the Great Lakes. The Rust Belt voted for Trump. The Democrats also lost in the south east and Trump edged out Florida.

The west coast and east coast Liberal enclaves enthusiastically voted for Hillary.

The media establishment, let’s face it, we do live in New York, Washington, and in Silicon Valley and Hollywood. That’s the west coast and the east coast.

Judith Miller (member Council on Foreign Relations)

Hillary also lost most of the “fly over” states between New York City and Los Angeles.

Electoral College Vote Results: State-by-State List December 19, 2016 with Trump 304, Clinton 227, Other 7

Electoral College Vote Results: State-by-State List December 19, 2016

Fly over America

Jason Aldean, a country singer, in 2012 had a song that expressed the sentiment of the elites flying over America from coast to coast never trying to understand the people. This attitude is nothing new, but had an impact on the election this year. The populist revolution had the Silent Majority rising up to get out the vote knowing which states were important for an electoral college victory. The people in some states, like California, may have won Hillary the popular vote, but the votes that mattered were towards the electoral college.

A New York billionaire businessman seems an ironic choice for President from rural and blue collar workers, but he didn’t talk down to them and listened to their concerns and appeared to care. He flew to their communities and never stopped campaigning till the last moment.

Hope and Change Reduct

Michelle Obama spoke to Oprah Winfrey on 12/14/2016 saying she had a feeling of hopelessness because Hillary Clinton lost the election. (15)

“See, now we are feeling what not having hope feels like, you know. Hope is necessary. It is a necessary concept. What do you give your kids if you can’t give them hope?”

Donald Trump’s election turns Barack Obama’s hope on its head. Trump’s election has given hope back to many in America after the “Hope and Change” Obama campaigned on was never delivered to them. Will Donald Trump be able to deliver his version of change?

One champion of the elite globalists isn’t losing hope: Henry Kissinger on “Face the Nation” on 12/18/2016 expressed optimism for the unexpected shake-up by Trump’s Presidency. (16)

“Donald Trump is a phenomenon ….. So it is a shocking experience for them that he came into office. At the same time, extraordinary opportunity. I believe he has the possibility of going down in history as a very considerable president.”

Maybe the “elites” should go out and learn about their own country and their own people vs just those clustered in the cities or at their college alumni breakfasts. Stop just flying over America and maybe you could understand how Trump won the election.

Jason Aldean – “Fly Over States” from album “My Kinda Party” 2012

“Fly Over States”

A couple of guys in First Class on a flight
From New York to Los Angeles
Kinda making small talk killin’ time
Flirting with the flight attendants
Thirty thousand feet above, could be Oklahoma

Just a bunch of square cornfields and wheat farms
Man, it all looks the same
Miles and miles of back roads and highways
Connecting little towns with funny names
Who’d want to live down there in the middle of nowhere?

They’ve never drove through Indiana
Met the man who plowed that earth
Planted that seed, busted his ass for you and me
Or caught a harvest moon in Kansas
They’d understand why God made
Those fly over states

I bet that mile long Santa Fe
Freight train engineer’s seen it all
Just like that flatbed cowboy
Stacking US Steel on a three day haul
Roads and rails under their feet
Yeah, that sounds like a first class seat

On the plains of Oklahoma
With a windshield sunset in your eyes
Like a water colored painted sky
You’ll think Heaven’s doors have opened
You’ll understand why God made
Those fly over states

Take a ride across the badlands
Feel that freedom on your face
Breathe in all that open space
Meet a girl from Amarillo
You’ll understand why God made
You might even wanna plant your stakes
In those fly over states

Have you ever been through Indiana
On the plains of Oklahoma
Take a ride

(1) On election night, Hillary Clinton stands under real glass ceiling in NYC

(2) Tears and shock at Clinton election party

(3) Judith Miller – Youtube video: Media were completely shocked by Trump’s win.

Wikipedia on Judith Miller Judith Miller is a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter, graduate of Princeton University, and worked at New York Times etc. As of 2016, she is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

(4) Donald Trump responds to Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” comment

(5) H Is for Hillary

(6) Project Veritas exposed many dark dealings by the Democratic party

(7) Even Obama thought Hillary supporters should chillax on the anti-Trump hysteria

(8) Democrats: Identity politics

(9) Bernie Sanders wants DNC leadership to resign

(10) Wikipedia: US Presidential election 2016

(11) Wikipedia: US Presidential election 2012

(12) Bill Maher interview on ATTN about Trump election

(13) Why Hillary Clinton Supporters Need to quit whining about the electoral college

(14) What happened to the Clinton firewall?

(15) Michelle Obama talks to Oprah about feeling hopeless

(16) Face the Nation: Henry Kissinger discusses Trump election

US election 2016: Trump victory in maps

Why some flyover states switched to Trump

America held hostage by flyover states

The people in flyover country

Trump won’t ignore the so-called “flyover states”

President Pied Piper = Donald Trump

Is the selection of President an Illusion of Choice?

The globalist neo-liberals were confident that Hillary Clinton would win the Presidential election. They were stunned and surprised by the Brexit vote, then equally and perhaps more surprised by the election of Donald Trump.

The coastal and Washington elites control a major part of the regular old school press. (1) There is merely an “illusion of choice”for the news. The press claims to not be biased, but only the deluded or naive believe that anymore. Those reporting the news won’t admit to being neo-liberals or operators for the globalist agenda. The special “pet” press members were secretly invited to private dinners with Hillary Clinton to get their marching orders. (2) “We need to be elevating the Pied Piper candidates so that they are leaders of the pack and tell the press to (take) them seriously.” (3) (4)

Pied piper

The elites thought that through the media they would as usual control the minds of the population and attempt to control the electoral process. They could move a story or bury a story and push their agenda. The purpose was to manipulate the voters  to consider the wildcard candidates, including Donald Trump, as valid candidates when in actuality the candidates were just straw men for Hillary Clinton to knock down in her eventual victory.

Meanwhile the Democratic National Committee was secretly maneuvering their party to make sure Hillary was their nominee and used the press to push down Bernie Sanders. Hillary made sure to round-up a number of super delegates in her pocket.

Wasn’t America already pretty great?

Donald Trump tweeted and spoke at his campaign rallies. The press covered every outlandish statement and twisted other statements to make them appear even more outrageous. Trump didn’t even have the support of the Republican party and was treated with contempt. Trump still kept rising to the top of the polling numbers and other Republican candidates dropped to the side. The press was glad, as well as appalled, when Trump won the Republican nomination. They thought that Trump was making it easy and there was no way that Hillary could lose now.

Trump went from being a Pied Piper to a Jack-in-the-Box who couldn’t be  kept in his box. Trump did end runs around the main stream press with his tweets. The main stream media kept covering his every word, as they had been instructed. He could yank their chain with a politically incorrect tweet and dominate the news feeds. The media became his puppet and the Trump train kept rolling on.

Infowars.com or ‘Washington Post’ or Aunt Betty?

Alternative news sources also emerged as a player. There are more options now, even beyond conservative talk radio. Comedy shows are even a news source for knowing about trending topics. Foreign news is accessible now on the internet, which can give a broader perspective. The control of the news slipped away and people were biased, jaded and just not listening.

Trump’s nationalist, pro-America stance resonated with many in middle America.

The distrust of main stream media was apparent to anyone paying attention. The elites talked to themselves reading “The New York Times” and  “The Washington Post” and “Financial Times”, which all require a paid subscription. Do the elites actually think they are talking to anyone but themselves with these newspapers? Fewer people were reading any newspapers, much less newspapers requiring paid expensive subscriptions. Even for reputable news organizations there is a failure to report the real news. Many merely parrot a trending story. Filling 24 / 7 airtime or website content streams ends up with endless speculation as filler and jumping onto stories without proper vetting. The news has lost credibility by their lack of quality, which only leads to further loss of viewers and readers.

Cartoon: Uncle Sam US Govt has a box of

Web Wide Wrap by JoelLeafsFeb 5 2013

Fewer get their news from television or the networks. More people have “cut the cable” completely, so no one is even listening. On the internet the filters of search and social media used to do targeted advertising also help mirror back views. People end up in their own bubble, including the politically correct liberals staying in their own safe zones where Hillary would win. People in the big cities and in Washington are not hearing the stories of real people outside their own bubble zone. If people step outside their bubbles, then they do so only to mock and ridicule the other bubbles.

The media establishment, let’s face it, we do live in New York, Washington, and in Silicon Valley and Hollywood. That’s the west coast and the east coast.

Judith Miller (member Council on Foreign Relations) (5)

The elites thought maybe the race could be close, but convinced themselves that Hillary had her “firewall” states. She would surely get as many votes as Obama. She would win women and non-whites. She would garner the support from co-opted Bernie Sanders voters. She must win because she had worked so hard for so long and she “deserved” to be President. It was her turn after all.

http://memeshappen.com/media/created/it39s-my-turn-to-be-president-Bill-promised-me-meme-30717.jpg

The Donald Trump / Mike Pence ticket was labelled racist, sexist, misogynistic, homophobic, and xenophobic. Anyone considering voting for him were considered ignorant “deplorables”. The main stream press dug up recordings from 10 years ago and old New York tax returns. They pulled out the stops to find dirt or insinuate dirt, which included that he was in the pocket of Russia’s Putin. Meanwhile Trump would mock the press and his deplorables loved him for it. He continued to draw large crowds while Hillary couldn’t get a crowd even pulling famous popular singers to rally for her. The elites still didn’t see it.

Mar-a-Lago club member Rosemary Harder arrives in a costumed hat with Trump's campaign slogan in glittery letters on her hat

The polls were quietly going off the rails. People were lying to pollsters about whether they were actually voting for Trump to avoid the politically correct crowd hounding them. Why not lie after all? Isn’t that what Hillary would do?

There are huge populous forces at work here that are being missed.

We failed to see this enormous revolution coming.

Judith Miller

The disenfranchised were in pockets of the internet sharing their views and tuning out the mainstream filtered propaganda from the Hillary surrogate press corps. The American workers tossed on the ash heap of globalism rose up, as did women and minorities taken for granted. (6) The elites of the coasts and large cities smug in Ivory Towers were not prepared for the quiet insurgency of American populism. They were not prepared for losing control of the narrative through the owned media puppets. Facebook was said to be filtering out conservative voices (7), which only added more to the distrust of the news feeds. People turned to alternative sources for opinion and information, including sharing emails with information from dubious sources. Politically incorrect completely bogus news stories bounced around in emails and private instant messages.

Here’s the problem for the ordinary voter… without the media they are not going to learn what Donald Trump is doing that he doesn’t want them to know. We need a check and a balance in the form of the media however flawed we are or how much we get wrong.

We are there to tell people what the powerful, be they corporations or powerful politicians, don’t want them to know. Without us it is really hard to run an effective democracy whatever our flaws, which are many.

Judith Miller

Judith Miller, Pultizer prize winning reporters, fails to admit that media too often is actually there to tell people what the powerful DO want us to think. They report and opine on what the powerful want us to know while failing to report on other news. The whistle blowers are silenced by the same powerful forces. The media of all sources and the advertisement by the corporations all try to feed thoughts to the “ordinary voter” to influence their minds. They view the people as uneducated, ignorant and even stupid. The powerful and their media spokespeople fly over the Heartland of America and think they know better what is necessary to make an “effective democracy”.

Trump campaigned to the electoral college and worked every vote, even in the Hillary “fire wall” states. He did campaign stops till the very last-minute. He was campaigning while Hillary was getting over pneumonia and while she was “preparing” for debates.

Now the shocked liberal elites try to figure out how they could possibly have lost to such a buffoon. How could their polls have been so wrong? Do we think that Hillary and the DNC understood cyber-security to keep Podesta’s emails safe from prying eyes? Did it have to be Russian secret cyber agents doing the releases? They blame Russian spies for Hillary’s loss. All the emails did was show the hypocrisy and subterfuge of the Hillary camp, which many already suspected. Her smugness that she would win and deserved to win and was owed the Presidency was apparent. That she was part of the globalist elite agenda was also quite clear.

The media was stunned that all their hard work and smug superiority merely ended with them being snookered by the American people. Yes, this is real life.

Trump won the election. President Obama and Hillary Clinton accepted the result. Hillary graciously and tearfully conceded to Trump. The Western elites scratched their heads at how this could have happened and was the world order going to fall into the sea now? Henry Kissinger, a respected globalist member,  has tried to calm the hysteria making the rounds including to the Chinese leadership. (8) (9)

The elites wrote opinion pieces for each other to read in their elite publications and complained of their shock on talk shows. How can they make sure this doesn’t happen again? How did they go so wrong in their campaign strategy? How did they fail to know the right poll numbers? How did they fail to brainwash enough people to vote the way they wanted? How can they take back control of the news feed? How can they make use of the large young population and direct them to their future purposes? Did they spend enough money? Should the electoral college be abolished? Can the internet be controlled or news filtered to make sure people don’t read the wrong sites? They want to gain their control back and will be pulling the levers of power to work towards that end. The minions of the elite and the powerful globalists are meeting and talking and trying to figure out how to control the internet and what we see and what we can know, so they can again claim to be there for our good.

Some non-elite liberals continued in denial. Placards were raised and people chanted “Dump Trump” in the streets, as if that would accomplish anything. People cried on their social media. (10)

Zebro's sign (reading

Trump went on a thank you victory tour speaking directly to the people without need of the national press corps. (11) He continues to use Twitter to his millions of followers, which also sparks more news coverage. He continues to draw outside the lines of the approved Presidential coloring book. Elites wait for a chance to travel to Trump Tower to have a meeting and try to talk some sense into him. They leave behind advice for him in papers they’ve worked on about things like Middle East doctrine. They tell him that Assad must go and it is okay for Saudi Arabia to bomb Yemen with US cluster bombs. Henry Kissinger, Al Gore, President Obama, Madeleine Albright and many more are all hoping that Trump will take their advice. (12) (13) Meanwhile Hillary Clinton goes on walks in the New York woods doing fan selfie snaps. (14)

Some die-hard deluded liberals hoped for a coup within the Electoral College. That dream was laid to rest. There is discussion about abolishing the Electoral College, as an attempt to move the power to a “mob rule” democracy where the elites think they can control the narrative. The argument they comfort themselves with is that Hillary won the popular vote in the nation. They do not want to face the reality that Hillary did lose. If the race was run on a popular vote, then other variables would have come into play and Hillary probably still would have lost. (15)

The Electoral College system worked as it should. It did not “misfire.” The election’s outcomes were ultimately about what Americans wanted and what they did not want — not about electoral mechanics.

James E. Campbell

Donald Trump is now officially the President-Elect. Obama is winding down the last days of his administration.

(1) Business Insider: The Illusion of Choice

(2) Wikileaks: Journalists Dined at Top Clinton Staffers’ Homes Days Before Hillary’s Campaign Launch

(3) Podesta emails from Wikileaks: April 2015 DNC plans regarding the 2016 Republican presidential field

(4) Politico: They Always Wanted Trump

(5) Judith Miller – Youtube video: Media were completely shocked by Trump’s win.

Wikipedia on Judith Miller Judith Miller is a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter, graduate of Princeton University, and worked at New York Times etc. As of 2016, she is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

(6) NBC: Trump did had more minorities and women than Romney in 2012

(7) Gizmodo: Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News

Snopes: Is Facebook censoring conservativenews

(8) Kissinger says give Trump a chance to world order elites

(9) Businessinsider: Henry Kissinger talks to China leadership about Trump

(10) Unhappy liberals still voicing their frustration in the streets and social media

(11) Donald Trump closes Thank you tour

(12) Madeleine Albright and Stephen Hadley advice for Trump on Middle East

(13) Al Gore talks to Trumps on climate change

(14) Hillary Clinton doing selfies with fans in NY woodlands

(15) Why Hillary Clinton Supporters Need to quit whining about the electoral college

James E. Campbell is a UB distinguished professor of political science at the University at Buffalo, SUNY, and is the author of “Polarized: Making Sense of a Divided America”.

Updated on 01/25/2017:

Interview with Jeffrey Goldberg on Kissinger by Judy Woodruff

Judy Woodruff sits in front of image of Henry Kissinger

Judy Woodruff interview with Jeffrey Goldberg of “The Atlantic” 11/21/2016 Screen grab from video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fgFK084gls

Judy Woodruff, a listed member of the “Council on Foreign Relations“,  interviews Jeffrey Goldberg, the Editor-in-Chief of “The Atlantic” about his interview with Henry Kissinger.

The interviews between Henry Kissinger and Jeffrey Goldberg can be found at these two articles in “The Atlantic”, which were available to read without subscription. Links: Interviewing Henry Kissinger and The Lessons of Henry Kissinger

Link to interview on PBS  Published on Nov 21, 2016
“The Atlantic” magazine’s founding statement promised that the magazine would be “the organ of no party or clique”. They have endorsed only three Presidential candidates since the magazine’s founding in Boston, Massachusetts in 1857. The magazine and editors endorsed Hillary Clinton over fears of Donald Trump being elected.

This election outcome has exposed the veneer of false neutrality and also the deceit of many of the major news sources and reporters in their  coverage and tone. “The Atlantic” is not neutral in their views of the election outcome, but were honest and probably hoping their two-cents might sway some voters. The elites wanted a candidate who would fall in step or was already co-opted or part of their mind hive or was at least malleable to the ongoing power view.

If Hillary Clinton were facing Mitt Romney, or John McCain, or George W. Bush, or, for that matter, any of the leading candidates Trump vanquished in the Republican primaries, we would not have contemplated making this endorsement. [1]

Hillary Clinton, a former Secretary of State under Barack Obama,  stated with pride that “I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better — better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea of what it’s going to take to make our government work more efficiently.” Hillary of the “We came, we saw, he died.” laughing regime change had been groomed by Henry Kissinger in foreign policy. The Clintons have vacationed with Henry Kissinger and consider him a close personal friend.

Henry Kissinger has a 1973 Nobel Peace prize for his negotiations with Vietnam that involved massive bombings, including into neighboring Cambodia. Many agree with Bernie Sander’s description of Kissinger’s years in the Nixon administration as being responsible for one of the “worst genocides in the history of the world.” Bernie Sanders is “proud” that Kissinger was not his friend.

Meanwhile the Obama Administration granted Henry Kissinger a “Distinguished Public Service Award”. Jeffrey Goldberg did extensive interviews with President Barack Obama that can be found at this link: The Obama Doctrine

Donald Trump did meet with Kissinger in May 2016 during his campaign. Kissinger also recently went to Trump Tower for a meeting with the now President-elect Trump. “President-elect Trump and Dr. Kissinger have known each other for years and had a great meeting. They discussed China, Russia, Iran, the EU and other events and issues around the world” says the Trump transition press release.

For most supporters of Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump’s election was an unexpected shock and also a puzzlement. There has been scrambling to try to understand what the election of Trump might mean for the United States, as well as how his Presidency will affect the direction and plans for shaping the world power structure. Many articles by CFR members expressed their shock and dismay and “what now” view of an impending Trump Presidency.  Dr. Henry Kissinger has had long association with the “Council on Foreign Relations” that began in the mid-1950’s as a young man. He is looking for a path to advising yet another president and to advise others who might get Trump’s ear.

Kissinger in his foreign policy believes in ‘realpolitik’, which is an amoral world view that puts balance and world stability over human rights. This makes his decisions and actions quite controversial. He is still respected and sought for his advice and “long arc” view of the world’s history. Trump expressed more nationalism and country sovereignty with protecting borders and less interest in regime change and openness to new cooperation, as well as changing the more globalist view of trade negotiations. The globalist corporatists are scrambling to co-opt Trump, as they have with so many others.

Judy Woodruff says the “report” is part of an ongoing collaboration between “The Atlantic” and the “PBS NewsHour“.
Note: This is my transcription of Jeffrey Goldberg’s comments with some paraphrasing for brevity of the questions by Judy Woodruff.

Jeffrey Goldberg says…

He (Kissinger) still really is the most influential foreign policy thinker in American in a lot of ways. So in my experience with him there is always something to learn even at the age of 93. Maybe especially at the age of 93 there is always something to learn from him. And so we ended up spending hours talking not just about the Obama Doctrine. We talked about the order of the world currently. We talked a lot about the election. He, like a lot of people, thought Hillary Clinton was going to win. We talked about both candidates. Well, here we are.

What does he think about the legacy of Barack Obama’s foreign policy?

He thinks that the President is too passive in his approach to foreign policy. That the American President has a responsibility to make more order in the world, especially as it relates to the other great powers – Russia and China in particular.

He also thinks the President is too burdened by the alleged sins of the past. Kissinger would think of them more as alleged sins of American behavior during the Cold War and various places including Vietnam and Cambodia. But mainly it has to do with passivity that he sees in the President and a lack of strategic thinking and lack of assertion.

Jeffrey Goldberg of

Jeffrey Goldberg of “The Atlantic” talking on “PBS/Newshour” about Kissinger, Obama and Trump  //  Screen grab from video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fgFK084gls

And obviously the President when I was interviewing him on these subjects Kissinger was almost sort of a specter in the room at various points. The President would talk about the “red line” in Syria, for instance, and talk about how one of the worst reasons to bomb someone is to prove that you are willing to bomb someone.

And I felt as if he were addressing Henry Kissinger and Kissinger’s role in Cambodia using bombing to enhance American credibility at the negotiating table. I found it was a totally fascinating process for me because I was moderating non-chronologically an argument between President Obama and the most important and most controversial foreign policy statesman of the modern era.

And so there was that piece… the other piece of this is that Obama in some ways resembles Henry Kissinger. Kissinger recognizes this to some degree. I think that the President recognizes this to some degree. Neither man particularly obsesses about human rights as a key issue in a way America organizes the relationship with other countries.

Kissinger is still defending the decisions that were made in the early part of the Nixon administration in the Vietnam War. 

I don’t think he’ll stop defending them. He feels as if his decision-making is misunderstood in the country and he wants to make his point.

The interesting thing, if I may, is on Syria he noted to me that John Kerry, Secretary of State, guy who has the job that Henry Kissinger had  – who started his public career as a Vietnam protester arguing to the President that we have to bomb the Assad regime in order to focus their attention on the necessity of negotiation.

And so you see these very interesting echos throughout history, these unsolvable problems, these challenges that are in front of policy makers.

I have a feeling that John Kerry and Barack Obama today have a slightly more understanding for the decisions that Nixon and Kissinger made in Vietnam. They may not agree with them, but they have a little bit more understanding.

Human rights is not at the top of their priorities. 

Well that is one of the interesting things that “Hope and Change” is limited to within American borders in a lot of cases. I don’t think that President Obama would appreciate being called a neo-Henry Kissinger, but Obama’s view is “I, as President, have to manage my relationship with China” and me spending a lot of time lecturing them and ‘punishing them’ for their human rights violations is not going to advance my immediate and long-term national security interests and economic interests.

Talking about President Obama’s approach to China…

First of all, I asked him what grade he gives Obama for the China portfolio. He said B+. I said “That’s a pretty high-grade.” He said “Yes, it’s a B+ on tactics”. It is lower probably on strategy.. on thinking through strategy.”

Kissinger’s focus in global affairs has always been what are the needs of the great powers, how do those needs align with our needs, how do we organize that. The opening to China, of course, is the apogee to this theory.

File:Kissinger Mao.jpg

Henry Kissinger meets with leaders in People’s Republic of China – Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong (Wikimedia) [2]

Cannot overstate the importance that Kissinger places on China and China / US relations going forwards… 

It was his greatest achievement, it was a world historical achievement.

Kissinger took a secret trip to PRC in 1971, which had not had relation with US in over 20 years. This paved the way for Nixon’s ‘opening to China’ in 1972. This was the beginning of China’s emergence as a world power.

China is going to be the world’s biggest economy, if things keep going the way they are going. Our economic future, the American economic future, is in Asia.

China believes itself to be the most powerful country in the world, the central kingdom. He is saying that Presidents have to have a strategic view to understand how to manage that aspect of China’s relationship without coming to war.

The stability of the entire world depends on a constructive relationship between the United States and China. If that relationship deteriorates, then it is bad for the United States and it is bad for the entire world. It should be the number one priority of American foreign policy, but there is chaos in the world too. American Presidents have to deal with chaos at the same time they are thinking about 10, 20, 30 years out on how they are going to deal with China.

What about Trump?

In our most recent conversation, I said “Do you think that Donald Trump has matured? Do you think he has become smarter or more studious?”

He said “I’m not having that conversation. He’s the President elect of the United States.”

And so, what we should do…is essentially, I’m paraphrasing now, is to wish him well and be available to help him study and help him understand the challenges before him. Obviously Henry Kissinger is a person, even at 93, who doesn’t like to be out of the game. He doesn’t like to be out of the lime-light.

He’s basically saying “I’m here for you Don and I want to give you some sound advice.”

Kissinger met with Trump, who said afterwards ‘ I have tremendous respect for Dr. Kissinger and appreciate him sharing his thoughts with me.’

Kissinger’s basic rule, I think, is to know what you want to do and know what things are unacceptable to you.

You have to know going into the Presidency what things you cannot accept as the leader of the United States. You have to reverse engineer the problem.

What could China do in the south China Sea that is not acceptable to US national security? What could happen in the Middle East that is not acceptable? So first you have to decide what your, to borrow a phrase, what your red lines are and work back from there.

 Does he believe that someone who hasn’t had experience in foreign policy can make a determination like that? 

He was very assiduous about not providing his opinion about where Donald Trump is on the learning curve right now.

I think it is a big universal truth that if you are not willing or able to take on board new information, new analysis, have long involved conversations about these important issues then you are going to be operating at a real deficit.

Much, if not most, of the foreign policy establishment in the United States has not been on board with Donald Trump.

Quite the opposite.

How can he move ahead making decisions that are good for the country when he hasn’t had these relationships before?

Well, he is going have to do something that is out of character with Donald Trump, which is to say bygones be bygones. Pick up the phone to say to Colin Powell, to Madeleine Albright, say to all these people.. “Come in and talk to me about what you know”.

At the lower level he is going to have to be open to the idea that people who disagreed with him, with his candidacy, that they should come back into government and help.

The flip side is that all of these people who were so nervous about Donald Trump becoming President now might have to say to themselves that “Well, Donald Trump IS President, President-elect, and so I better make myself  available to the government because better me than some guy nobody ever heard of with no experience” because these are not unserious challenges. These are life and death issues. You want people who understand the global ISIS threat really well to be sitting  next to Donald Trump when he actually has to make decisions.

 What are you worried about right now? Do you have bad expectations about this administration? 

I’m worried about everything for starters. I’m worried about a willingness to hire the best people. I’m worried about temperament. I’m worried about his attention, his focus. I am not entirely worried that he is actually going to carry out all of the things he said he would do. I’m worried about accidents.

Who do you want in the White House when the CIA director comes over and says the North Koreans now have the ability to deliver one of their nuclear weapons by intercontinental missile to the American mainland. What do you want to do about it, Mister or Madam President?

I want somebody in that job, obviously, who can make reasonable rational decisions and take in the best advice.

End of interview.

Donald Trump is not part of the clique of the globalist elite cabal nor has he been stewed in the foreign policy views of the “Council on Foreign Relations” nor had Henry Kissinger been whispering in his ear about “realpolitik”. Trump also is not a neo-con “idealist” wanting to spread Democracy around the world and instead leaving smoldering chaos behind. Donald Trump is a hope that the new change can be towards yet another “New World Order” that isn’t ruled solely by the globalists. A hope that the United States foreign policy is not deciding its moves decades in advance based largely on the globalist prophesied future of a transcendent China as a next great world power.

Henry Kissinger’s long arc view started the opening up of China in the 1970’s and he still pushes the view that we are handing off power “back” to China and Asia.  The idea is that China was a great power and merely lost for a time before rising again, so we need to be prepared to hand over the golden keys. Does China realize they are being expected to take over the mantle of world shaper? The “so-called” pivot of Obama to the East isn’t far off the mark from where Kissinger would want him to be heading.

There was no mention of other historical foreign policy decisions of Kissinger, such as his involvement in a coup placing the brutal Chilean leader, Pinochet, in power. There is no mention that our involvement in Vietnam was premised on a lie [4] to the American people, which is a method of getting the United States into war to this day.

Why, as Americans, are we still honoring a man with so much blood on his hands? Why would we want Kissinger or his cronies to continue to shape the foreign policy and world order? They sit in their enclaves and ivory towers and plot and manipulate and smirk, but too often in hindsight the world finds out their great schemes are an ongoing disaster. America is used as a tool in their world chess games.

More is at play in the world and needs to be addressed with urgency than whether countries will blow each other up over land or failed trade cooperation. Failure of antibiotics and a global pandemic or a small meteor landing mid-ocean are too rarely discussed. Those would definitely throw a monkey wrench into the globalist prophesies of future power structure. Surprisingly “climate change” didn’t come up in the conversation with Kissinger, as that topic seems to be a constant thrum in media.

File:Reunión Pinochet - Kissinger.jpg

Henry Kissinger with Chilean despot Augusto Pinochet (Wikimedia) [3]

Henry Kissinger says Trump has “absolutely no baggage”

Fareed Zakaria, on CNN’s GPS show, asks Henry Kissinger about impressions of Donald Trump after meeting President-elect Screen grab from video: http://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2016/11/19/exp-gps-kissinger-on-trump-foreign-policy.cnn

Link to interview video

Fareed Zakaria, a listed member of “The Council on Foreign Relations”, interviews Henry Kissinger on CNN about his opinion of President-elect Donald Trump after their meeting in Trump Tower.

Fareed seems puzzled, as he is ready to start attacking Donald Trump on everything said in the campaign that would challenge their globalist and neo-liberal agenda. Kissinger, always the diplomatic pragmatist, is making the rounds to attempt to get his globalist buddies to calm down and to have an open mind and a “wait and see” attitude. He suggests taking opportunities to advise and educate and direct Donald Trump and not be confrontational, but to remain willing to share wisdom without judgmental tone.

Henry Kissinger is a god-father of globalism and “realpolitik” and he is willing to work with the worst of mankind for his aims and to use his intellect to direct others to his ends, so he is not taken aback nor afraid of Trump. Things would have been so much easier if Hillary Clinton could have been slid into place, as they intended and planned. Life still has some surprises for 93 year old Henry Kissinger. Surprise… it’s Trump!

“What were your impressions from the meeting?”

A determined President-elect who is making the transition from being a campaigner to being national strategist and is trying to inform himself on the various aspects of the current situation.

You’ve seen many President elects come into office…

This President-elect is the most unique that I have experienced in one respect. He has absolutely no baggage. He has no obligations to any particular group because he has become a President on the basis of his own strategy and a program he put before the American public that his competitors did not present. That is a unique advantage.

How will China react…

I’m not here as a spokesman of the President-elect. I am here to answer questions of my impressions. The impact of globalization… not enough attention was paid to the fact that it was bound to have winners and losers and that the losers were bound to try to express themselves in some kind of political reaction. In my view in the present situation one should not insist in nailing him into positions that he had taken in the campaign on which he doesn’t insist. If he insists on them, then of course disagreements will become expressed. But if he develops another program and leaves the question open of what he said in the campaign one should not make that the decisive element.

We should welcome some flip flop? 

 I think we should give him an opportunity to develop the positive objectives that he may have and to discuss those and we’ve gone through too many decades of tearing incompetent administrations apart and it may happen again, but we shouldn’t begin that way and we shouldn’t end up that way either. So that would be my basic view.

End of interview

Donald Trump has come out saying he will not pursue charges against Hillary Clinton [1], which makes common sense to not waste any time or energy and instead to move forward to make positive changes for our country. No doubt this was part of the advice given to him or as a negotiating tool. This makes a good olive branch on Trump’s part to be able to work with Democrats and also the friends of Hillary in media and world leaders. I wouldn’t even be surprised if Hillary Clinton is a backdoor foreign policy adviser to Trump at some point.

The election shouldn’t become about destroying the Clintons, which they did quite well all on their own by their actions of deceit. It would only become a circus and a distraction. The result of the election of Donald Trump should be to move on and work towards “Making America Great Again”. As a country we need this unique President to give us an opportunity to make some real change in the direction and policies of our nation and in the world.

If the ‘lying biased’ liberal media will give Trump a chance and the rabid side of his supporters can be ignored, then the country can focus on the positives that can come from the new unexpected administration. So called “flip flop” is what all Presidents do. Hopefully Trump will focus on important issues and not be distracted.

Kissinger also hopes that Trump will listen because the globalism is there for some good reasons and is also entrenched, so with open mind he can help steer some course through the morass. I have hope for change!

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/cartoons/images/2016/07/20/chip_bok_chip_bok_for_jul_20_2016_5_.jpg

Artist: Chris Bok [2]

Reference:

[1] Trump will not pursue charges on Clinton

[2] Chris Bok’s cartoon: Lock Her Up July 21, 2016

Ambassador Wendy Sherman frets over Donald Trump presidency

James E. O’Brien of the BBC, interviews Wendy R. Sherman, a listed member of CFR. She is currently the Senior Counselor at the Albright Stonebridge Group that was founded by Madeleine Albright, a listed member of CFR.

They console each other over their grave concerns about President-elect Trump after Hillary Clinton’s unexpected loss.

Published on Nov 23, 2016 BBC Newsnight

Wendy suggests Trump should ‘apologize’ for his failure of political correct language during the campaign and needs to reassure the country that rights would be upheld and that he would support the disappointed Hillary supporters. Many are “fearful” of his campaign promises and need comforting, including herself.

She worries that the Climate change agreement “the whole world has signed up to” will not be honored. Continuing she laments that he was unlikely to push for the redistribution of the nation’s wealth.

Sherman has now read “The Art of the Deal” and points out that one less building created is not the same as possibly going to war for a failed agreement. She emphasizes that negotiations can involve the “entire international community” and the world needs a US leader who understands their complexity. Wendy Sherman served as lead negotiator on the Obama administration’s 2015 Iran deal in her role as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. [1] [2]

Trump voiced during the campaign some concerns about the Iran nuclear deal and wanted to re-open it to strengthen the terms. Trump used words to describe the deal as “stupid,” a “lopsided disgrace” and the “worst deal ever negotiated”. [3]

Did Sherman’s negotiations merely ‘kick the can down the road’ on a future catastrophic war with Iran? Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations, in an interview on MSNBC asked why Ambassador Sherman thought the negotiated agreement would stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons in the future. [4]

I understand why you would say that this deal makes it difficult for Iran to get a nuclear weapon for the next 10 or 15 years, but I don’t understand your use of the word ‘never’. Because, as you know better than anyone, the limits on centrifuges and enriched uranium expire after 10 and 15 years. So how can you or anyone say this agreement makes sure Iran will never get nuclear weapons?

Based on some Trump actions since the elections, O’Brien and Sherman reached a slightly hopeful final conclusion to the short interview. Perhaps for “today” the Hillary loss was not quite as scary and dire as they imagined, but both were still rather dubious and skeptical about an impending President Trump.
Equally for “today” the possibility of a nuclear threat from Iran seems less scary, but perhaps we should remain dubious and skeptical on this matter as well.

Reference:

[1] Sherman speaks on Iran nuclear agreement February 2016 ‘Duke Chronicle’ of Duke University

[2] Wendy Sherman speaks about Iran talks  July 21, 2016 WGBH news

[3] Trump and Iran deal on ABC November 11, 2016 ABC news

[4] Video of interview on MSNBC  January 2016 – Richard Haass and Wendy Sherman (Youtube copy of original news clip from MSNBC)

Council on Foreign Relations public membership list (CFR)
Note: Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton are both listed members of CFR. Hillary R. Clinton does not currently show up on the 2016 list, though she has spoken at the group several times and states that she takes their advice and input and shares their philosophy. [5]

[5] Hillary Clinton: Foreign Policy Address at the Council on Foreign Relations 2009

Wikipedia on Wendy R. Sherman

Albright Stonebridge Group

There is a James C. O’Brien listed as a member of CFR. He is Vice Chair at the Albright Stonebridge Group.

Wikipedia on James Edward O’Brien of BBC

The Art of Interviewing Henry Kissinger on “The Atlantic”

The Art of Interviewing Henry Kissinger

James Fallow interviews Jeffrey Goldberg of “The Atlantic” on his interview with Henry Kissinger

Jeffrey Goldberg, Editor in Chief of

James Fallow interviews Jeffrey Goldberg  11/11/2016    Screengrab from video at: http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/507182/interviewing-henry-kissinger/

Link to video on “The Atlantic” (*)

One of the things that motivates him is his relentless desire to convince you that he is right.

That his record, if properly understood, is that he behaved well. He defended American interests well. He was not responsible for the perfidious things that his critics claim he’s responsible for.

Discuss the “view of the long arc of evolution and American policy…”

Henry Kissinger does not believe that the moral arc of the universe is long, but bends towards justice. Kissinger believes that one of Obama’s key faults is that he divorces power from diplomacy. But when the President is arguing about credibility that American deterrent credibility is overrated as a concept, as a tool. This is a shot at Kissinger, who of course, in the general understanding of Vietnam came in with Nixon realized that he had to ramp up the war in order to end the war. President Obama finds the logic of that… the logic escapes him, let’s say.

By the way, the single most interesting part of this to me is the historical echo that I heard that John Kerry over the last two years had been going to President Obama and saying “for the sake of our credibility we have to bomb Bashar al Assad. We have to put real military pressure on the Assad regime and that will get them to come to the negotiating table.” And the President is saying “No John, we are not going to do that. Don’t you remember Kissinger?” That counts as heavy.

President Barack Obama and Henry Kissinger sitting at a table

President Obama and Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State. Photo credit: Dennis Brack/Pool/Sipa Press/secpotusipa.004/1011190005

What if Obama had “involved Kissinger more” in the last 8 years?

There is more Kissinger in Obama than Obama would acknowledge. And there is more Kissinger in Obama than Kissinger probably knows. What Kissinger would have told Obama is that we don’t have yet a proper understanding of where China envisions itself. And they don’t understand us either. He points out in the early 70’s that he went to Beijing secretly. There was nothing to talk about, there was no bilateral relationship, and so all they did was talk about their theories of history.

Now when an American President meets a Chinese leader there is so much to do from cyber to trade to South China Sea to everything that is on the agenda. We are talking about practical stuff all the time, so you might have to carve out a lot more time than you’ve carved out and you have to have serious high end conversations about the way the world is organized because you are the guys who are going to decide how the world is organized.

Kissinger advice to the President might be? Long view towards China…

The reality is that China for 11 of the past 13 centuries has been the most powerful country on earth. It is about to become, at some point in the future, somewhere on par with the United States in terms of global power.

He would say to the President of the United States: understand how they understand the world. Other countries are mere tributaries of the essential kingdom.

You don’t have to accept that as a moral principle. You have to accept that as the reality of their perception of the world. It’s easy and satisfying to say we should spend a lot more time arguing for Tibet (and I agree with that… like we should stand up for what’s right), but this is the realpolitik – the amoral realpolitik – acknowledge their greatness, acknowledge their own understanding of their greatness, and figure out a way to keep the earth stable. And you are the two parties that can keep the earth stable, so deal with it as it is and protect our interest, but not push us towards needless confrontation.

My transcription above from  video at “The Atlantic” interview

(*) The embed of the video isn’t working – use link to see video.

Other reference:

Wikipidea on definition of realpolitik

Realpolitik: a system of politics based on a country’s situation and its needs rather than on ideas about what is morally right and wrong.

Realpolitik of Henry Kissinger in “der Spiegel” in 2013

Wikipedia of Henry Kissinger

Jeffrey Goldberg articles in “The Atlantic”

Jeffrey Goldberg becomes editor-in-chief of “The Atlantic”