I’d like to begin by reading a piece of dialogue between Capt. Louis Renault and Rick Blaine.
“What in heaven’s name brought you to Casablanca.”
“My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.
“The waters. What waters? We’re in a desert.”
“I was misinformed.”
I am beginning to wonder if Don Trump is going to wake up in a few months and say I did what? Which coincidentally, is the same thing another president did when he woke up next to Hillary Clinton. She and George Soros, the man who we covered as the financier for Trump and Musk, and incoming Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, well Hillary and George just received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for their contributions to America. So there is that lovely image. The image that will stick with me as I am primarily a one-horse pony at this point with the exception of the bond market is the contribution to the national debt by one Mr. Joe Biden. It turns out that Stephen Dinan is reporting for the Washington Times that by finishing strong and having a $711 billion deficit in the last three months that Joe Biden will pass Donald Trump for most debt created by a president. Trump had only $6.8T while Joe will finish with a stellar $7.4T. Biden wins again. This is like 2020 all over again.
There are so many angry Republicans spitting vitriol at Democrats right now like Trump is going at Governor Gavin Newsom in California over the fires. Other Republicans are trying to get their serial spouse cheater and man who paid to make a rape accusation go away Pete Hegseth through the Senate confirmation hearings. Elizabeth Warren is having none of that. This is such a mirror image of 2020 when Trump was about to turnover power to Joe Biden. Anthony Fauci was the most trusted man in America, we had our own fires but those were George Floyd protestors who caused over $1B in damages, and we still had half the country socially distanced with plastic dividers up. Let’s not sugar coat the shit sandwich of a first presidency of one Donald Trump.
We have had two stinkers, but since the next Bygone Relics will be under a new administration let’s not look at their awful performances while in office and see if Joe and Don can lead us to prosperity moving forward. Since Trump was eligible for another term I find it foolish to count out Biden 2028. It sounds just as preposterous as watching Trump turn the transition of power over on January 6 to an opponent who defeated him, then imagining the public would choose this guy again. So Biden 2028 remains a long shot, but it could be the new Trump 2024.
Speaking of transitions of power and elections we need to examine just what is happening to the world the Don will inherit. I could literally sit around and waste this entire podcast making fun of these two coots, but we should be productive. Malu Cursino and Ione Wells write for the BBC, “The US has announced an increased $25m (£20.4m) reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on the day he was sworn in for a third six-year term in office.” Excuse me, but what?
When we left you last on Bygone Relics last week, Don Trump was vowing to make the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America and he was going to take back the Panama Canal and Greenland by force if necessary. I said I was through making jokes. These are his ideas. I know I was told he was a competent man; I was misinformed. Let’s say this is what he wants to do though. Let’s say we are moving from a phase of borders to mean something, sovereignty is real, and nations should respect that. Maybe we aren’t in that world anymore. We have a reality TV show president running a war in Ukraine, we have a reality TV star running America again, and we have Europe voluntarily paying 4 times more for imported American natural gas then piped Russian natural gas. Why can’t Trump attack Greenland and add that country and make it our 52nd state. He already has plans to take over Canada and make it our 51st state.
There was another leader about 100 years ago that started annexing his neighboring countries. First it was Poland and then it was …stop me if you have heard this one?
With this historical context of what happens when nation-states play the game of world domination, I give you the 21st century version. “The US has announced an increased $25m (£20.4m) reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on the day he was sworn in for a third six-year term in office.” I had to hit you with it again. Nancy Pelosi swore in the House that Donald Trump stole the 2016 election. Donald Trump has swore for the last four years that Joe Biden stole the last election. We are going to offer a bribe for someone to arrest a leader of another country because we think they stole an election? What for? So we can pick their brains for clues on how they did it?
This makes no sense. Listen, he might have stolen the election, but if he did it in some African country with civil war and genocide we would care less. But he didn’t. He did it while sitting on the largest proven oil reserves in the world. Sorry it took me a while to make a point, I am not a very good writer. Trump, here is an audible. Blue 42 Blue 42. If you are going to rob someone, don’t rob the ice cream stand in Greenland, rob the gas station. If we want to be imperialistic and start taking over countries, I would have Venezuela pretty high up my list, right after Luxembourg. Why Luxembourg you might ask? Any country that can break Nancy Pelosi’s hip is a-ok in my book. Pelosi received a Presidential Medal of Freedom last year so if any of you listeners are thinking of nominating me for that award, please be forewarned I will turn it down.
Venezuela was just an appetizer to what might be truly simmering under the surface. On December 8 we noted, “From ZeroHedge, “Something unprecedented just happened in the NATO and EU member country of Romania – a top court on Friday annulled the first round of the country’s presidential election. Essentially there will now be a ‘do over’ election.”
This didn’t go unnoticed by the people. Over this last weekend over 100,000 Romanians protested and expressed their outrage over an election essentially being voided. The candidate being voided is Calin Georgescu who carries with him such terrible beliefs as restoring Romanian sovereignty and put an end to what he characterizes as subservience to NATO and the EU according to ZeroHedge. Wow.
The organization that has expanded all the way to Russia’s front door despite Russia’s warnings, then turning off the gas spigots in preference of gas 4 x higher from America, and the country of Romania doesn’t like that. I last felt a kinship with a Romanian during the 1976 Olympics with Nadia Comaneci. This refusal to take these elections seriously is very troubling because these are what cause wars. People will fight for their right to vote, have democracy, and not have autocratic governments tell them what to do, what to think, and what cars to drive. Who dies in these wars? Poor people.
These world governments have created plenty of poor people over the last 40 years so maybe it is just timing that we have a good old-fashioned Denmark and Greenland versus the US sled dog fight. This story just gets better though. Here is a snippet from ZeroHedge, “Former French European Commissioner Thierry Breton has essentially openly confessed that the West stole the Romanian election and stands ready to do it again in Germany if deemed necessary.”
I’m sorry, can you repeat that? Did I just hear a former French leader saying they did it and they will do it again in Germany if the wrong party wins? I thought we lived in a world of logic and reason. I was misinformed. Evidently crazy is on the plate and not just here at home. This is France and they and Germany just said that they would back Greenland against the United States should Don T and gang try and take Greenland. So let me get this straight. We are trying to influence elections in Venezuela and the Europeans are actively doing so in Romania and possibly Germany, if need be. What is going on?
I don’t mean this in a the world is crazy way, but in a way that is more sinister and direct. The world is shapeshifting into something more evil and outside our normal consciousness. We have to open our minds to formerly unthinkable actions. Country invasions are on the table. Fiscal warfare starts with Don’s inauguration next week. The tariffs will be put on and the illegals will be deported. America will be great again by Wednesday. But will it?
This is a globally connected world, and I am not the only one to question the truth in Don’s proclamations. Patricia Lopez writes for Bloomberg, “thinks Trump may find out the hard way that “the world is a lonely place without friends, even for the most powerful nation in the world.” Back when President George H.W. Bush was in office, Patricia says he built “a coalition of countries that acted as force multipliers to repel Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. He didn’t bully them or command them. He relied on long-standing relationships. He reached out a hand, and found many hands reaching back.”
Meanwhile Stephen Mihm for Bloomberg writes this, “Without the goodwill of America’s allies, Trump will have a hard time accomplishing much of anything, says Stephen Mihm. Take his plan to deport millions of immigrants: When President Dwight Eisenhower’s administration launched Operation Wetback — truly the most atrocious code name they could have picked — in 1954, it worked closely with Mexico’s government to move deportees via train to the Mexican countryside. “Trump wants to repeat this feat. That won’t happen, though, unless Mexico cooperates,” Stephen writes. “There are increasing signs that it will not.”
My goodness, how great was Ike and the 50s. There wasn’t a shred of political correctness in his administration nor his policies. No wonder he led us to victory in World War II.
It is now time to begin to identify how Trump will lead us in the next four years. Are the campaign promises just blunder? If he cuts $2T from the federal government, expect not just a recession but a borderline depression. That’s not a bad thing. It’s needed to cure what ails us. I just don’t think he will do it. Will he crash the stock market to save the working class? Only the top what 5-10% will feel a housing and stock market crash? Stocks down 50%, housing down 40%, no more social programs so a lot of non-workers in this country go back to work and we build our country back with our citizens instead of immigrants. People could afford to buy homes, stocks would be at reasonable levels to invest not speculate in the market. That’s a legacy. Trump would simply have to be the most hated and reviled president ever for causing a depression in pampered America, think Hoover. In the words of Rowdy Burns, “I don’t think the boy has got the balls to pass me on the outside.” Would Trump do the first selfless thing in his life at age 78? He can and it will suck, and I will cheer him on if he does. In a world where he has two options and in one he has already spent $6.8T in four years during his first term but perhaps he can put the spending genie back in the bottle, not run up the deficit, and be the hero he so desperately wants to be, and if he does, I will be the first to say I was misinformed. OR He can inflate.
Sincerely Yours,
C Thomas Printer
Also born on this date… Ronnie Van Zant.
Thank you for listening today and you can find all of our articles and more on our website cthomasprinter.com.