October 30, 2017

"In a Friday night phone call, President Trump's former chief strategist and enforcer Steve Bannon told Trump he was going 'off the chain' to destroy Paul Singer..."

"... a New York hedge fund billionaire who is one of the most influential donors to the Republican Party. Trump agreed with Bannon that it needed to be done, according to two sources familiar with the conversation.... Bannon spoke to Trump shortly after the New York Times broke the news that a Singer-funded conservative website first paid for anti-Trump research by the firm, Fusion GPS, that later produced the infamous Russia dossier... Trump loathed Singer during the campaign, when the billionaire was a lead financier of the 'Never Trump' movement. But the two made up earlier this year, and Singer has been financially very helpful since Trump won the presidency. He donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration and has supported various administration efforts including funding the successful outside campaign to back the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.... In Bannon's worldview, Singer belongs to a 'globalist' cabal that favors open borders and includes other bogeymen and bogeywomen such as George Soros and Hillary Clinton...."

Reports Axios (with detail on why this matters).

77 comments:

David said...

And they know this because . . .

That's a mighty quick leak.

Enthusiasm Quotes said...

amazing post
xyore

Mark O said...

Yeah, right.

madAsHell said...

Private conversations with the President are leaked?? This is fake news.

Jaq said...

Democrats are not for "open borders" of course, just zero enforcement of immigration laws as they apply to non-Europeans, and immediate forgiveness and citizenship for "migrants." No, they are completely against "open borders"! Just like Chuck, it's just such a darn low priority!

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Sounds like collusion to me. Time for a new mandate for Mueller.

buwaya said...

As billionaires go, Singer does not seem like such a big billionaire, or not publicly so.

An easier target for populist media?

Pour encourager les autres?

Bilwick said...

Are State-shtuppers like Hillary and Darth Soros really "bogey men" or "bogey women," in the sense of being non-existent or chimerical? Glad to hear it! I'd like to wake up one day in a free society where all statists and coercion junkies have vanished into the mists.

mccullough said...

Bannon is making this personal. Never hate your enemies

Rob said...

bogeywoman!

I got a boogie-woogie woman
Boogie-woogie all the time
I got a boogie-woogie woman
Boogie-woogie all the time
If she keep on boogyin`
She bound to lose her mind.
--B.B. King

Not to be confused with witchy woman in this time of Halloween.

buwaya said...

Also possibly pressure on the money-men in order for them to revise instructions to their Washington creatures.

This should have been going on in private all this time, and for all we know it has been.

robother said...

Bogeywomen! Another glass ceiling broken by Hillary.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

This is your President. I hope you’re proud.


“Trump agreed with Bannon that it needed to be done, according to two sources familiar with the conversation. (Though I'm also told that Trump has since told at least one other person that Singer is "on the team" — suggesting that maybe he's telling everyone what they want to hear.)”

cubanbob said...

Unknown said...
This is your President. I hope you’re proud."

Actually, I am. Very Machiavellian of Trump if true. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer.

mccullough said...

Lol. This is how it works and has for a long time. Learn to Unknow or else you're just a useful idiot

Yancey Ward said...

This is almost certainly made up by Axios, and the purpose is blindingly obvious. Anyone want to take a guess as to why someone would make up this story before I tell you?

Darrell said...

Lefties are pretty creative when they sit around and imagine right-wing conversations. They know us so well.

Achilles said...

Axios is paid for by the globalist bogeymen too. Just another propaganda arm that magically shows up in Apple news.

Drago said...

Unknown: "This is your President. I hope you’re proud."

I'm especially proud that the hotbed of sexual assault and pedophilia and standing ovations for guys who drug and sodomize underage girls known as Hollywood hates Trump.

I'm especially especially proud that Trump would never have played a role in handing over 20% of our uranium to Putin and his pals for cash and then covering it up.

Michael K said...

"This is your President. I hope you’re proud."

Yes, I am. As for yours, I hope she gets 20 years.

tim maguire said...

The lead financier of the NeverTrump campaign also donated a million dollars to Trump's inauguration?

He should be easy to remove from politics.

Yancey Ward said...

This is just another, and pretty inept, attempt to cloud the waters about the funding of the Steele Dossier. The first go at this, revealing Singer's work with GPSFusion didn't work because the details of the timeline don't support it. So the next attempt is make you think Trump and Bannon are mad at Singer for funding it. That was the purpose of the story- to make you believe Trump is mad at Singer for funding the dossier.

Yancey Ward said...

And watch and see if in the next few days people don't start saying exactly this- "If Singer didn't start the funding on the dossier, why are Trump and Bannon planning to destroy him?"

DavidD said...

“bogeywomen”?

Isn’t that carrying political correctness a little too far?

Scott M said...

*bogeypersons

Fabi said...

Tony Podesta steps down. Hillary's in trouble!

Fabi said...

NBC says Podesta is under investigation by Mueller. Hillary's in trouble!

Tim said...

Bogeys demand safe spaces!
And those spaces should be triggering to any non-bogey identificators!
We am triggered by your cisbogey nomitives
the pronouns should be "Bhe" "Bir" "Bix" and "Them"

Bogey Nights! er, Bogey Rights!

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jupiter said...

Michael K said...

"Yes, I am. As for yours, I hope she gets 20 years."

I don't think she's 20 years left on her. Or even 10. I am thinking "disgorge".

Kevin said...

This is your President. I hope you’re proud.

Your taunts only work if we think he's repulsive. We don't. We want the swamp drained.

So to answer your question: We are. We really are.

Ray - SoCal said...

Not sure what's the reality:

- Bannon is sending a message with the leak.

- Made up to cause dissensions with Republicans. Axios is very Left.

gadfly said...

Paul Singer is a REAL billionaire and all the King's horses (Steve Bannon, who did the Palin movie that failed, along with his non-billionaire supporters, Bob Mercer and daughter Rebekah and the Breitbart website) don't come close to being powerful enough to move Humpty Dumpty off his wall.

The fact of the matter is that Brietbart.com is trending downward, first, as Trump popularity falls and second, because of the obvious loss of Bannon's stature among Trumpsters due to his firing by the President.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
buwaya said...

"If Singer didn't start the funding on the dossier, why are Trump and Bannon planning to destroy him?"

A very reasonable possibility is that he controls several Senators. Article says he is close to McConnell. McConnell does not need a billionaire as he has married one, or if Elaine Chao is yet not a billionaire, she is an heir to such a fortune.

LYNNDH said...

"other bogeymen and bogeywomen such as George Soros and Hillary Clinton...." - Much more frightening than Putin. Soros is an open sore on the body politic.

gadfly said...

@ Drago said...

I'm especially proud that the hotbed of sexual assault and pedophilia and standing ovations for guys who drug and sodomize underage girls known as Hollywood hates Trump. From the press I read, sexual assault and pedophilia are among Trump's favorite activities.

I'm especially especially proud that Trump would never have played a role in handing over 20% of our uranium to Putin and his pals for cash and then covering it up. You might be prouder if you acknowledge that nobody has handed over 20% of our uranium to the Russkies- so you might want to review the law that prevents such an act.

Fabi said...

"...sexual assault and pedophilia are among Trump's favorite activities."

Sure.

Qwinn said...

It's so cute when lefties act as if getting the uranium to Russia physically is all important. Note - Russia has lots of uranium. If they own 20% of it, that's 20% of our own natural resources denied to us. At this point they're either morons for never having thought of that angle, or traitoroua for deliberately running cover.

Achilles said...

The lawyer that met with Don Jr. Worked for Fusion GPS. 3 of the Russians at that meeting were in fact linked by cash payments to fusion GPS. Hillary started talking about Trump being a Russian puppet at the same time she was paying Fusion GPS.

This is when she thought she was going to win.

What do you think Hillary would have done if she won and she was directing Mueller right now? The rule of law would only have been the first casualty.



buwaya said...

It does not have to be a strategic (or military-strategic) purpose behind the uranium deal. It could simply be a matter of becoming a bigger player in the uranium market. Controlling more of the supply in order to have more of an influence on price. At the time (2009-2012-ish) Russia had plenty of dollars, and besides its own limited production also effectively controlled that of Kazakhstan, which is within the Russian orbit.

In conjunction with the Canadian interests the Russians were in cahoots with (often missed, that), they could have something like a uranium OPEC. Kazakhstan and Canada are the two largest producers as it is. The US is actually a pretty small source and 20% of US production is a very small proportion of global supply.

buwaya said...

Also interesting to see the uranium price chart -
Futures prices -

http://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart/UX/M

An interesting spike at the end of 2010, and a collapse in 2011, most of which does not seem to be Fukushima-related. Uranium has gone nowhere since. I doubt the Russians have any interest in buying US uranium mines at the moment or in the foreseeable future.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
buwaya said...

Besides the obvious corruption of US officials, the Russians probably weren't doing anything hostile vs US national security. I think they were just doing business, trying to corner the uranium market in collaboration with some Canadians.

Pretty innocent stuff, by global standards.

Michael K said...

"I don't think she's 20 years left on her. Or even 10. I am thinking "disgorge".

Die in prison is OK with me.

We'll see if Mueller cares about his place in history. If so, the next indictments will be the Podesta brothers. That totem pole has some real totems on it.

Bob Boyd said...

"enforcer"

Strategist doesn't sound nefarious enough, I guess.

Big Mike said...

@Etienne, where Paul Singer banks may be of note. His Jewishness is not. Save anti-Semitism for left-wing websites, where it is approved.

rehajm said...

And watch and see if in the next few days people don't start saying exactly this- "If Singer didn't start the funding on the dossier, why are Trump and Bannon planning to destroy him?"

Coffee talk for Morning RINO?

Achilles said...

Michael K said...

Die in prison is OK with me.

Launched by catapult into burning building for me.

We'll see if Mueller cares about his place in history. If so, the next indictments will be the Podesta brothers. That totem pole has some real totems on it.

Mueller covered for the Clintons in 2010 when the FBI had Rosatom for bribery racketeering and extortion and buried it. The people they were bribing were the Clintons. If he starts indicting Clinton cronies they have enough dirt on him to see him in jail for life as well. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Everyone in DC is trying to thwart real investigations. Note Rosenstein and Sessions not exactly enthusiastic about going after Clinton.

Everyone in DC was taking money from the Russians. They were also taking money from the Chinese Saudis and many others.

Their biggest problem is someone outside the political class got elected and they weren't able to buy him.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
traditionalguy said...

Speaking of Hitler, the latest JFK hidden docs now released mention JFK still believed Hitler was alive and well, living in Argentina with CIA help. That belief alone could have gotten Jack and Bobby silenced.

buwaya said...

"They were also taking money from the Chinese Saudis and many others. "

This is true, and very important. The Russians seem to be the focus of special concern for some reason, but in truth they certainly weren't the source of a significant part of Washington corruption. They are notably sleazy for sure, but they have never been rich enough to be such a big deal. There was and is much more money elsewhere.

Fabi said...

Podesta Group and Mercury are the two companies referenced in the Manafort indictment. What a shitty day for the left -- and they were so anxious and giddy!

gerry said...

The only difference from Trump and Hitler, is that Hitler won the popular vote.

In the 1932 Presidential election, Hindenburg got 53% of the vote and Hitler got 34%. Hitler lost that election.

In the 1933 parliamentary election, the Nazi Party got 44% of the vote. 324 seats were needed for a majority. Since the Nazi Party won only 288 seats, the party had to form a coalition government with another party that had won 52 seats. The resulting coalition government had a scant majority of 340 seats.

So you may say Hitler got the most votes, but he did not win the election. Moreover, he did not win a majority of the votes cast.

If you are going to jump the shark, at least get your facts straight before you do it.

Drago said...

Gadflyt: "You might be prouder if you acknowledge that nobody has handed over 20% of our uranium to the Russkies- so you might want to review the law that prevents such an act."

LOL

It's already happened.

But go ahead and keep pretending it hasn't, if that helps you sleep at night.

Gadfly is the Poor Man's "lifelong republican" Chuck.

#Sad

n.n said...

My guess is that before the Obama-backed coup in Kiev, the business conducted by people left, right, and center was not classifiable criminal activity, and, in fact, was legal financial dealings. However, since the introduction of a political outsider as executive of the Deep State (i.e. bureaucracy), and failing to use the traditional methods (e.g. trial by press) to route him, they have invested in forcing a Watergate-style process (i.e. cascading criminal and public liability), but Trump has thus far refused their entreaties. So, what is a prosecutor without discretion supposed to do, but indict the low-lying fruits? Will he be Pro-Choice? Inquiring minds want to know.

Michael K said...

Their biggest problem is someone outside the political class got elected and they weren't able to buy him.

Yes, and crazy enough to want to drain the swamp, even with all the crocodiles it contains.

The Saudis had a Bush connection.
The Chinese bought the Clintons through Loral and other military secrets.
The Russians wanted connections but didn't have enough money,

I just worry that he keeps his own security with him.

Matt said...

It is most certainly not a conspiracy to say that Bannon hates the establishment wing of the Republican party and that he often refers to them as 'globalists'. His site - Breitbart - goes after Republicans they hate [most all the Republican leadership in the Senate] as much as they go after Democrats. They most definitely want to destroy [or drain] what they call the swamp. However, what Bannon and Breitbart don't seem to understand is that most all politicians are part of the swamp. It does not matter if a politician is new or has 'good' intentions. It's all one big swamp in Washington. Embrace it or get out....

cubanbob said...

Time for Trump to appoint several special prosecutors to investigate Mueller and Comey among other items. Guaranteed to keep Mueller on the straight and narrow. I see Comey singing like a canary against Obama and the rest of the Obamaites.

Jaq said...

heir biggest problem is someone outside the political class got elected and they weren't able to buy him.

Why do you think that they hated Sarah Palin? How were they going to buy her, free cases of 2 stroke oil for her snowmobiles?

Nonapod said...

To be fair, it's not exactly a great revelation to say that powerful foreign governments have been buying all sorts of influence from various DC political fauna forever. What's different now is that their's finally a bit of actual pushback.

From DC to Hollywood it seems like our entire culture is currently undergoing a sort of truth cataclysm. The various long running hypocrisies that have underpinned these old institutions for decades, that have been allowed to fester, the long running open secrets and corruptions are all being exposed to the hard unambiguous light of day. Perhaps all the decadence has finally become untenable? I don't know.

buwaya said...

"However, what Bannon and Breitbart don't seem to understand is that most all politicians are part of the swamp. "

I think they know this very well. And to expand, its not just the politicians, but the entire structure of the Federal Government, its agencies, its personnel, its contractors and consultants, its NGO's and Quangos, its vendors. And that's all just a start. The list of compromised institutions and interests is endless.

Bannon has the vision to understand that the enemy camp is enormous. It is a whole society and subculture - or several subcultures.

Big Mike said...

Dear President Trump:

Please put Steve Bannon back on the chain until after the coming election. If he loses the Alabama Senate seat, be sure to not only have him on the chain with multiple padlocks, but superglue his big mouth shut. Singer did something unethical and, much worse, politically stupid, but he seems to be trying to atone for it in the most sincere way possible -- with cash -- so give him a chance.

Sincerely,

Big Mike

gadfly said...

Drago - The Russian government's Rosatom uranium investments group purchased 51% of Uranium One, a Canadian company. Subsequently, Uranium One bought interests in a Wyoming uranium mining operation that represented 20% of US Uranium sources. However the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is charged with seeing that uranium cannot be exported without a license - and the exporter must obtain a license. Obtaining such a license has not and will not happen.

The NY Times says that some of the Wyoming yellowcake was sent to Canada but that is illegal; coincidentally, the Trump administration is now charged with enforcing the law. So Drago, if we are having a problem blame your buddy Donny.

If the Clinton's received $145 million from Putin, then I would expect that the Russians were betting on Hillary being put in charge of the uranium. In this case, the inadvertent screwing of our mortal enemies is certainly not against the law.

Michael K said...

"Bannon has the vision to understand that the enemy camp is enormous. It is a whole society and subculture - or several subcultures."

Yes and they can kill, which is why I hope he has kept his own security people.

The Manafort case just might break open some sealed lockers.

Kind of a reverse Alger Hiss perjury case.

narciso said...

Meanwhile they nabbed a yet unknown conspirator in the Benghazi attack, a fellow named Al imam, who was likely part of the Qatari outreach program.

Fabi said...

"If the Clinton's received $145 million from Putin, then I would expect that the Russians were betting on Hillary being put in charge of the uranium. In this case, the inadvertent screwing of our mortal enemies is certainly not against the law."

You hang your hat on that story, buddy -- good luck!

Kevin said...

Time for Trump to appoint several special prosecutors to investigate Mueller and Comey among other items.

That would be a brilliant move. And it would be fun to hear the leftists scream "obstruction" should he do so!

buwaya said...

"Qatari outreach program."

True.
The Qatari thing is yet another bit of mystery. What the heck they have been up to has not been explained. A good subject for investigative journalism, if such a thing still exists. And, not least, who they were paying off in the US and for what purpose. We know they gave Al Gore a huge pile of cash.

buwaya said...

And, note, even the Qataris had way more money to spend than the Russians.

narciso said...

Well brookings, the Clinton foundation. and the Barclays bros, who happen to be the owners of telegraph, and by proxy clients of wilmer Pickering, quelled surprise

https://mobile.twitter.com/seanmdav/status/925054296340692993?p=v

narciso said...

Just movie goers on a stroll, you know:

https://mobile.twitter.com/watchful1?p=s

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

buwaya said...
And, note, even the Qataris had way more money to spend than the Russians.


According to you, just the other day, the Russian economy is booming, booming I tell you, booming.

buwaya said...

"According to you, just the other day, the Russian economy is booming, booming I tell you, booming."

Lets say the Qataris have spare cash. Russia has had budget problems since @2012.
Qatar has a sovereign wealth fund - Russia doesn't.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatar_Investment_Authority
Conversely,
Russia has Debt
https://tradingeconomics.com/russia/government-debt-to-gdp
But nothing like the US
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/government-debt-to-gdp

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

So the Russian economy has less ready cash available than little Qatar (pop: 2.6 million)? Doesn't sound like its booming to me.

Bad Lieutenant said...

The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, which I believe is the largest due to their North Sea riches, is maybe in the area of 180 to 200 billion dollars. Qatar, despite gold-plumbing lifestyles and numerous white elephants of defense technology could still have left a fair sum in the old coffee can buried under the next wadi.

Russian resources are tightly constrained. They can't exactly hold a missile raffle to spin up untraceable hundred-dollar bills. Or 500 euro notes which is for obvious reasons more favored among the clandestine banking set. They could probably make considerable transfers of commodities at short notice, oil, gold, diamonds. Or can sign deals which will wash through the process in time, given enough Manaforts and Podestas.

Now it's said that Putin is one of the richest men on Earth and has sucked, the last number I heard is a couple of years old, maybe forty billion dollars into his own control, figure everybody else in the oligarchy put together got at least that out in the last 20 years, so sure, somebody should be able to write a check. But if any US or Western intelligence is any good at all, they might be able to sniff that out.

Not to minimize or maximize anybody's complicity in anything, but I wonder if Manafort and the Podestas just see Russia and Ukraine like any other lobbying clients, like Exxon or Pfizer or Time Warner.

I hope that we are either doing or planning some sort of return favor for the Russians for all they have done for us lately. I hope it will do them some good.

Freeman Hunt said...

I've only heard "off the chain" in a documentary about people who fight in backyards. One older woman described a fight she particularly liked as "off the chain."