Guest Post by Bill Bonner
You’re a cowardly, leftist moron, to say the least.
– Comment from a Dear Reader, received yesterday
POITOU, FRANCE – Over the weekend, we drove down to the South of France for a birthday party.
It was in the Tarn area, famous for its ancient grottoes, its wars and massacres, and its food.
Treacherous Time
Poor Brunhilda. She founded the castle at Bruniquel, which we visited. A Visigoth princess, she married a king of the Franks (one of Clovis I’s grandsons) and became queen.
Her sister Galswintha married Brunhilda’s brother-in-law, becoming queen of the Kingdom of Soissons.
Alas, the 6th century was a treacherous time. Galswintha’s husband also had a mistress, Fredegund, who was eager to get the new wife out of the way. She had Galswintha strangled by an assassin.
War, assassinations, and suspicious deaths – Brunhilda and Fredegund were Christians, but neither turned the other cheek.
Instead, they went at each other for the rest of their lives. Finally, during the reign of Brunhilda’s great-grandson, Fredegund died. But that didn’t stop the bloodletting.
Fredegund’s son, Clothar II, eventually got his hands on Brunhilda and had her executed. Some reports say she was tied to the tail of a wild horse and dragged to her death. Others say she was pulled apart by two horses.
Mysterious Cave
Also in Bruniquel is a remarkable cave, which was discovered by a 13-year-old boy in 1990. He noticed a small hole – scarcely big enough for a hare to enter – in the side of a hill.
But air flowed from the hole, indicating that it must be connected to one or more of the grottoes which are extensive in the area. The boy wiggled his way through a narrow passage and found himself in a large cave.
When an expert finally examined the cave years later, he made one of the most intriguing discoveries ever. Broken-off stalagmites had been arranged in a series of circles. Why? When? By whom?
The “why” is still a mystery. But new dating techniques have answered the other questions.
The circles were made about 176,000 years ago – making the site one of the oldest constructions in the world. At that time, there were no humans in Europe; so it must have been made by ancient Neanderthals, the forerunners of the Neanderthals who lived in Europe when humans arrived.
Excavations have not been done. And no Neanderthal bones have been found. But traces of fire are visible.
Breaking Furniture
But let us skip ahead, from the past… to the present and the future… pausing only to remind ourselves that we are the same people – more or less – born of the same Brunhildas and Fredegunds as our ancestors.
“I’ve been following your Diary,” began a conversation at the birthday party on Friday night. “I see the problem you’re having… It’s rather amusing, watching you try to measure Trump’s actions with conservative principles, and seeing the kind of extreme reaction you get.
“You’re right, of course… The Donald is not in any way a conservative. And he’s not really going to make America great again. But there’s more to it.
“This is not the beginning of an empire. It’s closer to the end of one. You don’t need a Jefferson or a Washington at this stage. That is, you don’t need a builder. You need a barbarian.”
More than 60 Americans had made the trip for the party, an extraordinary group of scholars, lawyers, judges, former ambassadors, writers, and entrepreneurs.
Many had wrestled with the same heavyweight question: What is it about the Donald J. Trump phenomenon? What does it mean?
Herewith, we offer one opinion on the subject.
“He’s doing the world a great service,” continued a fellow guest.
“I voted for him. And I’m not sorry I did. Yes, he’s surrounded himself with morons and yes-men. And he’s doing some pretty nasty things – like separating children from their parents. I mean, why punish the children?
“But as you say, he’s wrecking the furniture. And at some point in history, you have to do it.
“Since World War II, the U.S. has been a builder. The Marshall Plan… Bretton Woods… Vietnam… Iraq. It is responsible for all these institutions like the TPP, NAFTA, the UN, the WTO, the ICJ, and so on.
“Even the European Union is an imitation of the United States… eliminating the trade barriers between member states.
“All around the world, an elite has arisen to run these organizations. They also run major corporations and universities. They all learn the same things and believe the same things. They run governments and central banks. They want to control everything. And, as you say, they mostly want to shift more and more power and money to themselves.
“Overseas, they want wars, treaties, and transnational organizations where they can feel like big shots and make a lot of money.
“And at home, these are the people that want to force bakers to make cakes for gay couples… and that take down the Confederate monuments… They’re the ones who think that people who don’t share their ideas are deplorable.
“These elites have become predatory. They’re looking out for themselves, not for the average person. And they’ve lost contact with the voters. The Democrats lost their blue-collar base. And the Republicans lost their traditional conservative base. And here comes Donald Trump, like a bull in a china shop, and he’s stomping all over them.
“Of course, he has his tweets and his comments. And his theories about things. And they’re mostly nonsensical. But that doesn’t matter.
“Everyone has gotten the message. We’re not building anything anymore. We don’t know how. We’re out of business.
“I wouldn’t have said it that way, but it needed to be said.”
Fundamentally Corrupt
“The system itself is fundamentally corrupt,” continued the guest.
“It needs to be broken up. That’s why so many people are backing Trump. They feel cheated. They just don’t understand how or why… but they can see him busting things up, and they like it.
“Yes, in a way, it’s too bad that Trump doesn’t understand what’s going on. He thinks all you have to do is talk tough, negotiate deals, organize photoshoots with foreign dictators… and prevent competition from Canada and Mexico.
“But even if Trump knew what he was doing, would it really make any difference? That’s what you’re missing.
“Suppose he had announced a coherent plan that really might make America great again. Suppose he had said that he was going to bring the troops home, balance the budget, put the CIA and the NSA out of business, and cut both the Pentagon budget and the social welfare budget.
“How long would he last? He’d have everybody against him. The zombies. The cronies. The press. The neocons. The leftists. The rightists.
“That was not an option. That Eisenhower world is gone. It’s too late. The Deep State rules. And no election is going to stop it.
“That’s why your critics are partially right. There were only two real choices. The Donald or The Hillary. Hillary wouldn’t be breaking up the furniture. She’d be polishing it. They want it broken.”
Breaking the furniture won’t make America great again. And Donald J. Trump’s tastes in interior design may not be ours.
But it’s clearly time to redecorate.
Even the Eisenhower administration was corrupted by the “deep state”. Using federal troops against white citizens to enforce a (illegal) “desegregation” order was the misuse of “posse comitatus” which helped foster an “anything goes” attitude in the federal government and indirectly led to the massacres and outright criminal activities “under color of authority” by the federal government at Ruby Ridge, Waco, the forced “repatriation to Cuba” of Elian Gonzales, and others…
The “deep state” has been around a lot longer than most people realize…
The “deep state” has been around since time immemorial. Including the very beginning of the United States of America. Government is literally nothing more than the biggest, strongest pack of thugs in the neighborhood. The entire point of elections is to make the ruled population accept the rule of those who have placed themselves above the rest, rather than throw the deranged psychopaths out on their asses.
The rulership of any government, regardless of the system used, is literally no more legitimate than that of Don Carleone, or any other mob boss.
Outstanding. But let’s not besmirch the mafia. They provide valued services free people are willing to pay for and kill in tiny numbers and only as a last resort. Unlike government.
So the author admits that Trump is doing as much as the Deep State will tolerate – that ending the CIA and NSA and bringing back all the troops would mean his downfall (I’d posit his assasssination) – but he doesn’t know what he’s doing? Hmmm. Maybe he knows exactly what he’s doing and the speed at which he can do it.
All the political anal-ysts think “separating children from their parents” is a political error. Radio host Hugh Hewitt thinks it could be “Trump’s Katrina”, but Hewitt has never been right about anything. I think the people are with Trump. What are we expected to do, let every illegal who brings a kid – their kid or someone else’s – use the kid as a free pass into the US? Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy is indirectly educating people on the farce that our border efforts have been for years: “You mean they’ve just been giving them a ticket and telling them to go to court nine months later? What a joke!”
Even if Llpoh’s right that we’re in a global race to the bottom (and I think he mostly is), I’d rather have Trump managing our decline (and ditching free-trade orthodoxy on occasion) than some Uniparty manager who actually seeks our decline, on a relative basis, as our getting our rightful comeuppance. If he can stop most illegal immigration and convert us to a more merit-based entry system, it would help the millions of recent arrivals assimilate, which would help people of all hues. Keeping out the animals from shithole countries (which is not everyone from shithole countries, just the animals) is necessary, even if no one else will state the obvious.
Good comment Iska
Definitely a race to the bottom, currency-wise…to lead us to the NEW system, worse (more controlled and monitored) than the old One!
Damn those pesky immigrants and those people who pay them under the table….government needs its cut, so IT’S time to demonize that demographic from one angle to condition the public understand the need for a cashless society.
Deep state… jesus we can’t even assign a descriptive name for what controls all this. (((deep state))) is about as close as one can come without bringing the entire system down on your ass. And even then you will get banned off many sites just for using parentheses! Did you know that this term only began to spike on google trends 15 months ago? I’d been seeing it for years.
The article is like watching the baron Munchausen movie, haven’t figured out the hole in the grotto yet, but I’m sure it’s important.
Trump, savior or destroyer? This has been the question since he was first nominated. I think it’s a little of both, but not with the absoulute certainty of a Q prediction; this will not be an amusement park ride where the end is certain or happy.
Yes, he is a destroyer, but not in the way of Attila, as his destruction is slow (painfully) and with purpose. In fact the longer it takes the more I am gaining confidence there is a wisdom behind his madness, as each battle falls by the wayside in his favor (he’s crazy, he’s unfit, he will destroy the economy, he’s poking the little dictator and will bring us to WWIII, he hates families and is tearing mothers from their children).
Savior? If he can continue to “win,” he may win the war, which brings us to the next question: will he become a Napoleon, or a Washington? Power is a difficult thing to wield and an even more difficult thing to lay aside, but if Trump can receive his victory in the spirit of Cincinnatus, there is hope for our future; if he can win the war.
Bill Bonner is right. The reason I voted for The Donald was I wanted him to stomp everything in his path, like Godzilla did to Tokyo. The USA is getting it’s just deserts.
Bonner’s supercilious comments about Trump’s statements being “nonsensical” merely establish one thing, which is that Bonner wants to remain acceptable to the ruling cabal….
@ rainbird
Be careful what you wish for
The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.
Frank Zappa
All the tough talking patriots who’re ready to grab their rifles and reclaim the constitution, will be lining up at the DMV to get their vaccines and their RFID chip implanted when they’re told they can’t renew their drivers license without it.
Trump is the Dufus that shows the Hand Behind the Curtain. At some point, the theme park gets into such disrepair that The Keeper has to come out of the Main Office and supervise the repairs.
Its time to chlorinate the gene pool, and get the rats out of the pantry.
The government has screwed up so much for so long that those who MUST support it for it to survive no longer do; the vast majority are now aware that those who hate them are governing them. This is unsustainable for any great length of time.
Either they reform or they perish. Totalitarian rule is a possibility, but really chancy when the population is armed; any attempts to revoke or evade the 2nd Amendment must be resisted – and the Tree of Liberty gets a shower.
It is long past time for a t@xp@yer revolt. You may say “they take the taxes out of my paycheck anyway” or “My house gets property taxed whether I like it or not”, I hear ya. But you CAN fight back. First thing to STOP doing is buying shit you don’t need.
“Brunhilda …. Clovis …. Galswintha …. Fredegund” —— names in the article
Now I know where Kneegrows go to name their chil’ren.
Addressing our un-payable debt …. that’s destroying furniture.
Addressing the FED …. that’s destroying furniture.
Ending or reworking NATO ….. that’s destroying furniture.
Getting rid of many worthless government agencies …. that’s destroying furniture.
Stop kissing Joo Ass …. that’s destroying furniture.
Trump isn’t destroying furniture. He’s just rearranging it.
Rearranging deck chairs on the U.S.S. AMERICA…who struck the Creature from Jekyll island way back in 1913!
Mine as well have a military parade to go along with the band playing as the ship goes down.
That was a real load. I have no idea why anybody thinks this BS artist from Agora Inc. is anything but one of the parasites we despise.
Read Prouty’s book.
Impossible to tell if it is true, but the internal dynamics are completely consistent with bureaucracy, secrecy and abuse of power.
What, no “Meh.”?