GIRALDI: Another week of aiding Israel and assorted corruption

Is it really a government or some kind of ponzi scheme?

Tired of winning yet?

BY PHILIP GIRALDI

One’s morning ritual has become something unpleasant over the past year.

Opening up the computer homepage after breakfast invariably brings up the image of the Orangeman who, unfortunately, is otherwise known as the President of the United States of America.

The person in question, who goes by the name Donald J. Trump, is invariably scowling, radiating hatred, and raising his tiny fist to express his willingness to pummel anyone who has offended him in thought, word or deed.

The accompanying article usually describes how he is ready to fire someone in the government or punish a journalist for failure to bow and scrape when they are dealing with the imperial presence of the self-described “Man of Peace.”

Occasionally, when on a roll, Trump threatens to kill either an “enemy” or even an entire group or nation full of people if they offend him. He justifies his savagery by his assertion that he possesses some kind of high-level but indiscernible personal “morality” which permits him to claim that “I can do whatever I want!”

Beyond his hatred of anyone who crosses or challenges him, there is also quite a lot more “wrong” with Trump to include his pervasive ignorance about the targets of his anger.

One supposes that not knowing that Greenland and Iceland are different countries matters much, but if one is seeking to seize the former by force if necessary, then it is good to know which is which.

And if you are going to bomb a place called Iran or support a genocide in a place called Gaza it might be advisable to be informed of serious national interests in place to support such actions that will turn the whole world against you.

Many would observe that Trump is what he is because he is not his own man, being instead controlled as he does his awkward marionette dance routine across the stage by the state of Israel and the domestic Lobbyists who exist to advance that country’s perceived interests through owning the U.S. media and America’s national government.

Currently, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants Trump and the U.S. to do the heavy lifting in destroying Iran, and there is every indication that the Orangeman, who has just approved another $6.5 billion in weapons to Israel without the necessary review process and authorization from Congress, will try to do just that, no matter what it costs the American people.

Stay tuned!

The perpetual pander to Israel is not necessarily surprising as Trump emerged on the political scene, after his fun and games with Jeffrey Epstein and appearing on a brain-dead television series in which he honed his ability to fire people, as the self-anointed pro-Jewish candidate for the U.S. presidency.

On 1 July 1 2015, the 69-year-old Trump, in his own words, declared how he was “The only [candidate] that’s going to give real support to Israel is me. The rest of them are all talk, no action. They’re politicians. I’ve been loyal to Israel from the day I was born. My father, Fred Trump, was loyal to Israel before me. The only one that’s going to give Israel the kind of support it needs is Donald Trump.”

More recently, Donald’s participation at the recent White House Hanukkah Party also confirmed his Jewish affiliation. At the reception, Fox News host arch Israel Firster Mark Levin hailed President Donald Trump as “the first Jewish president.”

Speaking to a crowd of supporters at the gathering, Trump had invited Levin to “say a couple of words.” “

Come here. And these people do like Israel,” the president remarked.

Levin embraced Trump before shouting, “And he loves Israel too!” Levin then proceeded to hail Trump as the first Jewish president, recalling how “Six years ago, I was up here, and I said this is our first Jewish president” and Trump replied, “It’s true.” Levin continued, “Now he’s the first Jewish president to serve two non-consecutive presidencies. We thank you for everything.”

Interestingly, pledges made while running for office in New York and Levin aside, it has been plausibly asserted that Trump is indeed the first Jewish president through conversion, having possibly done so in 2017.

He has numerous times personally honored the legacy of the notorious Chabad Lubavitch Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson who may have once tutored him.

And one might note that the suggestion that Trump might be, in fact, in a religious sense Jewish is a possibility that has certainly supported by his servile behavior towards the Jewish state during his time in office. He and his family are, not surprisingly, entered in the genealogy database jewishgen.org.

Also at the Hanukkah reception, Israeli Las Vegas casino magnate and top political donor Miriam Adelson publicly and openly declared that Trump could pursue a third term as president, despite constitutional limits.

Adelson referenced her discussions with the disgusting attorney Alan Dershowitz about the validity of another term and agreed with him saying “I met Alan Dershowitz, and I said, Alan, I agree with you. So we can do it. Think about it.” She also pledged an additional $250 million in campaign support to fund such an initiative, prompting audience chants of “Four more years.” Trump praised Adelson’s backing and highlighted her late husband Sheldon Adelson’s advocacy for Israel, saying, “Fifteen years ago, the strongest lobby in Washington was the Jewish lobby. It was Israel. That’s no longer true.”

Trump then accused some lawmakers of being “anti-Semitic,” citing Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, whom Trump says “hates Jewish people.” Trump also blamed universities for protecting anti-Israel sentiment, and predicted that Harvard, which he has been suing over antisemitism-related fines, “will pay a lot of money.”

Indeed, incoming donor money from pro-Israel sources conditions Trump’s behavior and is a driving force for his self-image as a “businessman and property developer.”

Even though he is a billionaire, he is always seeking to acquire some more. The dignity of his office, which might in any other president except Bill Clinton be a brake on grabbing cash and presents galore, has not discouraged Donald Trump. The New York Times has recently reported on that tendency on the part of the president, who is willing to use his regulatory and other authorities to squeeze money out of foreign governments, companies and other organizations to benefit himself and his family.

The Times coverage of the story provides considerable detail on how the Trump family has benefited to the tune of $1.4 billion in the past year through the various schemes advanced directly or indirectly by the president.

The report asks “How much money has Donald Trump pocketed from the presidency since his second election? We did the math… Let’s start with the licensing deals. Foreign companies, often with the involvement of their governments, are paying to use the Trump name on buildings. And the timing is often suspicious. About a month after the Trumps broke ground on this project outside of Hanoi, the administration agreed to lower its threatened tariffs on Vietnam. Then there’s Melania. ‘Here we go again. He’s plugging his wife’s documentary.’ The Trumps are pocketing $28 million for the documentary. Amazon paid significantly more than competing bids and far more than the company had paid for similar projects. But Jeff Bezos has many reasons to curry favor with the administration, from space and defense contracts to antitrust regulation. Then there’s the lawsuits. ‘ABC News.’ ‘Meta.’ ‘Paramount.’ ‘YouTube has agreed to pay more than $24 million.’ ‘$16 million.’ ‘$25 million.’ ‘Why is Elon paying Donald Trump $10 million?’ None of these lawsuits were justified on their merits. But rather than face off with a vengeful president in court, these companies settled, and Trump made over $90 million. ‘The Pentagon says it has accepted that Boeing 747 jet from Qatar. They’re giving us a free jet. Thank you very much.’ Trump plans to take the $400 million gift from Qatar with him after the presidency. And he seemed to acknowledge that it would change how he treated the country. ‘They’re going to be protected by the United States of America.’ But the family’s biggest cash cow is crypto. People hoping to influence federal policy, including foreigners, can buy Trump’s family coin and effectively transfer money to the Trumps. These deals are often secret, but a few have become public, like last year, a UAE investment firm announced a $2 billion deal with the Trump firm. Two weeks later, the president gave the country access to advanced computer chips. The Trumps have made at least $867 million through various cryptocurrencies. Altogether, Trump has pocketed over $1.4 billion. That’s 16,822 times the median U.S. household income. And here’s the thing. We made this estimate using publicly available records. So this figure is a minimum, not a full accounting. ‘Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.’”

And none of that includes the side finagles like sporting events including the Indy Formula One car race in DC in August, the proposed memorial Arch, the stadium in front of the White House for the upcoming UFC wrestling event, the in progress White House ballroom and other “upgrades,” and the takeover of the Kennedy and Peace Centers. But even all that is nothing compared to the lawsuit seeking $10 billion which the the president and his two sons plus Trump business interests have filed against the Internal Revenue Service due to a leak of Trump’s tax records covering the time period including his first term in office. Think of what he is doing – he is head of the US government suing that same government for a vast sum which will enrich him and his family and which will have to be paid by the American taxpayer in one way or another. Typically, President Trump raged at ABC News White House correspondent Karen Travers when she asked him about the lawsuit money, calling her out saying “You’re a very loud person!”

Trump is taking advantage of the federal law that protects the confidentiality of Americans’ tax returns. Improper disclosure of tax information carries criminal penalties, but people can also sue the government if the Internal Revenue Service exposes their information, but this is the first time that a sitting president filed such a suit. Trump’s complaint, filed in federal court in Miami last week, naming the IRS and the Treasury Department, created an unimaginable situation of federal agencies facing a lawsuit from the head of the executive branch, in this case demanding at least $10 billion in damages.

Per the Times report, “It’s an enormous conflict of interest,” according to Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W Bush administration. Painter observed that “His [Trump’s] own appointees could turn around and say: ‘Let’s give the Trump family a couple of billion. That’s a fair sell.’” The leak of the tax returns was carried out by Charles Littlejohn, a former IRS contractor, not even a government staff employee, who was sentenced to five years in prison for his crime.

Interestingly, this was not the first attempt by Trump to extract payments from the Justice Department, already having demanded that the department pay him about $230 million in compensation for the federal investigations into him when he ran against Hillary Clinton.

Justice has also been responsive to the presidential demands for the government to prosecute people he perceives as his political enemies.

So, there you have it. L

ast week Donald Trump did, as always, everything to assist Israel and to enrich himself personally. If that is going to Make America Great Again it is difficult to perceive exactly how that will take place.

If in doubt about our country’s leader’s bona fides and wanting to be supportive, it might be a good time to go off and see the documentary “Melania”, to be reassured while also throwing a little more money into the Trump pocket.

He would appreciate that very much!

Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is

https://councilforthenationalinterest.org

address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is inform@cnionline.org

The views of this author do not necessarily reflect the views of The Trends Journal