Saturday, April 08, 2017

War in the White House

There are enough reports from BOTH sides of the spectrum that I think there IS a war, not a battle, going on in the White House, and it’s PERSONAL, between the Kushner faction and the Bannon faction.
The story which elucidates this, if true, has Bannon telling Kushner they are fighting and there is no compromise possible because he, Kushner, is actually a democrat.
So far as it’s possible to tell, we have Kushner (hedge fund) and his types, Gary Cohn, Mnuchin, McMasters, vs Breitbart types.
This is a briefing about the RESULTS of the missile strike in Syria. Clockwise we have I don’t know, Kushner, Mnuchin, Wilbur Ross (Sec of Commerce?? Why?), I don’t know(behind), Trump, Tillerson, Bannon (furthest from the table), I don’t know,I don’t know, Dina Powell, I don’t know, McMasters, and Priebus. Whatever those white framed gizmos are, you can bet the most important have them.
Spicer tweeted this out.
They way I see it is this … Kushner, Mnuchin, Cohn represent the crowd who believe the future lies with WHATEVER will get them to 4-6%+ GDP growth. They HAVE no ideology, and they MAY be political class, but recognize if they want to do the right thing, that growth is ALL. Growth at that level makes military spending change from ridiculous to justifiable, SS and Medicare from running out of money about 2030, to perfectly sustainable, and balances the budget on growth, not austerity.
Bannon and his people represent IDEOLOGICAL NATIONALISM and whatever furthers that, most of all, the Wall and staying the hell out of any outside military action, and it was THIS STRIKE on Syria which provoked this war being bought out into the open and resulted in Bannon sitting FURTHEST from this table.
This week we have seen many who supported Trump flip around over this strike, and I think that’s reflected in the White House.
Bannon’s idea is that to win and make a movement a permanent force, the ideology must take hold and be the priority.
Kushner’s group want economic success without ideology, and may see that possible only via predictable, non threatening postures with many nations.
Frankly I see no reason these ideas cannot be PERMANENTLY integrated, and used, but this is now PERSONAL.
If Trump does not bring the economy back, so long.
If Trump does not keep his promises as a nationalist, those people stay home Nov. 2020 and SO LONG
BTW, this is what FDR’s cabinet looked like, brought forward in time. He wanted diametrically opposed ideas brought before him at the point of a sword, he would make each side think he was with them, and then make up his mind issue by issue. Henry Morgenthau (treasury) thought he had FDR convinced that post war the US policy in Germany would be to remove every non farm piece of machinery, and compel Germany to be an agrarian nation forever. No one knows what FDR REALLY intended, since he died, but Truman told Morgenthau he was out of his gourd.
Right now, Jared Kushner looks a lot like Harry Hopkins to me.

10 comments:

thedeplorableraven said...

This conjecture buys everything the media has been saying. Great job continuing to be the alternative to the MSM. Which is why I've been on here for years. I'm done with this site.

The Last English Prince said...

Epa,

I also noticed Mnuchin and Ross inside the SCIF and wondered what their role.

Am also in agreement with your assessment. Trump is NOT a politician, he is perhaps not even a Republican, but a moderate centrist on social issues with a hard swing to the right regarding "America First". Within that paradigm, there is room at the table for the Cabinet members who are the drivers of our economy. Tomahawks raining down on Syria DOES EFFECT our economy. Global movements against Radical Islam also have trickle down effects for American commerce abroad.

I served with a Native American when in the Navy. One day he told me, "Don't read just one side. You will never leave the reservation." After that, I began flipping through "Mother Jones" and "The New Yorker" on a regular basis.

The POTUS is probably doing the same. There is health with a diversity of opinion and cross pollination of thought. When I see the men seated at the table with Trump I see strong men, able to overcome their differences for a common good. MSM constantly plays the narrative of musical chairs in the WH. Have we REALLY SEEN IT yet? Nope.

Great post.

Always On Watch said...

Having so often been betrayed by political leaders -- and GWB was one -- we here on the team at IBA are feeling a sickening sense of deja vu.

Be vigilant, fellow infidels. We can't trust the msm, but neither can we ignore danger signs that the neocons are resurgent.

Always On Watch said...

Raven,
We are all so frustrated!

Always On Watch said...

One of my rules of history, and this rule has never failed me:

Never trust ANY politician!

We all need to keep a close watch on Trump's EO's.

As for Syria, I'm concerned that we'll become involved in yet another Middle East quagmire. We need not spend out treasure on trying to "save" these Muslim nations. Doing so has ALWAYS been an exercise in futility!

Word this morning appears to be that we must depose Bashar al-Assad. Really? Really?

Always On Watch said...

TLEP,
Trump may not be a politician, but he's in a position of political power and surrounded by politicians. Just look at Congress! Packed to the gills with career politicians!

Pastorius said...

Epa,
I think Bannon is much more concerned with the economy than you might think.

Watch this video. He spends most of his time talking about the economy and how we have created "socialism for the very wealthy", while leaving the middle class to attempt to prop up the engine of capitalism all by themselves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nTd2ZAX_tc

Pastorius said...

Great analysis here, Epa.

The problem, as I see it is, Kushner is all about more of the same. We've had enough of more of the same.

As I said the other day, more of the same took us to the brink.

More of the same will now push us over the brink.

If Trump is playing these people, as you say, and will not allow them to know what his decision is until he has made it, then we will be ok if he hews mostly towards Bannon's vision. Bannon has a vision on how to make the economy better.

Kushner's vision, to the extent that it is leftist, will only bring about disaster.

One of the things I have always liked about Trump is he is a builder. Builder understand the intersection of business and government, because government is always very involved in major building projects.

However, builders might also have too large a vision of and dependence on the friendship between the building industry and the government.

And, imo, that is likely the side that Kushner and Ivanka represent.

In fact, Trump may represent that too when it comes right down to it.

Again, I really wouldn't care except for what McMasters portends; that Islam is not the problem; "terrorism is".

Epaminondas said...

There is a vast area where both 'sides' of this have union for instance - free trade. AND successful growth is not going to come from attacks by jihadis here inside the USA.

AND the strike on Syria is IMHO, fine if this is a raid to prevent further use of chemical weapons, degrade Russia's and Iran's strategic positions, OR part of a plan to establish revolutionary change, for instance firing off a Kurdistan which will be self sustaining as Israel was in 1948 ...remember the USA had an arms embargo and aid embargo against Israel until 1966 when the USSR armed Syria and Egypt. But if we follow this on with stupid creep then, fuck it, and fuck the govt.

Raven, I get in my inoreader news feed a LOT from both sides, and I take note that for instance when WaPo was 'informed' way back that SPicer was set up and was on his way out, it didn;t happen, so I am quite cognizant of the left's BOTH FAKE NEWS and yellow journalist desire. AND there is something to Limbaugh's recent assertion that we have had it all backwards that the MSM is an arm of the D party, that it's the other way around.

Sorry to see you go, but what I see DC, and other conservative sites acknowledging the now OPEN warfare, and truly grasping excuses (Like the multiple explanations from Bannon's people over his demotion), it's time to make a judgment.

That's mine, and considering the open warfare and sniping hatred in FDR's cabinet, I hope Trump will be as successful in managing this as FDR was. NO matter what you think of the man's politics, there is no doubt about the level of accomplishment of his achievements.

I despise McMasters' basic idea about the war being made upon us and therefore Powell's, but it's Trump who makes the final call, and the inevitable responsibility is HIS, and will be HIS history.

Pastorius said...

And, again, Epa, I will recommend AMERICAN BETRAYAL by Diana West.

If West is correct about Harry Hopkins - and she certainly presents a very good circumstantial case - then the idea that Kushner is Hopkins is ABSOLUTELY FRIGHTENING.