TheLastRefuge Profile picture
Aug 16, 2022 20 tweets 6 min read Read on X
I'm going to reemphasize x infinity, because it's the greatest thing I have seen on Twitter in years. @ellencarmichael deserves a follow, because her earnest political outlook is so authentic (it saves a million words). THIS is the authentic outlook of the republican party.
Please do not disparage her or ridicule the perspective. Instead, absorb -genuinely- what Carmichael is saying, along with the replies to her suggestion from the professionally republican followers she maintains.

It is the greatest visible example of the GOP disconnect in years.
The only other moment that comes close to just sitting there as a representative example of the professional political disconnect, was the 2016 South Carolina republican primary debate; and the audience reaction to MAGA Trump as presented. Image
In 2016, President Trump first introduced the professional republican class (the GOP betters) to the concept of America-First economic nationalism.

They were clueless. The audiences sat puzzling their puzzlers wondering what was this jibberish.. what was this odd policy.
In New Hampshire, then Candidate Trump introduced China as a geopolitical and economic threat.

Jeb's infamous and incredulous "c'mon man'... represented the GOP audience view. WTF are you talking about, they said... China? What is this nonsense.
Until Trump, the catchphrase from the GOP "betters", this is generations of outlook talking points, included the acceptance of:

..."The United States is a service driven economy"...

Bush Sr.
Clinton
Bush Jr.
Obama

30+ years of the same mantra. Until Trump.
It's funny in retrospect, but even today the professional political class of Republicans do not understand the basic inflection point that Trump represented.

That incredulous disconnect is still so brutally visible as to surface in the Carmichael tweet.

That's the value of it.
Bush, McCain, Romney, Jeb, et al,... none of them connected to the issue of, or even the concept of, "economic nationalism."

The entire apparatus of the GOP as a professional political party couldn't fathom what was at the nucleus of middle-class voter pain. Trump did.
What is this attraction?... said dozens of the best paid political consultants and Wall Street cocktail party invitees.

It must be because Trump's a TV reality media star they reconciled in their echo-chamber. Yeah, yeah, that's it, the rubes know him from TV.

Gottabe... Image
That disconnect I am describing, still permeates the professional GOP apparatus to this very day.

Hedge funders, Donors, Wall Street, Multinationals, the apparatus that supports the architecture of one wing of the 2-party club dynamic, just can't fathom the appeal of Trump.
Sacrilegious words like "tariffs", "reciprocity", "trade equity", "protectionism" had long been banned from better conservative circles.

Books burned. Mention amid Wharton School lesson plans strictly forbidden. By the time of Trump, an economic code of Omerta existed.
But like the flickering flame of liberty, the embers of economic nationalism still existed.... barely alight, but smoldering.

Here's comes Trump with the bellows, and BOOM, just like that, YES, it reignites.... America-First is introduced. Worse yet, it comes without apology. Image
Trillions, on a global level, suddenly at stake. Billions on a corporate and even personal level suddenly at risk, for the professional political class.

Wait, he,.... what,... tariffs?

Oh, hell no, they thought. Hell no. This system he speaks of is unimaginable. The horror. Image
Peel all the skin off the onion, and even though they (like Carmichael) might not be able to understand it, that's the core of the disconnect.

Economic nationalism is the unifying theme of MAGA.
Economic nationalism is what creates the largest populist tent in the history of republican politics.

Blacks, whites, latinos, asians, all colors all creeds, all races, all united.... because the "working-class" is the unifying element.

MAGA is the voice of the working class.
The working class is what keeps all the shit working. We are the binding of our patchwork quilt of a constitutional republic.

The working class that had been beaten, put down, isolated, disconnected from policy, ridiculed for not having pedigree, all of it. United in MAGA.
It's a massive political tent. The biggest political coalition in the history of American politics.

However, you have to be in the working-class in order to understand the working class. That's the GOP problem. Image
Candidate Trump introduced the professional GOPe to economic nationalism.

President Trump then initiated economic nationalism.

The MAGA working class immediately felt the benefits of economic nationalism. Image
This is what unifies the MAGA base and attaches to President Donald Trump.

This is what the GOP professional political class just do not understand, and even more dislike. DeSantis, Noem, Haley, Pence, Cheney et al.

None of them carry a multiracial working-class coalition. ImageImageImageImage
/END Image

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More from @TheLastRefuge2

Aug 25
Most have forgotten...

Back in 2017 when House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes was working to reauthorize the FISA legislation, Nunes wrote a letter to ODNI Dan Coats about this specific issue:

intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/… x.com/TheLastRefuge2…Image
There is little doubt the NSA database was used by Obama-era officials, from 2012 through April 2016, as a way to spy on their political opposition. Quite simply there is no other intellectually honest explanation for the scale and volume of database abuse that was taking place.

When we reconcile what was taking place and who was involved, then the actions of the exact same principal participants take on a jaw-dropping amount of clarity.

All of the action taken by CIA Director Brennan, FBI Director Comey, ODNI Clapper and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter make sense. Including their effort to get NSA Director Mike Rogers fired.

Russia-Gate, the Steele Dossier and even the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (drawn from the dossier and signed by the above) were needed to create a cover-story and protect themselves from discovery of this four-year weaponization, political surveillance and unlawful spying.

This is why President Obama was willing to push the Russiagate story with his activity in December of 2016 after the election.  Obama wasn’t only dirtying up President Trump, Obama was using Russiagate as a cover for the spying that took place using the NSA database.

Even the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel makes sense; Mueller was FBI Director when the use of the NSA database surveillance began. Aaron Zebly was his chief-of-staff.Image
The beginning decision to use FISA (702) as a domestic surveillance and political spy mechanism appears to have started in/around 2012. Perhaps sometime shortly before the 2012 presidential election and before John Brennan left the White House and moved to CIA. However, there was an earlier version of data assembly that preceded this effort.

Political spying 1.0 was actually the weaponization of the IRS.

This is where the term “Secret Research Project” originated as a description from the Obama team. It involved the U.S. Department of Justice under Eric Holder and the FBI under Robert Mueller. It never made sense why Eric Holder requested over 1 million tax records via CD ROM, until overlaying the timeline of the FISA abuse:

The IRS sent the FBI “21 disks constituting a 1.1-million-page database of information from 501(c)(4) tax exempt organizations to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” The transaction occurred in October 2010

washingtonexaminer.com/irs-send-massi…
Read 9 tweets
Aug 23
1. Former National Security Advisor John Bolton is a well-documented neocon, who operates inside the business model of selling U.S. foreign policy influence for personal gain.  His activity mirrors that of former Senator John McCain in many regards.

John Bolton sold his access, contacts and ability to influence policy to the highest bidder. In DC parlance they call that a “consultant.” When the consulting is contracted for a specific foreign national interest, the title shifts to “lobbyist.”  That was his job, and all of Washington DC knows it.

Washington DC operates on this business model; the entire system will be soft to criticize Bolton, and many will likely defend him.Image
2. The FBI raid on his residence and office has led to a considerable amount of speculation.  However, as some background details start to come out, it appears CIA Director John Ratcliffe provided FBI Director Kash Patel with specifics on the international travels and efforts of Bolton.

That CIA referral has led to an FBI investigation under the auspices of potential violations of the espionage act, where Bolton would have leveraged current or prior classified intelligence information as part of his influence business.

Almost identically to former Senator John McCain, John Bolton was well known to intersect with the nation of Qatar as part of his operation.  Qatar has deep pockets and a long-identified influence operation throughout the middle east and the United States, sometimes playing all sides.

Qatar is also the playground for the CIA.

While it is yet unknown which nation and which activity Bolton was likely engaged in, the highest probability centers around the deepest pockets, which would also put Bolton on the CIA radar.Image
3. "The information that provided the basis for the warrant to search John Bolton’s home on Friday was based on intelligence collected overseas by the C.I.A., according to people who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing criminal investigation.

John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, provided Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, with limited access to the intelligence. It involved the mishandling of classified material by Mr. Bolton, the people said.

The search of the home and office of Mr. Bolton, who was national security adviser during President Trump’s first term, was a major escalation of a long-running inquiry into whether he collected or leaked sensitive national security information, law enforcement officials said.

The nature of the intelligence collected overseas is not known. The F.B.I. obtained the search warrant after presenting evidence to a federal judge. Mr. Bolton’s office declined to comment.

The C.I.A. and F.B.I. regularly cooperate on counterterrorism investigations. It is unusual for the C.I.A. to so prominently provide information for a high-profile investigation of a former U.S. official."...

nytimes.com/live/2025/08/2…
Read 5 tweets
Aug 22
1) It's an interesting file release, albeit with little current criminal value all things considered (in total).

As I regretfully noted in 2018, all of the 2017 media leaks by Comey, McCabe and Baker *COULD* be justified (sketchy, but enough for plausible deniability and/or reasonable doubt) under the auspices of a counterintelligence operation being actively run by the FBI. [Remember, they're crooked DC f**kers]

Essentially: 'We're strategically leaking to judge the cause, effect and response from the investigative targets' as part of the overall operation etc. etc. Because this is an exceptionally unique investigation. blah, blah, blah...

Absolutely nothing will come of it, AND that cannot be emphasized enough; because in the final analysis, evidence released to John Solomon - is, by its nature - never going to be used in court proceedings. But here's some first review perspectives on the release anyway.

cc: @themarketswork @HansMahncke @Techno_Fog @almostjingo @ClimateAudit @TulsiGabbard
2) Reading between the lines....

March 22, 2017, was two days after James Comey's first testimony to the HPSCI on March 20, where he admitted publicly for the first time President Donald Trump was the target of an FBI counterintelligence investigation.

[Comey's 3/20/17 testimony was three days after SSCI Mark Warner and James Wolfe leaked the FISA to media. The intent was momentum for a special counsel. After the 3/17/17 FISA leak it made no sense for Comey to keep denying Trump was a target. Hence the admission on 3/20/17.

John Durham used in March 2017. That's new. A full two years before his name surfaced publicly via Bill Barr. The origin of the Durham weave? Interesting.

Assigned by Dana Boente 3/22/17 based on a criminal referral from [XXXXX] redacted?

[That redaction is likely 28/29 characters]

"House Intelligence Committee"? Possible fit.

Again, a review/context:

Sessions recused March 2nd
Nunes Presser March 16th
Wolfe/Warner leak March 17th
Comey Testimony March 20th

Then 👇Image
3. The now well-known "prohibited access files" in sentinel system, being used. Image
Read 9 tweets
Aug 20
Abandoned by his father to a troubled single mother; eventually raised by grandparents. He is then recruited from an Ivy league law school by shadow figures, a specific billionaire and a network of interests. He changes his name, writes a book about his life story, and with the support of the aforementioned – who eventually pays for the assembly of a strategic campaign influence network, becomes a Senator for 2 years before being quickly elevated into position in the White House.

Many people reading that paragraph would be familiar with the life story of Barack Hussien Obama.

However, that paragraph doesn't describe Barack H Obama. Nope, it is the right-side version of the exact same storyline, James David Vance.
On one side of the UniParty mirror we have an emotionally constructed political figure for the left.  On the other side of the UniParty mirror we have an emotionally constructed political figure for the right.  Each person, each emotional narrative, carrying the specific nuances to appeal to their wing of the UniParty audience.  However, both are following the same playbook.
JD Vance was born James Donald Bowman in Middletown, Ohio (August 2, 1984). He then changed his name to James David Bowman. He then changed his name to James David Hamel. Eventually, in 2014, notably after Yale Law School (class of 2013) and after marrying his wife Usha, now age 30, he changed his name to write a book.

It was 2014, that’s when JD Vance was born.

usatoday.com/story/news/pol…
Read 24 tweets
Aug 18
1/ To give you an idea of the scope of influence of Mary McCord as a key corrupt and unlawful DC functionary, consider what we can document.

♦ McCord submitted the fraudulent FISA application to spy on Trump campaign. Oct. '16

♦ McCord created the “Logan Act” claim used against Michael Flynn and then went with Sally Yates to confront the White House. Feb '17

♦ McCord then left the DOJ and went to work for Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler on Impeachment Committee. '18

♦ McCord organized the CIA rule changes with Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson. '18

♦ McCord led and organized the impeachment effort, in the background, using the evidence she helped create. '19

♦ McCord joined the FISA Court to protect against DOJ IG Michael Horowitz newly gained NSD oversight and FISA review. '19

♦ McCord joined the J6 Committee helping to create all the lawfare angles they deployed. '21

♦ McCord then coordinated with DA Fani Willis in Georgia. '21

♦ McCord was working with Special Counsel Jack Smith to prosecute Trump. '22

♦ McCord is now coordinating a Lawfare attack process against Donald Trump in term #2.

♦ McCord testified that AG Pam Bondi must recuse herself from investigating McCord. '25

♦ Joe Biden pardoned Mary McCord. '25Image
2/ DC – “Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and House Jan. 6 Select Committee has tapped Mary McCord, who once ran the Justice Department’s National Security Division, for representation in its fight to obtain former President Donald Trump’s White House records."

politico.com/minutes/congre…
3/ .."I am exercising my authority under the Constitution to pardon General Mark A. Milley, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the Members of Congress and staff who served on the Select Committee, and the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the Select Committee."...Image
Read 4 tweets
Aug 16
1) On March 6th 2009 then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton famously used a prop, "a reset button", to announce a new approach toward relationships between the United States and Russia.   Clinton presented the button to her counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Image
2) In an attempt to break the ice with Lavrov, Clinton handed him a makeshift "reset" button wrapped in a ribbon at the start of their meeting. Laughing, she told the foreign minister that "we want to reset our relationship" and "we will do it together."

Lavrov promised to keep the button on his desk, but pointed out that the Russian word written on it, "peregruzka," meant "overload" -- not "reset."

rferl.org/a/After_Meetin…Image
3) At the time many people warned the Obama Administration was taking a very naïve position if they collectively thought the Russians would in any way align with U.S. interests.

The reasoning for the caution was simple.

For two decades the general Russian political class had felt "the West" in a general sense, and the U.S. in particular, had been dancing in the end zone about the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Regardless of whether or not the Obama administration wanted to admit there was a resentment in place, it factually existed.

Then something funny happened... The U.S Embassy "cable leak" scandal.

theguardian.com/world/2010/nov…
Read 7 tweets

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