{"id":4513,"date":"2021-07-22T08:35:54","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T12:35:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=4513"},"modified":"2021-07-22T08:36:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T12:36:00","slug":"greasing-the-rail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2021\/07\/22\/greasing-the-rail\/","title":{"rendered":"Greasing the Rail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Old Times<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s just like \u201cold times\u201d, at least old times four years ago.\u00a0\u00a0Back then these essays were called\u00a0Trump World,\u00a0<\/em>all about the 45th Presidency.\u00a0\u00a0From those earliest entries on\u00a0Trump World,\u00a0<\/em>I wrote about the influence of other nations on Donald Trump.\u00a0\u00a0If\u00a0\u00a0we\u2019d only known.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cRussian intelligence\u201d made their first appearance in\u00a0Drip, Drip, Drip<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Drip, Drip, Drip – Part Deux<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0That was early March of 2017, barely six weeks after the Inauguration.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n


So here we are, six months into the Biden Presidency.  The President did a CNN Town Hall last night, speaking from Cincinnati.  Biden was everything we thought he\u2019d be: a little halting, but   folksy and plain spoken.  He described the first time they played Hail to the Chief<\/em> for him.  He turned around to look for the President.  But he also came clearly prepared and able to articulate on the issues; from the COVID resurgence to current inflation, US stature in the world to Senate negotiations for the infrastructure plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cabinet Meeting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

He held his first full cabinet meeting this week in the actual Cabinet Room of the White House.\u00a0\u00a0In past months a bigger room was used as part of the COVID protocols.\u00a0\u00a0And they looked \u201cpacked in\u201d this time, with the President shoulder to shoulder with Secretary of State Blinken to his right and Secretary of Defense Austin to his left.\u00a0\u00a0Those advisors didn\u2019t pay \u201cobeisance\u201d to the President, there wasn\u2019t a round of \u201chow great you are\u201d like the Trump Cabinet.\u00a0\u00a0And that was only one of the big differences between the Biden Presidency and his predecessor.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Highest Bidder<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We now know that many in the Trump Presidency were sold to the highest bidder.\u00a0\u00a0At least three of those closest advisors to the President were directly on the payroll of another nation.\u00a0\u00a0They were \u201con the take\u201d:\u00a0\u00a0receiving big bucks to influence the President of the United States to benefit their employer.\u00a0\u00a0At least three had another \u201cmaster\u201d besides the “Eagle flying” on their paychecks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know that Trump\u2019s campaign manager Paul Manafort was corrupted by debt to the Russians.  We know that Trump\u2019s National Security Advisor General Flynn was on the continuing payroll of the Turkish Government.  And this week we learned that his close friend, advisor and the Chairman of his Inaugural committee Tom Barrack was on the payroll of the United Arab Emirates, to the tune of over a billion dollars.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Billion <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A billion dollars:  what kind of influence does that buy?  I remember when I was managing a Cincinnati City Council campaign, the candidate and I had long discussions about accepting a $10,000 contribution.  It was a big chunk of change for us, and we were concerned how much influence we were \u201cselling\u201d to the contributor.  That was .0001% of a billion.  For a billion dollars, they get what they want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we may never know how much influence others had over Jared Kushner and Don Junior, keeping the constant flow of money going needed to refinance their disparate real estate holdings.  We do know that Kushner\u2019s 666 Fifth Avenue building was refinanced with $1.1 Billion from Qatar, a ninety-nine year lease with the entire cost paid up-front.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Policy Bought<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Russia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and of course Saudi Arabia: all these nations seemed to have a \u201csweet spot\u201d in the Trump Administration.\u00a0\u00a0And of course Israel, with a direct personal connection from Netanyahu to Kushner.\u00a0\u00a0The Israeli Prime Minister was like an uncle to Jared.\u00a0\u00a0And financially, Israel had a \u201clegal\u201d money line.\u00a0\u00a0The late billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson, a financial force in both American and Israeli politics, made sure the Trump campaign was well financed.\u00a0\u00a0At least that was \u201clegal\u201d cash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But from Russia poisoning their former citizens throughout the world and hacking into American politics, to Saudi\u2019s bloody execution of Jamal Khashoggi, to the strange blockade of Qatar quickly removed (just before the 666 deal was settled), to Israelis shooting Palestinians across the border:  how much was America\u2019s reaction and policies determined by how many of the Trump Administration palms were greased?  We may never know the answer for sure.  But we do know this.  The former President of the United States was surrounded by those bought by other nations to influence him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And he was a President most easily influenced.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Old Times It\u2019s just like \u201cold times\u201d, at least old times four years ago.\u00a0\u00a0Back then these essays were called\u00a0Trump World,\u00a0all about the 45th Presidency.\u00a0\u00a0From those earliest entries on\u00a0Trump World,\u00a0I wrote about the influence of other nations on Donald Trump.\u00a0\u00a0If\u00a0\u00a0we\u2019d only known.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cRussian intelligence\u201d made their first appearance in\u00a0Drip, Drip, Drip\u00a0and\u00a0Drip, Drip, Drip – Part Deux.\u00a0\u00a0That was … Continue reading “Greasing the Rail”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Greasing the Rail - here's the next essay on Our America - about the sale of influence in the Trump Administration. 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