WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THE DONALD TRUMP SHOW?

How will the show end?

Donald Trump is a phenomenon. His impact is such that he dominates the daily news cycle and produces polarization unlike we have ever seen with a political figure. Love him or hate him, Trump has dominated our consciousness. For some, he has become a messianic figure, while for others, he is a type of antichrist.

How did this happen? What does it mean? Is the Trump show a distraction to keep us occupied while the permanent administrative state does its cunning work in the darkness?

These questions are difficult to answer. However, as a student of Trump for the past nine years (and the owner of a Trump mug, MAGA hats, a book of  The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump, and a former occupant of Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C.), I feel as though I have some insights to share with my Sons of Issachar readers that may be helpful as we approach the US presidential election on 5^th November. It will be increasingly difficult to separate truth from lies as the propaganda machines of the two political parties move into high gear.

Figure 1. Surveying the lobby as I stood in reception of the Trump Hotel in Washington DC. Note the great chandeliers!

Figure 2. The bathroom of my hotel room in The Trump Hotel. Note the judicious use of gold.

Figure 3. My Donald Trump, Georgia inmate No. P01135809 coffee mug

At the heart of things, Donald Trump is an entertainer, and so for entertainment, it is worthwhile listening to the audio of The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump, taken from phrases from Trump’s own speeches.

Here are a few of my favourite “poems” from the book:

This Country Is Going to Hell in a Handbasket

“It just seems that this country isn’t what it used to be
New York  Fashion Week is really bad and used to be
So glamorous and exciting
Vanity Fair magazine, which used to be one of my favourites,
Is failing badly
A lot of people are switching to these really long putters
Very unattractive
Our poor, poor country”

We’ll Be Fine With the Environment

“They say ‘don’t use hairspray, it’s bad for the ozone’,
‘Global warming is our biggest threat;
‘If we fail to act now, it is scientifically irrefutable
that there will be catastrophic and irreversible consequences
for humanity and our planet’,
Too boring – try turning on the air conditioning.”

Donald Trump is important because he sharply brings into focus some of the signs of the times. He is a reality television star, property mogul, and now politician who has somehow been able to distill the key issues of our time, and in doing so has divided the US and the world.

Below are just a few Trump quotes about immigration, the Clintons, defense, the environment and trade, regulations, the media and London crime.

Trump manages to express these issues in a way that everyone can understand:

“They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists” (about Mexicans crossing the southern border)

“Crooked Hillary“ (nickname for Hillary Clinton – the book Clinton Cash came out around the time that Trump first used this sobriquet)

No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them (Russia) to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay," (about delinquent NATO nations)

“The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive..”

“We’re going to get rid of the regulations that are just destroying us,” he said. “You can’t breathe. You cannot breathe.”

“The media is – really, the word, I think one of the greatest of all terms I’ve come up with – is fake” (quote from interview with Mike Huckabee)

“Stone cold loser who should focus on crime in London" (about Saddiq Khan, the Lord Mayor of London

Trump Enters the Political Arena

I can’t remember being very aware of Donald Trump or reading about him prior to his famous descent on the Golden Escalator on 16th June 2015, announcing his candidacy for the US presidency. 

Viewing Trump’s announcement in June 2015 is worthwhile purely for the “vibe”.

At the time, most political commentators treated this announcement as a joke, and it seemed likely that it was an elaborate public relations exercise to boost the Trump brand. Trump had worked hard to establish his brand and wasn’t frightened to emblazon his name on any structure that would pay him a fee, and that was “high class” (lots of gold!).

Somehow, though, Trump draws people to him (to love him or hate him) like a moth to the flame. In 2015, because of Trump’s decision to run for president, I became an ardent viewer of Fox News and watched all the Republican primary debates. What was notable about Donald Trump was his humour, language simplicity, and remarkable communication skills.

Donald Trump has fascinated me for the past nine years. I think it is important to understand how he polarizes people and what the 2024 US presidential election campaign is all about.

So – in my Sons of Issachar post this week, I am doing a deep dive into some of the notable things about the reality show titled simply -  “Donald Trump”. It may be an attempt to distract us from reality or it may be reality. It is certainly shorthand for many issues that lie beneath the Trump phenomenon.

A simple question that tells you much about anyone’s worldview is to simply ask: what do you think of Donald Trump? You will quickly discover much about the person and how they see the state of the world.

The 2016 Election Campaign

Trump’s defining issue in the November 2016 election was his plan to “build a big, beautiful wall” on the US southern border. He enraged the Left and many on the Right with his 2015 speech about illegal immigrants from Mexico. Trump said:

“When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best," Trump said. “They're not sending you…They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists."

Trump echoed claims he made last month during an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network in which he said that Mexico has "ripped this country off."

"Nobody can build a fence like me," Trump said. "I would build a wall like nobody can build a wall. And nobody comes in illegally anymore…I build great buildings all over the world. I would have Mexico pay for it. Believe me. They will pay for it because they have really ripped this country off," he said.”

Everyone could understand this policy—build a wall to keep illegal immigrants out, have Mexico pay for the wall, and Make America Great Again (now simplified to MAGA).

If Trump wasn’t so hated on every university campus, Trump’s speeches should be studied in communication schools, to understand his outstanding and simple skills. In fact, we can all learn more about effective communication from listening to and watching Trump.

Trump’s “Make America Great Again” is a simple and effective way of pushing back against the almost universal media and educational narrative that “America is an evil, racist nation” and must be brought down. Trump’s simple MAGA mission statement appealed to many Americans and, as it turned out, almost evenly divided the country.

However, while the split pro- and anti-Trump was (and continues to be) about 50:50, the core of Trump’s support is in the centre of the country (sometimes referred to as the “flyover country”). The large US East and West coastal population centres seem united in their disdain of Trump.

Trump learned how to attract free publicity by saying a variety of outrageous things. One of his comments related to Senator John McCain, a Republican Party grandee. At a family leadership summit in 2015, Trump was reported by PolitiFact to have commented about McCain (who had been imprisoned in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War):

“After Trump recalled McCain saying something that Trump considered an insult to him and his supporters, "I said, 'Somebody should run against McCain,' who has been, in my opinion, not so hot. And I supported him for president! I raised a million dollars for him. That's a lot of money! I supported him. He lost. He let us down. But he lost. So I never liked him much after that, because I don't like losers."

Amid audience laughter, the moderator, Republican pollster Frank Luntz, then interjected, "But he's a war hero!"

Trump responded, "He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured."

Controversy followed Trump on the campaign trail and led to a section of the Republican Party becoming “Never Trumpers”.

However, Trump’s ability to identify and articulate problems facing the US, as seen by many in middle America, resulted in extraordinary devotion. Trump even claimed  -that he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” and not “lose any voters”. This claim (made in 2016) is probably accurate, and Trump’s recent legal woes seem to have dramatically increased his personal support and fundraising.

During his 2016 presidential debates, he stood on the debate stage in the middle of a large pack of potential Republican nominees, used simple language, and dismissed his Republican opponents: Jeb Bush was “low energy” (an accurate depiction of Bush), which destroyed his campaign despite his having a war chest of more than US$120 million, far greater than any other candidate; Marco Rubio was “Little Marco,” and Ted Cruz was “Lyin’ Ted.” (Interestingly, Little Marco is currently under consideration for Trump’s 2024 Vice-President – I don’t think he will make it).

Trump also claimed that Ted Cruz’s father was linked to the assassination of John F. Kennedy: “

"His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald being, you know, shot. I mean the whole thing is ridiculous. What is this? Right? Prior to his being shot. And nobody even brings it up. I mean, they don't even talk about that — that was reported. And nobody talks about it."

He hinted that Ted Cruz’s wife Heidi was no oil painting (in Trump’s terminology, no chance of her being a 10) and wondered if Cruz (who was born in Canada) was even eligible to run for the presidency.

Cruz was obviously a major target for Trump to eliminate because he even suggested that he may not be the evangelical figure Cruz projected. Trump said:

“To the best of my knowledge, not too many evangelicals come out of Cuba, OK? Just remember that, OK? Just remember."

Having eliminated all his opponents by the end of the first quarter of 2016, Trump also set his sights on  “Pocahontas” (Elizabeth Warren, who had claimed Native American ancestry) and  “Crooked Hillary” (Hillary Clinton). At his rallies, his supporters would chant: “Lock her up, lock her up”.

Interestingly enough, Trump said recently that he had “retired” Crooked Hillary’s nickname and now had given it to Joe Biden, whom Trump now calls “Crooked Joe” (previously he was “Sleepy Joe” or “Basement Biden”).

Donald Trump has a gift for finding nicknames and even called Kim Jong-Un, who had threatened to use missiles and nuclear weapons against the West, “Rocket Man”. He did this in his first address to the United Nations in 2017.

There really has never been any international leader like Trump, and it may be that President Milei of Argentina modelled himself on Trump. Milei, however, is a serious economist but is funny and a great communicator. He also is facing severe challenges in confronting the Argentinian socialist state, with severe protests in the last few days in response to spending cuts. Once a handout culture is cultivated in a country it is difficult to alter the trajectory. This is notable currently in the UK which is the middle of an election campaign that almost certainly will return a big-spending socialist government with the country already on its knees.

Undoubtedly, Trump is a remarkable publicist, self-promoter, and extremely amusing. His supporters say that you should take him “seriously but not literally” whereas his detractors are said to take him “literally but not seriously”.

It seemed impossible that Trump could win the 2016 presidential election, but I followed every rally and speech and noted the devotion of Trump’s supporters. The Hillary Clinton campaign had much more money, but Hillary herself was unlikeable, and Peter Schweizer's Clinton Cash  book lifted the lid on the extent of the Clintons’ corruption.

The 2020 Presidential Election

Trump achieved much during his presidency despite the permanent administrative state (Trump called it the “Deep State” – see my post from March 2024), working hard to bring him down and to prevent his policies being implemented. He went through two impeachment hearings, a “Russiagate” investigation and an almost daily leaking of confidential information and quotes from anonymous internal critics of his administration.

Then COVID-19 arrived in February 2020, and Trump’s “gung-ho” style was a negative to the whole approach to COVID-19. He listened to the advice of the notorious Dr Anthony Fauci and implemented “Operation Warp Speed” - with the aim of rapidly producing an effective vaccine against COVID-19.

All the usual safeguards were eliminated, and instead of a five to ten-year time period to verify the safety of the vaccine, mRNA vaccines were declared “safe and effective” just after the 2020 presidential election. As it turns out, the vaccines were neither safe nor effective, and the VAERS database  - demonstrates that millions of people’s health was damaged by the vaccines.

The damage continues to this day with a range of adverse health impacts including: the brain and nervous system, blood and heart disorders, immune problems and also turbo cancers – rapidly developing cancers in age groups where this has not previously been seen. Because of the delay between the vaccine administration and the symptoms, few doctors have made the link.

Trump still has not acknowledged his error and occasionally claims that he saved “millions of lives”. The COVID-19 vaccines and the lockdowns were some of the worst of the Trump policies and many people will neither forget nor forgive.

Undoubtedly, Trump was given bad advice by the senior health bureaucrats but ultimately, he is responsible for mRNA vaccines being inflicted on the US population and being mandated for Federal employees, which occurred during the Biden administration.

However, the defining issue of Trump’s presidency was the January 6^th protest and so-called “insurrection” at the US Capitol. Trump had called loyal supporters to Washington DC for a protest against what he believed was a rigging of the election in a number of swing states. As many as one million supporters may have turned up in DC to protest against the conduct of the election.

While the extent of any rigging is debated, I have followed the objective information and there is no doubt that Big Tech, Big Media and Big Money  (eg Zuckerberg’s foundation) put their collective thumbs on the election scales. When combined with ballot harvesting by the Democrats, where postal votes were collected (even from the dead), a fair election was impossible and Biden was installed as the 46^th President.

January 6^th 2021 has been a gift that keeps on giving to the Democrats. Nancy Pelosi established a partisan House of Representatives January 6 committee, and chosen witnesses gave selective testimony. The Biden administration claimed that the US was under assault from MAGA extremists and hundreds of people have been rounded up and imprisoned for “insurrection”, while in major cities, criminals are released back onto the streets.

It turns out that key Democrats rejected the National Guard being called out to ensure the protection of the Capitol, despite a request being made by Trump. However, the Democrats have continued to amplify the idea that Trump had fostered an “insurrection” and now their language has become even more extreme.

Democrats, Big Media and Big Tech suggest that Trump is a Nazi, a threat to democracy and the rule of law. They have cheered from the sidelines while Trump has various dubious legal cases brought against him. Their intent is clear – the destruction of Trump via the imposition of legal costs, fines and the burden of having to fight the prejudiced legal system. The term “lawfare” has been coined, and it is an accurate description.

The 2024 Election

Trump rapidly eliminated all his Republican opponents and didn’t even bother to turn up to the Republican debates for presidential nominees. If he is not in jail (his sentencing is scheduled for 11 July by the partisan Judge Merchan), he will receive the Republican Party presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, which starts 15^th July.

His legal woes have resulted in strong support, and in the 24 hours after his conviction on 34 counts of wrongdoing related to “hush money”, his campaign raised US$51 million dollars. Just last week at a fundraising dinner  in San Francisco (the heart of the progressive order), US$12 million was raised. These figures show the extraordinary support that Trump has engendered.

The Democrats are united in their hatred for Trump and, with the support of most of the media and Big Tech, are now vilifying Trump as a “convicted felon” who wants to destroy democracy and the rule of law (despite the Democrats weaponizing the justice system and trying to have Trump removed from ballots because he is an “insurrectionist”).

An article last week in the UK Times by David Charter, highlights the problems of the US legal system. He writes of:

“a glaring weakness of the US democratic system: Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district-attorney, campaigned for office on holding Trump “accountable by following the facts where they go”. The New York state attorney-general, Letitia James, campaigned for her job by calling Trump an “illegitimate president” and brought the civil fraud case that ended with $US355m fine for Trump. Unlike in the criminal case, where the facts were decided by a jury, James’s case was overseen by just the judge, also an elected Democrat.

These political affiliations bring the system into disrepute and undermine all appeals to respect the rule of law, especially in such divisive times.”

Mr Charter concludes his article with this warning:

“John Adams warned about this (the politicization of the rule of law) in another quote, from 1815. “Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide,” he said.

The US political system is cracking under deep partisan divisions. If the rule of law continues to corrode there will be no mechanisms left for Americans to settle their differences peaceably.”

What Does Trump’s Candidacy for President Mean and What Is Next?

Trump’s support comes from those who seek to put the national interest of the US above those of the globalists and what President Eisenhower called “the military-industrial complex”. He is often referred to as a “populist” and “populism” is defined as “a political movement that promotes the idea that its leaders alone represent “the people” in their struggle against the “elite establishment.” This captures well the essence of the Trump ascendancy - the nationalist v the globalists.

This “complex” now extends to Big Tech, Big Media, Big Pharma and Big Business (via Public-Private-Partnerships). In essence, there is a chasm between the globalist collectivists (the Democrats) and the freedom-loving nationalists in the US.

Donald Trump is able to mobilize the nationalists who have a commitment to the US Founding Fathers’ vision, as laid down in the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Taesh Cha in 2017 wrote about Trump’s appeal not being a recent phenomenon but is a “return to Jacksonianism”. President Andrew Jackson (the 7^th US president) was a polarizing figure, in a similar manner to Trump, during Jackson’s presidency from 1829-1837. Taesh Cha writes:

“the Trump ascendancy is no fluke. Indeed, it is embedded in the long history of political struggles between liberal internationalism of the intellectual elite in metropolitan areas and the Jacksonian tradition of common Americans in rural communities. Although America has usually been depicted as a Lockean, secular, and cosmopolitan country, such an image only reflects the cultural hegemony of elites in the coastal cities. In contrast, “folks” in the interior have constructed another political ideology, Jacksonianism.

Originated from frontiersmen in the middle of colonial “Indian Wars,” this nativist discourse imagines the United States as an exclusive ethno-religious community of white Christians. In other words, the two antagonistic social forces have produced the two competing political traditions from the earliest years of the United States…”.

President Jackson, like President Trump, was brash and larger than life. Trump, similarly, provides a clarion call for those who want to see the original vision of the Founding Fathers maintained with a “USA First” perspective and the assertion of national rights and border integrity. Cha implies that this perspective is racist, but there is no indication racism is at the core of Trump’s support.

However, Trump has made some statements  about the policies of his future administration that have caused some concern. I suspect that this is a matter of taking Trump seriously but should not be literal. Many of Trump’s opponents take him literally and fear for their future. Many are talking about leaving the country.

However, the US system has various checks and balances that make it hard to enact any radical policies (even Executive Orders are subject to legal challenge), and then there is the permanent administrative state (the “Deep State”) that is almost impossible to beat.

Here are a few of Trump’s more remarkable statements about some of his policies to be implemented in 2025, if he is elected:

• “Any person convicted of selling drugs will get the death penalty”;

• In relation to shoplifting: “We will immediately stop all of the pillaging and theft. Very simply: If you rob a store, you can fully expect to be shot as you are leaving that store,”;

• “IF I WERE PRESIDENT, THE RUSSIA/UKRAINE WAR WOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED, BUT EVEN NOW, IF PRESIDENT, I WOULD BE ABLE TO NEGOTIATE AN END TO THIS HORRIBLE AND RAPIDLY ESCALATING WAR WITHIN 24 HOURS," – Trump wrote (in caps) on Truth Social;

• “Trump says as president he will radically transform colleges & universities “dominated by Marxist maniacs & lunatics” by replacing accreditation boards with his people, bringing civil rights cases for schools that use DEI, seizing/taxing their endowments.”;

• “Trump says he will build 10 new Trump Freedom Cities in the US, which will be free of government regulations so they can become manufacturing meccas.”;

• Trump would "fire 40,000 career civil servants on day one and replace them with ‘patriots’ loyal to him.";

• “We are going to – I used this expression, now everyone else is using it so I hate to use it, but – drill, baby, drill.” (on his plans for fossil-fuel production);

• Trump has promised mass deportation of 15-20 million illegal migrants, and this effort would involve the US military.

No wonder Trump polarizes people, and some of his statements have frightened more moderate Republicans. With chaos and disorder in the US, many seek a strong man to bring order and security. Of course, this did not end well in parts of Europe during the 1930s.

Trump has some excellent instincts and is tough enough to deal with “the Marxists maniacs and lunatics”. However, he isn’t the Saviour and those who put their trust in Trump will be disappointed. There is only one Saviour in whom to place our trust.

There is a danger with any “strong man” who tends to arise in times of chaos. The US is in a more chaotic state than at any other period of my lifetime. As many as 17 million illegal immigrants may have entered the US (this figure is contested but a minimum is 10 million) since Biden’s inauguration in 2021. Not surprisingly, there has been escalation in crime and the cost to the US taxpayer in incalculable.

A strong hand is needed and of course if the chaos becomes severe enough, it is not impossible to see civil war and a future dictatorship. Is the US system resilient enough to come through the current darkness into the light of freedom? We’ll find out in the next six months.

Trump’s more extreme statements enable his critics to warn of his potential as an antichrist figure. However, the real antichrist will gather almost universal support because he is also a great deceiver. Like the Monty Python team said years ago in The Life of Brian - Trump is not the messiah, “‘e’s a very naughty boy.

Whether Trump is a “goody” or a “baddy” is hard to know. However, the vitriol and abuse against him, and rigging of the justice system against him is an indication that he may be an agent of light more than darkness.

The media is becoming increasingly hysterical about Trump and his threat to democracy. A few days ago MSNBC highlighted an article by Eugene Robinson from the Washington Post, titled Is Donald Trump OK? The Morning Joe team stressed this quote: “We in the media have failed by becoming inured to Trump’s verbal incontinence - not just the rapid-fire lies and revenge-seeking threats, but also the frightening glimpses into a mind that is, evidently, unwell”.

This is the narrative about Trump that we will hear leading up to 5 November. We will hear phrases such as: crazy, deranged, threat to democracy, dictator, revenge, Nazi, extremist, far-right - the list goes on and on. Unfortunately, this type of language could convince those who see Trump as a threat to US life, to take preemptive action.

Trump does have some rough edges but his three key policies: close the border, end the US involvement in foreign wars and “drill baby drill” could be enough to propel him into office (the Trump vote could be “too big to rig”), if civil war doesn’t erupt first.

So, How Will the Trump Show End?

You can write a number of scenarios, and all could be possible:

1. Trump goes to jail, and his supporters riot in the streets of major cities, resulting in the introduction of martial law. This seems unlikely because, unlike the collectivists on the Left, Trump supporters are law-abiding. Even with a rigged justice system against Trump, there were few large demonstrations after his conviction in the New York case.

2. The Democratic Party machine and its non-profit foundations are able to “harvest” votes, prop up Biden until November, and give Biden a second term. At his current rate of decline, this seems unlikely, and there is the spectre of the extremely unpopular Kamala Harris becoming president.

3. Biden drops out of the presidential race – “to care for Hunter” – and a new Democrat Party nominee galvanizes support and beats Trump in a fair election. I think that fair elections are probably a thing of the past, but it is evident that if the Democrats are able to find a good candidate (most likely Michelle Obama or Gavin Newsom), there might be more enthusiasm by Democrats to vote for a charismatic figure. The installation of a new candidate, say three months out from the election, would result in fewer chances of missteps, and the undecided vote may be inclined to move in that candidate’s direction. The Democratic Party machine is ruthless, and I suspect that plans are afoot to install a new candidate at the Democratic Party National Convention, to be held in Chicago between the 19^th and 22^nd of August.

4. Trump is taken out. Remember that President Kennedy had a large Secret Service detail, but the “Deep State” was able to remove him and install Johnson. It is worthwhile watching this interesting documentary titled “What the Doctors Saw”, which details the cover-up of the Kennedy assassination.
   Trump must be in personal peril because so many commentators describe him as a threat to humanity and a potential Nazi. The language must be encouraging for some to consider it their civic duty to remove Trump.
   Also, Trump turns 78 this week (his birthday is 14^th June) and so it is possible that he may suffer a health problem before the election.

5. Trump wins (remember that Trump told his supporters previously that they would get sick of winning!). The opinion polls seem to be clear and moving toward Trump. Even with a thumb on the scales, the result could be “too big to rig”.
   This is likely to be when the real trouble starts in the US. The Black Lives Matter protests, stoked by the Marxists, that resulted in billions of dollars in damage to major cities will seem like just mild skirmishes compared with the protests that will be organized and funded by the Marxists, if Trump wins.

6. It doesn’t matter! I have been impressed at how the permanent administrative state (the globalist, technocratic collectivists) can get its way. “We’ll stop it” was the notorious text message sent within the FBI prior to the 2016 election. Vox reported that:
   “A few months before the 2016 election, FBI agent Peter Strzok sent the phrase in a response to FBI attorney Lisa Page, who’d texted him worried Trump might win. “No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it,” Strzok reassured her. The two were having an affair at the time.”

   Clearly, there was an internal plan within the FBI to prevent Trump from implementing his policies, although details of the plot were never uncovered.

Conclusions

The Trump story is like a fast moving river and each day there are new logs thrown into the river and which rapidly move downstream. This week there has been the Hunter Biden conviction in relation to him improperly obtaining a handgun. The case should never have come to court as Hunter’s attorneys had struck an outrageous plea bargain with prosecutors, which unraveled when it was revealed by the judge that Hunter would have indemnity for all future charges. He now faces a further court appearance about tax evasion, starting 5 September.

Commentators on Hunter Biden have drawn comparisons with the trials of Trump to try to demonstrate that the justice system is fair. There is no comparison because the charges against Trump have required elaborate changes to and the use of the law to charge him. Hunter’s extensive tax crimes have been ignored by the FBI although evidence from the “Laptop from Hell” has been used in the recent gun charges case. From this case, it is evident that the FBI knew in late 2019 that the laptop was real but the permanent administrative state chose to protect Hunter and Joe Biden and claimed that Hunter’s laptop was “Russian disinformation”.

The wider issue of the extensive corruption of the Biden family has not been properly investigated, despite the US$20 million that has flowed into their accounts (via shell companies) from Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Syria, China and Romania. Republicans, have lacked the “take-no-prisoners” instinct to gain traction in relation to this terrible story of corruption. The media, all in for Biden, has virtually ignored the information.

There are, no doubt, many other possible developments as the Trump show rumbles on. Whatever happens, the Trump show is one to stay tuned to.

The US is facing one of its greatest ever crises. Will it remain a “shining city on a hill”? Trump, for all his faults, is a touchstone for liberty and freedom in a world where globalist collectivists have gained control.

As the UN and its myriad organizations move to assert global hegemony, it is difficult for any politician to stand against the tide. Trump, for all his faults, is one such politician. As we survey the road ahead, democracy as we know it, seems under threat.

This brings me once again to John Adams, one of the Founding Fathers, the first Vice-President and the second President of the US. In the latter stages of his life, he wrote in a letter to John Taylor in December 1814:

“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide,” (John Adams, 1814).

There is strife and confusion in Western democracies and the European Union elections have demonstrated distrust with the pro-immigration and collectivist policies of Brussels. The Ukraine-Russia conflict has resulted in the deaths of 500,000 Ukrainians and possibly a larger number of Russians. The Israel-Palestinian struggle will drag on without resolution, with the spectre of Iran’s nuclear capability hovering in the background.

Against this background, Donald Trump is able to articulate a simple mission: Make America Great Again. While this seems a forlorn hope, it will be a rallying cry for many in the US who can see that the current trajectory is a rush toward the abyss.