“Russian stories never have happy endings” — Sergei Magnitsky

______________Act I: Sergei Magnitsky’s Warning___________

It is impossible to fully comprehend Russia’s effort to influence the 2016 election without rudimentary knowledge of the circumstances leading up to the passage of the Magnitsky Act in 2012. These events, and the impunity with which they were exercised in Russia, are central to the success of Donald Trump’s political ambitions in the United States.

As evidenced by the recent disclosure of Trump’s tax returns, the outrageous losses and tax rebates claimed by Trump reflect suspicious accounting methods eerily similar to the financial shenanigans uncovered by Russian tax auditor Sergei Magnitsky more than a decade ago. When viewed together, these methods form the roots of a corrupt tree of graft and collusion that continues to grow and flourish today. To be clear, Sergei Magnitsky is the key and locus upon which all political plot lines return. …

Igor Sechin has played his hand well, as one of Putin’s most notable accomplices, he is the pilot fish leading the Russian President to a grand feast featuring the honor and wealth of the United States.

I began putting notes together for this article in 2016, well before Donald Trump Jr. incrementally revealed secret meetings at Trump Tower arranged by publicist Rob Goldstone. It was clear to me then, and even clearer now, that Russian oligarchs loyal to Vladimir Putin were trading national intelligence and hacking capabilities with the Trump family in order to influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election. If successful, the culmination of their effort would place Donald Trump at the helm of the world’s most powerful country. …

We cannot allow private organizations to profit from the control and shaping of our minds.

In early June of this year, Buzzfeed reporters Jason Leopold and Anthony Cormier posted a news story about a secret Justice Department memo that would temporarily authorize the Drug Enforcement Agency to conduct surveillance on American citizens participating in protests over the police killing of George Floyd. The article also cited a statement issued by Attorney General William Barr blaming “anarchistic and far left extremists, using Antifa-like tactics” for the unrest. …

Foreward: Presidential capture is a form of government failure that occurs when the office of the Presidency, created to act in the public interest, instead advances the commercial or political concerns of the President himself, his associates and special interest groups supportive of the President. When Presidential capture occurs, the interests of private individuals, corporations or political groups are prioritized over the interests of the public, leading to a net loss to society as a whole. By its nature Presidential capture abrogates national sovereignty. Repeated claims to be acting in the name of national sovereignty by a captured President should be examined carefully. Today there are very large and powerful industries (e.g. energy, banking, private military contractors) that have captured the office of the Presidency and are now using that power to advance their interests while simultaneously blocking policies at the federal, state or provincial level that many voters desire. …

It all starts with a dead cat and a Tweet.

Like nails across a chalkboard, or a fart proudly ripped in a crowded elevator, the dead cat message cannot be ignored.

When this message is amplified by bots and millions of followers it can dominate the social media landscape with astonishing success.

Controversial British politician and journalist Boris Johnson described the unusual strategy during the 2015 general election in the UK.

“There is one thing that is absolutely certain about throwing a dead cat on the dining room table — and I don’t mean that people will be outraged, alarmed, disgusted. That is true, but irrelevant. The key point, says my Australian friend, is that everyone will shout, ‘Jeez, mate, there’s a dead cat on the table!’ In other words, they will be talking about the dead cat — the thing you want them to talk about — and they will not be talking about the issue that has been causing you so much grief.” …

In early 2014, during the unseasonably warm month of February, I worked as a sound engineer in Sochi, Russia. I was part of a technical broadcast team hired by NBC to produce the coverage of Olympic figure skating and short track speed skating for viewers back home in America. When I arrived, much of the Olympic Village was still under construction. The landscape was dominated by mud and men in bright orange coveralls planting trees and raking up rocks. The mood was grim and foreboding. Russia was about to invade Ukraine and the U.S. …

Don’t let the baby face fool you. Jared Kushner knows how to play the game. He is a highly sophisticated, Machiavellian understudy, ruthlessly tutored by his father, convicted felon Charles Kushner.

“My father made a mistake and he paid a big price for it, but he’s my father,” he previously told TRD. “He’s given me everything I have in terms of the skills and the training and taught me about being a man. I feel extremely lucky to have him in my life.”

The New Jersey Bridgegate scandal broke on September 9th, 2013. It made national headlines, portraying New Jersey, one of the most densely populated states in America, as a bastion of corrupt and venal politicians willing to settle a political score by stalling traffic along one of America’s busiest transportation corridors. For three long days in early September, two of the three exit lanes from Fort Lee, NJ were closed, leaving thousands, including school children off to their first days of school, stuck in a huge traffic jam that that clogged roads throughout the entire city. …

…… “SEIZE THE COCKPIT OR YOU DIE”……

These are the words of Donald Trump’s former speechwriter and political polemicist Michael Anton. For those unfamiliar with Anton, his incendiary essay “The Flight 93 Election”, was written as a call to arms for political conservatives. Published just two months before the 2016 Presidential election, Anton equated the prospect of a Clinton win with the moral equivalency of permitting Al-Qaeda terrorists to hijack United Airlines Flight 93 and fly it into the White House.

When Donald Trump ascended to the White House he rewarded Michael Anton with a position on the National Security Council; Deputy Assistant to the President for Strategic Communications. As a senior advisor to the President, Anton continued to share his unique views on public policy with Trump until April 8, 2018. He resigned the night before John Bolton replaced H.R. McMaster as National Security Advisor to President. …