Trump's World
“There's a Russian saying, 'If you use a knife or a bayonet and it's soft, go all the way. But if it's hard pull back.' Let's be hard.” ~ Finland’s President Alexander Stubb
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The doctor says I still must rest my voice, so hopefully I can start recording again within the next few days.
After last Friday’s disastrous meeting between Zelensky and Trump, I had thought I’d write a piece about Zelensky’s ‘Struggle Session’ as I like to call it. But there was so much emotional writing out there—so much—I thought I’d wait a bit until the steam blew off.
In the meantime, I did a ton of research. And since Trump’s address to Congress last night, I’ve decided to combine it all together into one essay.
I have to start with the observation that wow, in what world would you have ever thought CNN would be blasting Democrats for how rudely they ignored Trump's cabinet during his speech or put it in a headline like this: Democrats confront their powerlessness as Trump flexes authority.
Trump’s speech hit all the right buttons, showcasing the reasons why Americans voted for him. After Biden’s whispers and outbursts, Trump filled the room with vitality and action, energizing the Republican side of the room while the Democrats sunk deeper into their seats.
Who wouldn’t cheer the news that the number of illegals crossing the southern border have plunged to a level not seen in at least 25 years. And, in fact, I got that news from CBS, not some right-wing “alternative media.” It’s refreshing to be able to get facts, not a spin, from mainstream media. That alone is something to celebrate.
But did the Democrats applaud what they know is one topic almost all Americans are united on? No. They held up protest signs and frowned and murmured under their breath. At least those that were still in the room. Many had left after booing and causing quite a ruckus. Al Green shook his cane in what he must have thought was a menacing manner, but it just looked embarrassing.
Here is the dour crowd:
After the speech, Senator Elissa Slotkin, a first-term Democrat from Michigan, warned Americans: “Mr. Trump is going to make you pay in every part of your life.”
Nobody cared. In fact, Newsweek reported that Donald Trump's Congress Speech Was a Huge Hit with Americans. Wow, what a change for Newsweek.
As Trump likes to say, it was good television.
How could you not cheer for the American heroes he honored. Real, ordinary people, like JD Daniels, the boy who has brain cancer. Seeing JD’s face light up as Trump made him an honorary Secret Service agent, you’d think even the Democrats would smile, maybe clap a little bit. But they remained stone-faced.
One of the most important moments of the address was when Trump read aloud President Zelensky’s letter of reconciliation assuring President Trump that he wants to sign the minerals deal.
The president then went around the room, acknowledging and thanking his cabinet members.
Everything was great until the cameras fell upon Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“The Panama Canal was built by Americans for Americans, not for others,” Trump said. “We didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.”
Turning to Rubio, Trump said with a chuckle, “Now we know who to blame if anything goes wrong.”
Rubio’s face said it all:
Despite Trump’s chuckle, he knew, and everyone else knew that it wasn’t a joke. The message was clear: Do not fail me, do not disobey me, do not EVER seek to undermine me.
This was because, in case you don’t remember, Rubio was once a bitter rival of Trump when he was a senator, running against Trump for president in 2016. Here’s what he had to say back then about the conflict in Ukraine:
Ukraine is not invading Russia. It’s defending itself from a Russian invasion. And that principle of self-defense is, I think, a fundamental one.
Our nation is never isolated from the world. What happens across the planet can have a greater impact on your family than what happens down the street.
Vladimir Putin’s not a president, he’s a dictator.
… once people learn the true nature of Vladimir Putin, my hope is that … Trump will change his opinion and his views.”
At the time, Trump responded by calling Rubio a “lightweight, totally driven by what the public thinks.”
Yes, just like almost all politicians, Rubio is a lightweight. He knows how to sway with the winds, this way and that. He swayed to the winning side and now he has to prove his loyalty and not mess up.
Marco Rubio wasn’t the only one called out last night. When it came to acknowledging Attorney General Pam Bondi, the cameras did not fall on her. She was not given the opportunity to stand in the spotlight to loud applause. She has been relegated to the hot seat, due to the lame release of the Epstein Files, as I wrote about here. At least she could have given the lack of content a better spin.
Even Elon Musk suffered humiliation. Gleefully taking photos from the peanut gallery, he was reprimanded by a security official, as taking photos is forbidden. No doubt he thought he was immune to such mundane rules and was looking forward to posting those photos on X today. You can watch his smackdown here.
In Trump’s World, not even the richest man in the world (on paper), is immune to disgrace. The higher you climb, the further you fall, and Musk would do well to remember that.
In just one short month, Trump’s successes are impressive. Despite his warning to Rubio, the Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings Limited announced Tuesday that it is selling 90% of its interests in the Panama Ports Company to the BlackRock consortium. Trump also mentioned his invitation to Greenland to join the United States and how important it is for world security. “We’ll get it one way or the other,” he vowed.
A bit odd that security means military buildup in Greenland while it means a minerals deal in Ukraine— a country that is actually at war with our supposed enemy Russia, a country that presumably we would be defending ourselves against in Greenland. In actuality, it’s really all about minerals, which I wrote about here.
But wait, let’s get back to Blackrock. Where have I heard that name before? Oh yes, up until a year ago, every single conservative pundit was warning about Blackrock and how it was taking over the world, along with the World Economic Forum and therefore was evil and could not be trusted.
But since the new line is “America First” and “Make America Great Again” and Blackrock is an American company, we celebrate its growing dominance instead of trashing it.
As a reminder of what Blackrock actually is, I wrote about it in 2022 in The Ringmaster, The Mercenary & the Fortune Teller:
BlackRock has been called “the most powerful institution in the financial system,” “the most powerful company in the world” and the “secret power.”
It is the world’s largest asset manager and “shadow bank,” larger than the world’s largest bank (which is in China), with over $11 trillion in assets.
BlackRock has also been called “almost a shadow government”, but no part of it belongs to the government.
BlackRock is not regulated thanks to CEO Larry Fink’s long and cozy relationship with government officials.
In March 2020, Blackrock was awarded a no-bid contract under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) to deploy a $454 billion slush fund established by the Treasury in partnership with the Federal Reserve. This fund in turn could be leveraged to provide over $4 trillion in Federal Reserve credit.
While the public was distracted with protests, riots and lockdowns, BlackRock emerged to become the “fourth branch of government,” managing the controls to the central bank’s print-on-demand fiat money.
BlackRock is the largest investor in weapon manufacturers through its iShares U.S. Aerospace and Defense ETF.
BlackRock is one of the largest stakeholders in Pfizer, and during Covid, its revenue rose by 19%.
Countries have borders, and armies have traditionally fought over those borders. To the public, the United States is a rival of China and Russia, and we protect our borders at all costs. Corporations, however, don’t care about borders, they only care about deals. And we now have a dealmaker for president.
In 2021, while we were told we were enemies of China due to the coronavirus being unleashed by them, Blackrock, the company with the coziest relationship with the United States government, as we have seen, was making deals with China, and the US knew it:
In August 2021, BlackRock set up its first mutual fund in China after raising over one billion dollars from 111,000 Chinese investors. BlackRock became the first foreign-owned company allowed by the Chinese government to operate a wholly owned business in China’s mutual fund industry.
In 2021, BlackRock was an investor in two companies that had been blacklisted by the US government for human rights abuses against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. In one case (Hikvision) BlackRock increased its level of investment after the company was blacklisted.
We tend to think of dangerous, cold-blooded mercenaries as those who join organizations like Blackwater (interesting how similar the name is to Blackrock). Mercenaries kill for money. They have no conscience. They are often romanticized and glorified in movies.
But the most dangerous of all are the guys behind the mercenaries. The nerds who run the corporations, guys like Blackrock’s Larry Fink. He’s old school but now there’s the new boys in town, the tech giants. Zuckerberg, Musk, Bezos, who would have nothing to do with Trump during his first presidency but now sat directly behind him at his inauguration, vying for attention, sucking up at every chance they get.
These guys are the truly merciless mercenaries to whom the existential idea of money, not the physical thrill of the battlefield, is the driving force of their lives. They eat and breathe “money is power.” They love nothing better than to play with it, manipulate it. They can lose a hundred billion one day and gain it back the next and it’s all part of the game. Most of the money is an illusion anyway, figures on pieces of paper. They are just the best con artists.
Elon Musk’s worth is now fluctuating between $300 to $400 billion or so. Trump’s worth is a mere $7 billion. Xi Jinping is worth a bit more at $15 billion. Nobody really knows Putin’s worth, but it’s said to be around $200 billion. Trump has the least and perhaps it means he has the most to prove. But when it comes down to it, this breakdown of money shows that power is more than just what it says on a piece of paper—although you still have to have a lot if you want in on the game.
In March 2022, in response to the war in Ukraine, Fink wrote in a letter to shareholders:
“The world is undergoing a transformation: Russia’s brutal attack on Ukraine has upended the world order that had been in place since the end of the Cold War, more than 30 years ago. The war has put an end to the globalization we have experienced over the last three decades.”
Fink predicted dark days ahead, spurring countries to become less dependent on outside resources.
And indeed, he was right. We now have Trump with his message of isolationism. Why should the United States pay for so much when others, Europe in particular, aren’t carrying their own weight? And it would seem his words have awakened Europe from its lethargy as they scramble to increase their military spending. It’s been the same with the tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Everyone is complaining, but so far, it seems as if they will cave to Trump. At least for now.
Trump is proving his power, his dominance over the West. Most importantly, he is displaying that power and dominance for the sake of Putin and Xi.
Nobody knows more than Trump that money talks. It is precisely because the United States spends so much that it has owned the world, so to speak. I doubt Trump has any intention of leaving NATO, or if he does, it will mean the formation of something else. The war in Ukraine has brought Europe to its knees, to the advantage of the United States. which has built up more military power in Europe, not less. Sending military aid to Ukraine has enabled the United States to modernize its own military. Ukraine has been used as a testing ground for new weapons, no matter how many people died on either side in the process. The same can be said for Russia, and for China as it quietly builds up its maritime fleets, awaiting the best opportunity to invade Taiwan. The war has elevated all three superpowers, the United States, Russia and China, to new heights.
The three superpowers are forming an alliance, however uneasy it might be, that I would call the Triangle of Power. They are making deals, just as they have always done, just as Blackrock and other powerhouse companies have done, just as Dr. Fauci did on behalf of the US government, for example, by contracting out gain of function research to China.
The biggest difference now is that whereas before United States presidents have always been portrayed as leaders of the free word, battling the dictators of Russia and China, now Trump sees himself as the same as Putin and Xi Jinping. He admires their power, and he wants to be like them. Together, these three men are making the rules, just as Zelensky is being cut out of negotiations about his own country; these three men are defining the new world order.
Last night, the Democrats sat there on one side of the room as Trump spoke, hating him because they knew, as much as they don’t want to admit it, that their relevancy is ending. Not just the Democrats, but all politicians have become irrelevant. The Democrats gambled with their ‘woke’ ideology and they lost, big time.
Americans are sick and tired of the usual empty promises of change. By electing Trump, they showed that they are ready and willing to follow a leader who, yes, talks big, but who also acts. I am not sure people understand or care about where he is leading them, just as long as he leads them somewhere away from where they are now. Just as long as he doesn’t behave like Joe Biden who became a caricature of everything that’s wrong with politicians; a dying breed, crawling out of hiding to mumble in confusion, yell a little bit at the opposition, make empty promises and clueless demands, like insisting men can be women, and then shuffling back to their country estate to rest up after such tiring tirades. All while the world burns around them and they just don’t care.
Trump seems to care. That’s what he says and the people who voted for him believe it. They love his energy. His fortitude. His brashness. He’s shaking up the world. He wants everyone to know it’s his world now and while the rest of the world finds that terrifying, Americans love it. After all, if he can bring peace when we stand on the brink of World War III, won’t he have been proved right? The world might hate us now, but they will thank us in the end for saving them once again.
You don’t see Putin blowing his horn the way Trump does. And you definitely don’t see Xi Jinping doing it. Trump has called Zelensky a dictator for not holding elections in four years, when he knows very well that elections are impossible during this war. On the other hand, he refuses to call Putin a dictator when he hasn’t held elections in 20 years.
That’s because Zelensky is a nobody trying to be a somebody while Trump wants everyone to know he is a somebody, on the same level as Putin and Xi Jinping. Of course, Trump can’t say “I’m a dictator like them,” so he has to turn on the weaker one and accuse him of it. The scapegoat.
Zelensky was a comedian and the star of a TV show that incredibly foretold his rise to the presidency of Ukraine.
He is now made fun of for that. His struggle session in the Oval Office started with his disrespectful attire and his small stature.
When asked by a hostile reporter at that fateful meeting, “Why don’t you wear a suit? A lot of Americans have problems with you not respecting the office,” Zelenskyy said he’ll “wear the costume after the war is finished." His English isn’t very good, “costume” in Ukrainian means suit, but those who heard what he said mistook him, once again, for being disrespectful.
Notice in the photo below, Zelensky was wearing the exact same outfit when he met with Germany’s Chancellor, Olaf Sholtz in Munich last month that he wore in the Oval Office. Notice Elon Musk wearing his signature t-shirt and “Dark MAGA” hat, as he spoke at a recent cabinet meeting in the White House, while everyone else was wearing a suit and tie:
Elon Musk is forgiven because he is a golden boy. For now. Just remember, the higher you climb, the further you fall.
You have to admire the spunky Ukrainian government for wasting no time in releasing t-shirts for sale to help the war effort, bearing Zelensky’s “historic words” – “I’ll wear the costume when this war is over.”
Trump should approve since he did the same thing, raking in almost $10 million off of merchandise with his mugshot.
Zelensky was then attacked by Vance for not saying “thank you” to the president, even though he said thank you 33 times during the course of the meeting. But it will never be enough..
Who is to say Zelensky hasn’t changed since the days when he was the silly comedian gyrating in suggestive outfits. No sooner was he elected to the heady role of president and Ukraine was plunged into war. A war he didn’t start. A war, if we are honest, the United States encouraged and has reaped the benefit from—not for Americans, but for American companies.
The United States had a long history of interfering in Ukraine.
In US President Barack Obama’s February 2, 2015, interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakiria, he admitted that the United States “had brokered a deal to transition power in Ukraine.”
The United States government has been very good at going into foreign countries where it wanted to gain control and fomenting social conflict and violence, furthering impoverishment and thus dependence of those countries on the United States. These countries are then “saved” by loans. The United States is currently the world’s most brutal and powerful loan shark.
It was IMF programs (IMF programs are designed to provide short-term balance-of-payments assistance to member countries) that did Eastern European countries in and started them on the road to total compliance. As a result, bread prices skyrocketed overnight 300%, the cost of electricity went up 600%, transportation rose 900%. Bending under this impossible weight, NATO built up armies within eastern European countries, pressing in upon Russia when it had promised not to do this.
Both sides have their point of view in this conflict. Putin felt threatened by NATO’s broken promises of expansion across eastern Europe and that’s why he finally invaded, or so he says. Perhaps he just took an opportunity to seize Crimea and then continue with Donbas. That wasn’t Zelensky’s fault. He inherited a problem that had started years before. His insistence on security assurances from Trump is understandable since Putin had broken agreements twenty-five times in the past ten years.
Trump’s comeback to Zelensky is, “It’s different now,” because, well, “I’m Trump.” Maybe so, but Trump will only be in power for four years, and then what? What about after Ukraine gives away everything, is plundered by both Russia and the United States, with rumors being that Trump is making deals with Putin behind Zelensky’s back, and then, Trump is gone. Chances are Putin won’t be gone. Or maybe, Trump, the dictator stays. Who’s to say what the future holds?
We have become very callous. We worship money and power. This is why scumbags like Andrew Tate are so popular. We used to admire the little guy, the David against Goliath. Now we make fun of him.
Today, I read the words of Andriy Parkhomenko, a Ukrainian soldier who left his job as a manager of an international financial company in Dublin, Ireland, to return to fight in his native Ukraine:
"Unfortunately international law does not exist any longer, traditional diplomacy is dead, global leaders guarantees have no meaning, treaties signed can be ignored and burned to ashes, this is the reality but it does not mean that Ukrainians are ready to give up our values and honor."
"We are absolutely clear that we may potentially lose on a battlefield, but we would rather die trying to save the nation and the state, rather than just giving up in the oval office or other cabinets, and then being destroyed quietly by Russians behind the curtains."
In the movies, when the little guy stands up, he inspires others to do the same and together, they defeat the enemy against insurmountable odds. But in real life, nobody backs the little guy because most people have no real convictions, and they don’t want any trouble. They stay silent and watch as the little guy falls and then, they often join in, taunting him, beating him, just glad it isn’t them.
Zelensky’s struggle session was a success. He had no choice but to come back begging to sign the deal. His country was already sold off long ago. It’s payback time. And the payback is minerals and whatever else the U.S. decides it wants.
The United States has these types of minerals, but it will never mine for them in any kind of large quantity because of how bad it is for the environment. For the sake of its citizens, those in power, those who run these large corporations to whom the politicians are beholden, have to appear to care about “clean energy” and “climate change.” They turn to countries with less restrictions, like China, or to poorer countries, like those in Africa, to pollute their earth and take advantage of their people, even children, to work the mines.
The citizens of the United States can close their eyes to the injustice of it all, just as long as we get our smart phones and our fancy cars and our satellites in the sky, the weapons that protect us, and our dreams of colonizing Mars. In The Magic of Rare Earth Elements, I wrote about the horrors of the mining industry. It is now the tech industry, even more than the weapons industry, that craves these minerals and metals to feed the insatiable appetite of the machines they are creating.
As of this month, the world’s largest weapon manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, has a market cap of $108.31 Billion. In comparison Microsoft is valued at $3.1 trillion. Apple is valued at $2.6 trillion. (1)
This is what matters. The money and the power of these companies and the billionaires who control them.
Zelensky is nothing more than a bothersome gnat to be squashed once he loses his value. Nobody cares that he is fighting for the freedom of his nation. That is something to be laughed at now. It doesn’t matter that in a just world, the invader, Putin, would pay. Not the country that has been laid to waste by an invasion. In a just world, the president of the United States would stand up to a dictator like Putin.
But this is not a just world, it is a world of deals. This is Trump’s World, where he has “all the cards.”
Or does he?
Finland’s President Alexander Stubb gave what I consider to be one of the best assessments of Trump and Putin’s jostling for control over Ukraine.
You can listen to what he has to say in this short video. He is a seasoned diplomat—and by the way, notice how excellent his English is, compared to the rough around the edges Zelensky:
Some of his comments from the video:
"… neighboring Russia won’t stop with Ukraine if it’s not countered with strength in any negotiations over a ceasefire or peace.
“I don’t think anyone can trust Vladimir Putin, but don’t underestimate the capacity of Donald Trump to negotiate a deal and a tough deal. The most important thing we have to understand is that if that deal shows any kind of weakness or loss for Ukraine, we have all lost.”
“The only thing that Vladimir Putin understands is power.”
In the interview, Stubbs recites this Russian saying:
“If you use a knife or a bayonet and its soft go all the way. But if it's hard, pull back.”
Stubb then says, “Let's be hard.”
In Trump’s World, hard means joining forces with the two other tough guys and turning on your allies. Will this bring peace or more chaos? Will Trump end up a hero or a villain. I guess we’ll find out.
An incredibly well put together piece of political turmoil with twists and turns that make Lombard St. in San Francisco look like a straight road. So incisive that it begs the question of why so many citizens of the world continue to be so historically ignorant, uninformed, and caught between the good and the evil that has always been an existential threat to the very life of the planet. Bravo, Karen. A marvelous collection of facts, data, and honesty.
I found your article interesting. There were some things in it that I would dispute. You assert that conservatives are "celebrating Blackrock". I would ABSOLUTELY disagree with that assessment. Sometimes, in politics, there are two unpalatable choices, one of which is more expedient than the other. That is the case in the situation with the Panama Canal. Jimmy Carter was a nice man who was politically idiotic. He was a HORRIBLE president and giving away an American asset like the Panama Canal that is CRITICAL to our national defense was terrible stewardship and yet another terrible political decision. It should NEVER have been allowed to happen. The problem is, now that it needs to be protected, it opens us to having to rely on the egregious alliance with Blackrock, since we can NOT allow China to control it.