Thursday, 24 August 2023 — South Melbourne

By Brian Chu Editor, The Daily Reckoning Australia

[8 min read]

Dear Reader,

Major events are happening this week that’ll change the course of history.

The US Federal Reserve is meeting at Jackson Hole for its annual summit. While it’s not a Federal Open Market Committee meeting this month, it’s more consequential than that because the board meets to discuss the Federal Reserve’s strategy. We’ll find out more on Saturday morning when Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell holds a press conference.

The other is the BRICS Summit in South Africa. You might be aware that we’re now seeing two financial systems operating in parallel and in competition with each other. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced yesterday that the BRICS nations will continue with their plans to migrate from the US petrodollar system.

It’s set to be a major contest to determine what will succeed the petrodollar system which is clearly on its last legs.

And as a gold enthusiast and advocate, I like where this is going. Whoever wins, gold is going to be the pivotal part of the transition since every nation needs to agree upon the terms of trade going forward.

What better standard is there than going back to the original money?

Talking about contests, we have former US President Donald J Trump taking on ‘The Swamp’ (aka The Establishment, The Deep State, The Globalist Elites).

As you’re aware, there hasn’t been a figure in recent times more enigmatic and divisive than Trump.

I’m pretty sure everyone has their views about him, good or bad. And many have strained their relationships or friendships because of it.

Make no mistake, Trump isn’t going away anytime soon. Free or locked up, he’s destined for history as one of the most influential figures of all time.

What I want to talk about today is the show that’s playing out right now.

It’s the epic fight between Trump and what he calls The Swamp. Will he drain it, or will he drown in it?

Spoiler alert: the ending isn’t what many expect.

For some, you’ll like how this movie ends…

How the quest to jail Trump is now the most riveting reality TV show

US Presidents have always been in the spotlight, put on display by the media which portray them in a particular way to shape public opinion.

Most of you remember how former President Bill Clinton was let off lightly by the media despite lying to Congress about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

As for former President George Bush Jr, they were less forgiving about his gaffes and made him the butt of jokes (think the pictures of him holding a phone receiver upside down and looking through binoculars with covers on).

As for former President Barack Obama, they painted him as a flawless president who deserved four more years as his second term came to an end. And indeed, he even claimed that his administration was scandal-free. Never mind the wars and economic upheavals that they’ve brought upon the world. That’s a sideshow.

With Trump, everything went into overdrive. Rocketing into fame via his show The Apprentice, his presidency might well be an extension of it!

Since running for President in 2016, the world put Donald Trump under a microscope. He campaigned to ‘drain the swamp’. And The Swamp sought to scrutinise every detail of his life to fight back:

His business dealings…

His family life, past and present marriages, affairs…

His political links…

His scandals, real or concocted…

It’s the scandals that took the most airwaves.

They laid out a laundry list — the Billy Bush locker room talk, Russiagate, the Stormy Daniels affair and hush money, Ukraine ‘quid pro quo’, the Charlottesville ‘fine people’ hoax, the bungle over the Wuhan virus outbreak, the election fraud ‘Big Lie’, and the January 6^th insurrection.

If you buy the official narrative in the mainstream media, you’d conclude that Trump is the most despicable and corrupt individual to ever sit in the Oval Office. He lacked class and morals, and he was totally unhinged.

Thus far, Trump has faced trials and investigations.

Let’s run through them...

Russiagate — Verdict: An investigation by Special Counsel John Durham revealed this was a concocted political smear approved and paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign. A paper trail revealed Clinton operatives paying Fusion GPS to create salacious information regarding Trump’s ties with Russia. Through Matt Taibbi’s ‘Twitter Files’, we’ve also found out that the FBI, Twitter and Facebook were hesitant to accept the information, but ran with it anyway. Those who ran with this debunked theory unquestioningly for six years and drummed up how Trump’s end was near have now burnt their reputation.

Stormy Daniels affair and hush money — Verdict: No charges have stuck. Instead, Stormy Daniels paid him after the court ruled in his favour. That said, his lawyer Michael Cohen served a prison sentence for tax fraud and lying to Congress. The biggest irony of this scandal was Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti serving a jail sentence for extortion and defrauding Stormy of her book deals proceeds!

Ukraine ‘quid pro quo’ (or how ‘quid pro quo’ turned to ‘quid pro Joe’) — Verdict: Trump’s phone call in 2019 with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymr Zelenskyy evolved into the first impeachment attempt against him. He survived the Senate vote in 2020. The twist in this plot is the focus is now on President Joe Biden, who has extensive ties with Ukraine through his son Hunter Biden and the Biden family, is confirmed to have received bribes for political favour. Again, the Department of Justice, the FBI, the IRS and the media have been revealed as running cover for Biden and engaging in a blatant show of double standards.

Out of these three scandals, you’ll see that Trump may’ve suffered some reputation damage, but his accusers came out worse for wear. Some of them were convicted, fined and even went to prison.

Talk about a major backfire!

Trump is by no means off the hook. But he seems to be inviting more trouble rather than running away from it.

He currently faces indictments over campaign funding going back to the Stormy Daniels case, illegally holding classified documents in his Mar-a-Largo home, conspiring to overturn the 2020 election, and inciting the January 6^th incident at the Capitol.

We’re about to watch ‘The Trial of the Century’, the climax of this reality show.

A twist in the plot…yes it’s coming

If you haven’t found the pattern yet, I’ll spell it out a little more.

This reality TV show isn’t about how corrupt Trump is. It’s about The Swamp.

Notwithstanding the allegations against him, his popularity is gaining momentum especially when he’s vindicated by investigations or bombshell revelations against his accusers. The rallies he holds around the country bring in thousands wherever he goes.

What stands out to me, however, is his rhetoric and confidence as he speaks in response to the charges he’s facing.

Falsely claiming election fraud and inciting an insurrection are no minor civil matters. It’s treason and sedition, which is punishable by death.

The fact that he hasn’t backed off, but doubled down, tells me that he’s got the cards in his hands. Remember for over two and a half years they’ve sought to silence his attempts to clear his name over the election and January 6^th. They went so far as to shut down his Twitter and Facebook accounts and plastered their news headlines with ‘The Big Lie’ and the January 6^th insurrection by MAGA.

If it wasn’t for the ‘Twitter Files’, ‘Facebook Files’, and Tucker Carlson revealing what really happened on January 6^th, you might think that Trump’s bluff is haphazard as he’s now gambling with his life.

I wrote over two years ago about how the US could enter a constitutional crisis if the US 2020 election is revealed to be fraudulent and stolen as Trump claimed.

Don’t forget that Trump told people beforehand in his election night speech (8:17 mark) that election officials could find ballots at 4:00am. Indeed, at 4:00am on 4 November, the swing states suddenly saw Biden take the lead as his votes spiked by tens of thousands.

Did Trump wait all this time so he could have his accusers force out of him the truth that they’d tried to silence for so long?

You’d better prepare yourself for this possibility. This is a show and I reckon most of you will be surprised by how it ends.

The two contests we’re watching unfold are linked. Trump versus The Swamp will help determine whether the petrodollar system will break into a thousand pieces, especially as it attacks the heart of the US system and the bedrock of Western democracy. The BRICS nations are using the vacuum created by the Biden Administration to move ahead and hopefully create a formidable force in a future multipolar world order.

Therefore, it’s time to secure your wealth. In a world where you can’t trust much, you can always turn to gold. Find out more with my one-stop precious metals investment service, The Australian Gold Report.

Regards,

Brian Chu,
Editor, The Daily Reckoning Australia

By Bill Bonner Editor, The Daily Reckoning Australia

Dear Reader,

‘There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. It is in vain to say that democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious, or less avaricious than aristocracy or monarchy. It is not true, in fact, and nowhere appears in history. Those passions are the same in all men, under all forms of simple government, and when unchecked, produce the same effects of fraud, violence, and cruelty. When clear prospects are opened before vanity, pride, avarice, or ambition, for their easy gratification, it is hard for the most considerate philosophers and the most conscientious moralists to resist the temptation. Individuals have conquered themselves. Nations and large bodies of men, never.’

John Adams

We are biding our time…waiting for the heat wave to pass in the South. It was 100 degrees there yesterday. We’ll wait it out in Normandy — temperature 82 degrees.

In the meantime, the reckoning hour approaches.

Charlie Bilello:

‘The Leading Economic Index has now declined for 16 consecutive months, the longest down streak since 2007–08. The Conference Board is now forecasting a US recession to begin in Q4, pushed back from its previous forecast of Q3.

‘What are some signs pointing to economic weakness?

‘a) Industrial Production, which declined on a YoY basis for the second straight month.

‘b) Retail Sales, which after adjusting for inflation have fallen for nine straight months.

‘Both Target ($TGT) and Home Depot ($HD) reported lower revenue than a year ago, a sign that the US consumer may be pulling back.’

Foxes and clucks

Market timers wait for the sell-off. Economists wait for the recession.

Here at Bonner Private Research, we are on suicide watch.  

In the rich muck beneath the news is the story of the rise of the US elite — the rich men north of Richmond. It’s the real story of the US…a story of power and how it is abused by those whom the famous Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto, called ‘the foxes.’ They are the clever ones. They are at the top of the heap. Whatever you call your government — they are the ones in charge. 

Why bother to look at it like that? Because there are still chapters to be written…and, most likely, it won’t end well. What’s good for the foxes isn’t necessarily good for the clucks in the henhouse.  

What we’ve seen, in the story of the US, is a tale of millions of triumphs — from Powerglide steering to post-it notes to cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay. But we’ve seen failures too — and a particular kind of flop (described by Adams, above): the foxes are corrupted by power…and their desire to dominate sucks up more and more of the nation’s wealth. Pointless foreign wars…unproductive ‘investments’…bureaucracy…taxes…inflation…and futile ‘programs’ whose only real consequence is to make the rich richer and the powerful even more obnoxious — democracy cuts its own wrists…and bleeds out its vital capital. 

The major political parties squabble over bathroom rights…and can’t be bothered to balance the budget. The geniuses at the Fed bring disaster after disaster by pretending to improve a US$25 trillion, global economy. The US military/industrial complex has become a US$1.5 trillion/year colossus that can’t win a war. Its pharma/medical complex shuts down the whole economy…delivering drugs that don’t work…and life expectancies fall.

The vainglory of the elites

While the Democrats were on TV howling furiously at the Republicans…and the conservatives were making obscene gestures at liberals in Congress…

…while the rights of the unborn were debated…the rights of the gender-affirming millennials were assured…‘hate’ speech was condemned…women were trained for combat roles...TV talk show hosts were ‘called out’ for saying the wrong thing…

…while pasteurisation, vaccinations, and standardisation were undertaken by armies of regulators…while the habits of the halibut were studied…while the fat, the lame, smokers and drug abusers were cared for…the idle were subsidised…reckless bankers were excused from bankruptcy…imprudent investors were rescued…incompetent generals were promoted, along with insufferable jackasses such as Victoria Nuland and Antony Blinken...US troops dispatched to nearly every woebegone country in the world…lobbyists rewarded…bribes offered and taken…reputations built…the stock market pumped…sinecures secured…connivers connived…ill-gotten gains gotten…and trillions in tax money, loans, and printed money handed out to unworthy causes and shady characters…

…while all this was going on…

…the rich men north of Richmond grew richer and more powerful than ever.

Little by little…then by huge bounds…energy drained away, out of things that really matter — work, saving, investment, innovation, generosity, courtesy, humility — and into the precincts of the rich, to enhance the vainglory of the elites.   

Yes, the US could dominate the world. But she was never mistress of herself; never could she control her elites’ drive for dominion. 

Regards,

Bill Bonner,
For The Daily Reckoning Australia