It’s been a long while since I’ve written anything about my very favorite former governor. Part of me has always wistfully hoped for the day that she would return to public service because her spirit and her honesty, and her faithful servant’s heart is so often absent in our country’s capital and Capitol. I think about all the days since 2008 when she was first introduced to the country at large, and I remember how she’s been defamed, and how hard some of us worked to fight back against it. It’s hard to believe that it’s been eight years since I posted my first little blog post. It seems at once like only yesterday, but also as though it had been a million years ago. Back in 2015, she was the first significant person to endorse Donald Trump’s candidacy for president.
On Wednesday, on her own site, she published an article titled Rejection is Protection, about the ugly side of politics, in which she linked to a podcast by Dan Bongino, one of my own favorites in recent times. Specifically, she pointed to that segment of Wednesday’s show(#900) in which Bongino explains how the same trap that was sprung on Trump’s campaign had also been laid for McCain, by the same people, but with at least one significant difference: The Bush administration warned McCain of the dangers; the Obama administration issued no such warning to Trump. Ladies and gentlemen, this entire “Russian Collusion” scandal is a sickening scheme. It’s not even an original scheme. It’s a re-run of a scheme run at least once before, in 2008, by the same people. Governor Palin was right to connect these dots. She was there in 2008, and in 2016, some of the same characters who betrayed the country in 2008 were back for another round in 2016. If you haven’t read this short piece, or listened to Bongino’s podcast lately, you may wish to catch up.
Governor Palin goes on to explain some truths about 2015-16 that most of us will have guessed at, or suspected, but have never known with precision. It’s amazing how certain instincts we have about the establishment always turn out to be pretty near to “on the money.” Have you any doubt about whether that den of vipers would betray their own mothers for a buck?
Some have leapt to the conclusion that Governor Palin is saying that “Donald Trump stabbed her in the back,” or some such thing, but that’s not what I understood from her post. Instead, I understood her to say that the same people who managed to hamper her efforts in 2008 were able to worm their way into the thick of things again in 2016. Of the situation, she wrote:
Eight years later, some of the same warped ‘08 uni-partiers who’d engaged in the politics of personal destruction latched on to Donald Trump’s candidacy. To America’s detriment, they still whisper in his ear.
It’s quite disappointing to watch.
Disappointing indeed! What has always been a point of curiosity is the question: “Who brought Paul Manafort into Trump’s orbit?” Manafort was also brought into McCain’s orbit in 2008, and this is important precisely because of what Bongino outlines in Wednesday’s podcast: The whole “Russia Collusion” myth was first aimed at McCain in 2008, with very nearly the same cast of characters involved. One article, appearing on Circa, explains that Manafort managed to worm his way into proximity of McCain due to Manafort’s connections with Rick Davis, while TheAtlantic reported that Manafort managed to get himself hired onto the Trump campaign through his relationship with long-time Trump confidante Tom Barrack. While I consider TheAtlantic a dubious source, but I’ve been able to find many other sources for the linkage from Barrack to Trump. All of this is important to understanding the entire “Russia-Collusion” hoax, because it appears that the people who had been part of serious collusion were all tied to the Clinton universe. This includes Michael Cohen, by the way. In fact, over and over again, what one can discover is that a large number of the people who are being prosecuted in association with the Mueller probe seem to have this odd tendency to have been in the orbits of both Clinton and the Trump 2016 campaign, but increasingly, some have also surfaced in the vicinity of John McCain’s 2008 campaign.
Bongino doesn’t mince words on the subject. He asserts that the same script was used in 2008 against McCain, the only difference being that it was stopped when Bush administration officials warned McCain. McCain steered clear of Manafort. Trump did not, but why not? Is it beecause the Obama administration did not give Trump the same sort of warning McCain had received? It seems so. Dan continued his explanation of the scandalous details on Thursday:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjHW2-DlVPk
What’s even more interesting is that back in 1996 and 1997, Manafort was inserted into the orbit of another Republican nominee: Bob Dole. Bob Dole wound up lobbying for Oleg Deripaska as this 2003 lobbyist registration form shows. Once again, here we find a tie to Manafort, who managed the convention for Dole. Roger Stone was also in the Dole orbit. One of the things we know about Paul Manafort is that he was involved in the effort to secure Paul Ryan’s endorsement in 2016. The closer one looks, the more connections one can find, including this: Dole ran against Bill; McCain ran against Obama who narrowly defeated Hillary for the nomination; Trump ran against Hillary, who had been expected to win easily. It’s almost as though every time a Clinton is involved in a Presidential election, Manafort(and others) are found to be inserted into the Republican nominees’ campaigns.
Folks, something stinks here, and it reminds me of something else that happened years ago. I’ve known for a long time, since the mid-1990s, that the Clintons had infected Washington DC and everything revolving around them with their influence peddling and quid pro quo form of operation, but it strikes me that their machinery has been deeper and more stealthy than even the more cynical observers might realize. In some ways, the Clintons took control of the Deep State in the 1990s, and since then, they’ve never fully relinquished control. When one remembers that since 1993, they’ve never been far from the reins of power, it’s easy to imagine that they have wielded undue influence throughout the American political scene right along.
Sarah Palin has properly pointed out that some of the people now in Trump’s general orbit were around during McCain’s campaign, and I think it’s important to bear this in mind. In and around Washington DC is that the same old crowd of apparatchiks born of the political machinery of state, hanging around, always working to influence policy, whoever may be in power at the time. For somebody like Trump, who doesn’t know as many of the ins and outs of DC as others who are more fully initiated in the dirty politics that gravitate toward the power of state, it would be easy enough to fall prey. Considering all of this, it’s easy enough to see that the same scandal could be recycled, using the same general cast of characters, with Trump as the new target in the Clinton-Russia-Collusion Scandal.
What’s more disturbing is what Governor Palin implies when she wrote: “…they still whisper in his ear.” Think of it. Some of the people who made this entire fiasco possible still have Trump’s ear. They still influence what goes on in our nation. I find it to be a perfectly frightening prospect, because while good and honest people like Palin are rejected and smeared by the DC Uni-Party establishment, these insiders feed at the trough of the political combat, benefiting, whoever the alleged winner. They sidle-up to power and corrupt its authority. They target whomever or whatever may wander into their sights. If they lose today, they’ll be back the day after tomorrow, always looking for another way to feed. I hope the President figures out who are and who are not his friends before DC manages to demolish him. As Governor Palin says, “It’s quite disappointing to watch.”