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Daniel McAdams discusses “Washington’s War on Trump”

Big Al
February 15, 2017
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Washington’s War on Trump?

Dear Friends of the Ron Paul Institute:

I was in Washington, D.C. over the weekend for the wedding of an old Ron Paul Congressional office colleague and in the course of my stay had several opportunities to get a sense of the town where I spent 14 working years. There is the bustle of those engaged in — or contemplating — filling up the many vacancies produced by the change of administrations. Who’s in? Who’s out? Whose influence is rising; whose is falling? There is also a sense in Washington that only in Washington can any kind of policy work of any importance be done. I got that when I explained what the Ron Paul Institute and the Liberty Report were up to down in Texas.

Why is that? Washington is filled with think tanks that seek to influence Washington. Most of those “thinkers” were once policymakers and will soon be policymakers again. Their analysis is therefore designed to influence policy in a way that benefits the status quo and thus heightens the analyst’s chances of returning to a coveted “policymaking” position. The think tank sinecures are funded by giant corporations which benefit financially orders of magnitude more than they spend on think tanks when the analyst recommends more US intervention abroad or the need to “rebuild” the military. It’s a racket.

Those engaged in the above merry-go-round simply cannot imagine it worth anyone’s time to bother focusing efforts away from Washington and toward the rest of the country (which is saddled with the bills Washington rings up). They are in the top-down world of policy authoritarianism and we are in the bottom-up world of education and the power of ideas.

We are seeing evidence of this clash in these early dramatic days of the Trump Administration. The insiders, including the intelligence community and what we call the deep state, feel threatened and upset by the new President’s threats to overturn this status quo. This is particularly true in the President’s repeated promise to get along better with Russia. Too much of Washington has a vested interest in a new Cold War to let that happen. The intelligence community appears at war with its own commander in chief over Russia. Threat exaggeration is critical to budgets and careers.

President Trump’s National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, was the first victim of the anti-Russia witch hunt that has drawn together a dangerous alliance of the deep state, the neocons, and mainline Democrats who cannot accept their defeat at the polls in November. Flynn’s fall was orchestrated by the intelligence community, through the interception and leak of a conversation the incoming top official had with the Russian ambassador to the United States. The complicit media amplified the false narrative that what would otherwise be expected during a transition — communication with important foreign governments — was somehow a nefarious attempt to…well they don’t say. Only that he should not have dared communicate to foreign governments before January 20th.

Only that’s not true either. Flynn met with Israeli intelligence officials during the transition to discuss policy on Iran and thus far there has not been a peep about possible violations of the Logan Act or anything else over it.

Surprisingly, the otherwise solidly neoconservative writer Eli Lake captured accurately the surreal reality of a government at war with its president:

In normal times, the idea that US officials entrusted with our most sensitive secrets would selectively disclose them to undermine the White House would alarm those worried about creeping authoritarianism. Imagine if intercepts of a call between Obama’s incoming national security adviser and Iran’s foreign minister leaked to the press before the nuclear negotiations began? The howls of indignation would be deafening.

Since when was it criminal for an incoming administration to talk to those with whom they will soon be formally engaging? As someone wrote on Twitter, we may as well shut down all the embassies if actually talking to other countries is to be criminalized.

The president is on the ropes and he appears to be buckling under the pressure. Why didn’t he stand by Flynn? And why is he all of a sudden turning on a dime and making very aggressive pronouncements toward Russia including absurd demands that Russia “give back” Crimea to Ukraine? He even Tweeted this morning that Obama was too soft on Russia!

These are dangerous and extraordinary times. The President openly Tweets criticisms of the actions of the intelligence community and the intelligence community “leaks” damning but unsubstantiated information designed to undermine the president. Are we seeing the snarling teeth of the deep state begin to be bared? Could President Trump crack down on an intelligence community at least partly gone rogue even if he wants to? Stay tuned.

To continue our important mission, especially in these difficult times, we count on you. We can only continue to publish one of the premier foreign policy websites, to make our case for liberty far and wide in the broadcast media, to produce a daily pro-peace broadcast seen by millions, to continue to put on important public events bringing pro-liberty people together, like the April Symposium, with your support.

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Stay tuned for more and please don’t hesitate to email me with questions or comments.

Daniel McAdams
Executive Director
Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity

Discussion
12 Comments
    CFS
    Feb 15, 2017 15:25 AM

    As I said yesterday, what the newsmedia is NOT focused on is the Surveillance tactic used.
    NSA said it did NOT listen in on conversations. LIARS.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCHKAdAncgc

      GH
      Feb 15, 2017 15:59 PM

      Of course they’re liars, as revealed by whistle-blowers like Binney, Drake, Snowden, and others.

      They’ve broken their oath to uphold the Constitution by violating the fourth amendment.

      Clapper perjured himself to Congress and faced no repercussions.

      People protest a sensible temporary immigration ban, but not the wars that created the refugees, nor their government’s creation of a surveillance system that the Stasi, KGB, or Orwell could have scarcely imagined.

      This is why I don’t see the point of belaboring the ‘Islam a religion of peace?’ angle, when we’ve got much more pressing issues. In fact, fear of terrorism, much of which has been fomented by these same liars, has been used to commit these crimes against all of us.

        DC
        Feb 15, 2017 15:13 PM

        +1

    CFS
    Feb 15, 2017 15:59 AM

    Immigrant Workers, Families To Protest By Staying Home
    Associated Press – 12 minutes ago
    PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Organizers in cities across the U.S. are telling immigrants to miss class, miss work and not patronize businesses Thursday.

    “A Day Without Immigrants” is meant to show how critical they are to the U.S. economy and the country’s way of life. Actions are planned in cities including Philadelphia, Washington, and Austin, Texas.

    CFS
    Feb 15, 2017 15:01 PM

    WASHINGTON (AP) — A top executive at the company building the controversial Dakota Access pipeline on Wednesday compared pipeline opponents to terrorists.

    Joey Mahmoud, executive vice president of Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners, said protesters have “assaulted numerous pipeline personnel,” destroyed millions of dollars’ worth of construction equipment and even fired a pistol at law enforcement during months of demonstrations against the 1,200-mile pipeline, which will carry North Dakota oil to an Illinois terminal.

    CFS
    Feb 15, 2017 15:10 PM

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Fast food CEO Andrew Puzder’s nomination to be President Donald Trump’s secretary of labor appears to be in serious trouble.

    On the eve of Puzder’s long-delayed confirmation hearing, some Republicans said Wednesday they’re concerned over his failure to pay taxes for five years on a former housekeeper who wasn’t authorized to work in the U.S.

    One Republican senator said more than six GOP senators asked the White House to not go through with Puzder’s hearing Thursday because they don’t see themselves voting to confirm him. That would put the nomination in jeopardy, since Senate Republicans have a 52-48 majority and Democrats are solidly opposed.

    CFS comment:
    One down, (Flynn), now the next to go?

    Trump will never drain the swamp by giving in to Preibus and the other swamp-creatures.

    CFS
    Feb 15, 2017 15:14 PM

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s testimony to the House Financial Services Committee (all times local):

    ___

    1 p.m.

    For a number of years, Republican House members have been pushing legislation that would impose limits on the independence of the Federal Reserve in various ways. These include requiring it to follow a numerical rule for setting interest rates and subjecting the Fed’s interest rate decisions to review by congressional auditors.

    These proposals never moved forward with a Democrat in the White House. Now with Republican President Donald Trump, GOP lawmakers are making new efforts to win congressional passage of their proposals.

    AJ
    Feb 15, 2017 15:16 PM

    Seemed more like an own goal than a witch hunt

    Donald Trump wants to know who’s causing all these problems. It’s Donald Trump.
    http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/2/14/14609980/donald-trump-own-worst-enemy

      GH
      Feb 15, 2017 15:12 PM

      Nonsense, AJ.

      There has never been such a concerted, vicious attack on a president. Mountains have been made out of molehills, and they still haven’t even come up with anything truly damning. But the media can twist reality and paint him as badly as they want to, and many lap it up.

      This article is pure innuendo to defame Flynn. No substance. And I’m quite dubious about Flynn myself.

      What’s your stance on the known support of ISIS by Clinton and Obama–they knew, for instance, that US allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar, whom we arm, fund and arm them? Why did the media not make an issue of this?

      Why does the media do a full-court press on Trump for sexism, over a totally misconstrued comment, while they give Hillary a pass on laughing over knowingly getting a violent child rapist off on a couple months of time served?

      It’s pathetic that America is being played so easily.

        DC
        Feb 15, 2017 15:21 PM

        Again, GH, +1

    b
    Feb 15, 2017 15:24 PM

    mole hills into mountains, Celente agrees with you GH.

    He also agrees with Bird concerning the EU (I know, not popular, too bad)

    https://youtu.be/OORHlfOTpYk