Trump, like a total shit-magnet, has got himself well and truly buggered by the lawfare attacks that his moronic personality has enabled against him.
Yeah, some of this looks a little unfair, boo-fucking-hoo. But then again, Trump has always been a bit of a c**t (or idiot) when it comes to business, so it's easy to just see this as merely instant karma.
Anyway, whatever your opinion is on the "rights" and "wrongs" of this is not that important. What is important is the very real threat these civil judgments against Trump pose to his financial health and political prospects -- not to say his mental health.
Yeah, some of this looks a little unfair, boo-fucking-hoo. But then again, Trump has always been a bit of a c**t (or idiot) when it comes to business, so it's easy to just see this as merely instant karma.
Anyway, whatever your opinion is on the "rights" and "wrongs" of this is not that important. What is important is the very real threat these civil judgments against Trump pose to his financial health and political prospects -- not to say his mental health.
It is almost certain that Trump's financial situation is a big throbbing bag of manure, if not an outright dumpster fire, so his options are extremely limited. Either he has to pay outright the approx. $450 million and rising (with interest) awarded against him, or he has to persuade someone with very deep pockets to put up a bond promising to pay that amount, pending ongoing appeals.
This will mean either a "fire sale" of all Trump's assets, which still might fall short, as prices tend to plummet when assets are dumped on the market, or else it will mean Trump selling his soul, as no one will do it based on Trump being a sound risk and decent human being.
But on the plus side for Trump, he has never been more politically important than he is today.
Back in 2016 he was just a spoiler attempt, hyped by the Russians, to throw a bit of mud in "President" Hillary Clinton's eye, as she coasted to victory. Nobody in the Kremlin expected him to actually win. The fact that he did probably had something to do with the sheer brilliance of many of the people involved in the Alternative Right at the time.
In 2020, Trump was more important than in 2016, but he still wasn't as important as he is now, for one simple reason: the Kremlin hadn't got itself bogged down in a war that could destroy it in 2020.
For Vladimir Putin and the Russian oligarchy that he heads, "Trump 2024" has become the last sliver of hope before defeat, demoralisation, and defenestration. If Trump and his campaign go down in flames, the last hope of the Putin gang is extinguished.
So, based on this, what is likely to happen? It is almost certain that Russia will use whatever assets it has in the West, and especially the United States, to assist what has now become its chief asset, namely the Trump campaign.
To shore up this crumbling edifice, what they need to do is first of all clinch the GOP primary and remove all other possible competitors. Only one is left now, Nikki Haley. As long as she's in the fight, she will exert a disproportionate cost on Trump.
Next, they have to stop Trump's financial situation collapsing underneath his feet. Essentially this means kicking those civil lawsuit judgments as far down the road as possible, say, until after the Presidential election. The easiest way to do this is to appeal, which has already been done, and to pay a bond to cover the amount of the awards, which definitely hasn't been done.
The reason this hasn't been done is because Trump can't do it without destroying himself financially, and nobody in their right mind would be willing to pick up the tab for half a billion dollars. The only person who would be willing to do that on its merits is Vladimir Putin, but of course he can't, due to laws and sanctions, so he needs a very remote US proxy to do it. But who would this be?
There is only one name that springs to mind, namely Elon Musk, the so called "richest man in the world" (he's not -- it's actually Putin).
It has been widely remarked upon that Musk is clearly in Putin's camp. This is either because he believes that Putin is the "good guy" in the ongoing slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent human beings (unlikely), or because Putin and his Chinese friend Xi Jinping have some kind of leverage on him.
My guess is that Putin has plenty of "compromising" material on Elon Musk, as it is standard operating practice for the KGB and its successors to get dirt on anybody of any importance in any country that has a bearing on Russian power. Exactly what the nature of this material may be is anyone's guess, but often it is of a sexual nature. Sadly, the only thing that really ticks that box today is something like an underage honeytrap op, as I don't think anyone would care if it was revealed that Musk had shagged some Bolshoi ballerina or had gay sex with his chauffer while in Moscow.
But, in addition to this, it is quite clear that China also has a lot of simple economic leverage on Musk, with much of his business empire on Chinese territory, etc. Also, China is well placed with EVs to put Tesla out of business if and when it wants.
Both China and Russia are in a position to get Musk to dance to their tune, and in this case, that probably means getting Musk to stump up for Trump.
This could easily be done under the flag of "free speech" and "protecting the US election from interference," with Musk claiming that he is stumping up for Trump in order to offset "unjustified lawfare attacks on the democratic process," etc., etc.
Right now, I'm not seeing any sign of this actually happening, so maybe Musk was always a good boy when he visited Moscow, but assuming that he is actually under the thumb of the Kremlin and given that Trump is definitely under the thumb of these lawfare attacks, it seems a far from impossible scenario.
UPDATE: On 5th March, 2024, it was reported that Elon Musk had met Donald Trump in Florida on the weekend of the 2nd and 3rd of March to discuss funding, confirming the points made in this article.
Both China and Russia are in a position to get Musk to dance to their tune, and in this case, that probably means getting Musk to stump up for Trump.
This could easily be done under the flag of "free speech" and "protecting the US election from interference," with Musk claiming that he is stumping up for Trump in order to offset "unjustified lawfare attacks on the democratic process," etc., etc.
Right now, I'm not seeing any sign of this actually happening, so maybe Musk was always a good boy when he visited Moscow, but assuming that he is actually under the thumb of the Kremlin and given that Trump is definitely under the thumb of these lawfare attacks, it seems a far from impossible scenario.
UPDATE: On 5th March, 2024, it was reported that Elon Musk had met Donald Trump in Florida on the weekend of the 2nd and 3rd of March to discuss funding, confirming the points made in this article.
____________________
Colin Liddell is the Chief Editor of Neokrat and the author of Interviews & Obituaries, a collection of encounters with the dead and the famous. Support his work by buying it here (USA), here (UK), and here (Australia).
No comments:
Post a Comment
All Comments MUST include a name (either real or sock). Also don't give us an easy excuse to ignore your brilliant comment by using "shitposty" language.