QUESTION: Dear Martin,
After following the Trump drama since launching his presidential campaign, we have read how he has been angry at his staff, fired one after another of his top men and women, added crazy people like Bolton and Pompeo and others, and is now mad at his defense team in Senate, only one big question remains: As an experienced business leader for a billion-dollar business, how is it possible to fail so miserably with all these appointments? Is he an amateur, a useful idiot for the deep state or is he totally incompetent as a leader? What is your opinion based on all your contacts with people around him?
BN Sweden
ANSWER: From the very beginning, they set out to control Trump. They surrounded him with swamp creatures. I was very disappointed when I saw he even brought in Goldman Sachs. I have said before that I believe Trump was very naive. The loyalties in private business are totally different in Washington. They are never loyal to an individual, it is the swamp that must be sustained. As I have also said before, there used to be a vetting process and I was asked to fly around and meet with people who wanted to run for president. Then I was asked to fly to Texas to meet with Bush Jr, but I was told “this is different,” and they said he was stupid. I was shocked. When I asked why they would make someone stupid president, they responded he had the “name” to win.
I have also stated it was at that time I was asked if I would take the position as the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. I declined, for I would have to give up my business. But they were doing the hand-picking of everyone to surround Bush and that included Dick Cheney who was really the de facto president.
Trump is not stupid. He has had too much of an ego in some areas. I believe he was trying to show he did something that did not come from his father. Yet, there is a difference in dealing in the real world and that is the Washington bubble. Trump was naive, as is most of America, in thinking that being president is the same as being the president of a company. It is not. The countless layers of bureaucrats have zero loyalty to you. Just like those who think the head of the CIA suddenly knows all the secrets right down to Area 51. All among the ranks, they know these are political appointments that come and go. They NEVER let the secrets rise to the top, for they are NEVER one of them.
I believe that Trump was naive. When he began to see that people like Bolton were warmongers, he fired them. That was him starting to realize he was surrounded. He then turned to his family. But even Sidney Powell said Trump was surrounded and she could not get in.
This is not unique to Trump. The swamp is there to protect itself. That is why they do not want any outsiders. People have asked me many times if I would ever consider running for president. I laugh because the question in and of itself is naive. It assumes that I could become president and change everything. It just does not work that way. Trump thought he could drain the swamp. But the swamp was working very hard to drown him and it’s not over yet. They are trying to make an example out of Trump to serve as a warning to any non-swamp creatures–think twice before you try to run for office in this town.
I personally do not think it is remotely possible to elect someone to clean-up Washington. When it becomes this bad, history warns there is no solution other than revolution.
