Post

Pedro L. Gonzalez

Feb 18, 2023 • 35 tweets • 10 min read • Read on X

Trump took millions of dollars from Soros and gave senior positions in his White House to people mentored by and connected to Soros. DeSantis has actually used political power to fight Soros. That's why Soros called DeSantis "ruthless" and Trump "pitiful."contra.substack.com/p/donald-trump…

There has been a significant amount of money moving between Trump world and Soros going back a while.

In 2004, Trump happily took $160 million from Soros for the construction of the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago. chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-20…

From the Chicago Tribune article above: "Donald Trump has lined up three New York hedge funds, including money from billionaire George Soros, to invest $160 million in his Chicago skyscraper."

Trump only recently became willing to publicly criticize Soros. Even when he does, it's mild compared to what his supporters say. In fact, I found a video from a Tea Party rally in 2011 where Trump *refuses* to criticize Soros when an attendee asks. streamable.com/k0gx3

From the video above: "Oh, forget Soros, leave him alone, he's got enough problems," Trump told a Tea Party rallygoer.

"He goes, 'What about Soros!'" Trump added. "Let's talk about somebody else."

Trump's relationship with Soros has some interesting twists and turns. Pensions & Investments reported that in 2008, they were named together (among others) in a lawsuit over the sale of the General Motors Building in Manhattan. pionline.com/article/200810…

Then you've got the high-level staffers Trump appointed with concrete connections to Soros: Jared Kushner and Steve Mnuchin.

In May 2017, the Wall Street Journal reported that then-Senior Advisor to the President Kushner had undisclosed business ties with Soros through Cadre, a real estate startup co-founded by Kushner in 2014. Soros' backing was *significant.*

wsj.com/articles/trump…

According to the Journal (article above), Cadre secured a *$250 million* line of credit from the family office of Soros.

Kushner never even divested from Soros-backed Cadre while serving as Trump's virtual prime minister. bnnbloomberg.ca/jared-kushner-…

Breitbart's Peter Schweizer in 2017 on Kushner and Soros-backed Cadre: "this is not some passive investment that one of his advisers said to put money into, and was forgotten about. He co-founded it." breitbart.com/radio/2017/05/…

I think Kushner was initially pretty brazen about his social ties to Soros. Well after Trump became president, he and Ivanka were spotted at a party with Soros at the home of Lally Weymouth, whose brother is the former publisher of The Washington Post. thehill.com/blogs/blog-bri…

But the really damning thing people missed is how Kushner borrowed from a Soros initiative to cook up the Platinum Plan.

In July 2020, Soros' Open Society Foundations unveiled its "Building Power in Black Communities" program, pledging "opportunity" through race-based initiatives, criminal justice reform, and a cash infusion for the black community.

Sound familiar? opensocietyfoundations.org/newsroom/open-…

Just two months later, the Kushner-conceived Platinum Plan was unveiled, pledging "opportunity" through race-based initiatives, criminal justice reform, and a cash infusion for the black community. cdn.donaldjtrump.com/public-files/p…

The similarities between the Soros plan and the Platinum Plan that Kushner pushed and Trump promoted were not a coincidence. It's also notable that Kushner was the de facto campaign manager of Trump's reelection bid. Are people surprised it was a wreck washingtonpost.com/politics/advis…

I'm not saying Trump consciously promoted a Soros policy idea. I'm saying that Trump allowed someone who is virtually indistinguishable from Soros--that is Jared Kushner--to run his White House and campaign, which is an indictment of Trump.

And finally, for now, there's Steve Mnuchin, Trump's Treasury secretary who was mentored by Soros, worked at more than one Soros-aligned firm, including the Soros Fund Management, and was a lifelong donor to Democrats like Obama and Hillary Clinton. timesofisrael.com/treasury-pick-…

There has never been a reckoning for any of these people. Kushner advises Trump's official think tank, the America First Policy Institute, and the same influencers pushing the absurd idea that DeSantis is endorsed by Soros (he's not) are aligned with Kushner.

In contrast to Trump, DeSantis suspended a Soros-backed prosecutor and *named* Soros to the public as an enemy. He didn't just yelp about Soros for fundraising--he physically removed one of Soros' minions from power. mynbc15.com/news/nation-wo…

It took Trump years, decades to issue any criticism of Soros and even refused that. He empowered Soros ghouls like Kushner and Mnuchin.

DeSantis simply fired a Soros foot soldier and then went on Tucker Carlson to tell Americans Soros is their enemy. foxnews.com/video/63104403…

Ahead of the 2022 midterms, DeSantis put Soros on blast and warned the public against his influence operations.

foxnews.com/politics/desan…

https://twitter.com/AlexanderSoros/status/1567978369903468548?s=20

This is why Alex Soros, the son of George Soros, hates DeSantis.

https://twitter.com/AlexanderSoros/status/1567978369903468548?s=20

Soros called DeSantis "ruthless" because, unlike Trump, he is actually willing and able to use power. He's done more to wound Soros as the governor of Florida than Trump did as president of the US.

On the other hand, Soros called Trump "pitiful" because Trump filled his administration with people connected to Soros, proposed policies derived from Soros' own initiatives through them, entrusted his campaign to them, and then wondered why it all fell apart in the end.

And if you listen to what Soros actually said, he's betting on the GOP vote splitting itself on DeSantis and Trump to ensure a Democratic victory in 2024, which is what he wants. So the stupidity of the Trump campaign plays into what Soros said he hopes happens.

In short, Trump, who had business dealings with Soros and was reluctant to criticize him, elevated Soros associates like Kushner and Mnuchin and mainstreamed Soros-esque crime policies, while DeSantis fired Soros-backed prosecutors and declared Soros public enemy number one.

If I had to guess, Trump's influencers pushed the lie that Soros endorsed DeSantis because DeSantis just prevailed in court against the Soros-backed prosecutor he removed from power. tampabay.com/news/florida-p…

From the article above: "Even though a federal judge took Gov. Ron DeSantis to task for his handling of Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren’s suspension, the governor ultimately won. Warren, who sued to get his job back, remains out of office."

DeSantis literally just doubled down and said he won't give this Soros prosecutor his job back.

"Pitiful" is the right word to describe the state of the Trump campaign. wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/politics-issue…

I'll add while people want to pretend poison pills like Soros-adjacent Kushner are in the past, they aren't. This lives in through Trump's "White House in waiting," which is advised by Kushner. It's also easy to find Trump influencers promoting Kushner. axios.com/2021/04/13/tru…

Bottom line is that none of these issues have been addressed. Trump and his team just lie to Republican voters. Which is why I've said that there's little chance of a second Trump administration being any different. It'll be the same show with different bad actors.

Because my meal ticket depends on my writing and not on the success of any political campaign, unlike influencers, you can subscribe to my Substack to support my work. contra.substack.com/subscribe

I wrote this *because* Trump's camp lied about DeSantis and Soros, when the truth is Trump has more concrete connections to Soros than DeSantis. No one, not Kushner or Mnuchin, has been held accountable. Kushner even attended Trump's 2024 announcement. newsweek.com/ivanka-trump-a…

It’s also worth reminding people that Mnuchin, who was *employed and mentored by Soros*, became a major point man during covid, who Trump praised to the public. In other words, a personal friend of Soros was entrusted with an important part of the Trump admin’s covid response

But the main guy entrusted with the Trump White House’s response to covid was the other big Soros guy—Jared Kushner, of course!

It’s really incredible that these people tried to connect DeSantis and to Soros in retrospect. It’s pure projection. politico.com/amp/news/2020/…

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More from @emeriticus

Pedro L. Gonzalez

@emeriticus

May 16

I have neighbors who owns pit bulls and they open their front door and allow them to run rampant in the neighborhood. They charge people and bark and run from property to property peeing and pooping. I’ve got between them and my kids once before.

We recently called animal control and the police after this happened a few times (they also came into our backyard and barked at my wife as she was about to leave the house) and nobody did anything. Animal control took the dogs for maybe two hours and allowed the owners to claim them. Within an hour of the dogs being home, the owner let them out again, and they immediately began terrorizing my neighbor’s dog while it was on their property. So I picked up a chair and scared them off, called animal control again. The guy who owns them doesn’t give a shit. It seems like he let his dogs out again as a flex. It’s like he knows the system is on his side or something. Very strange behavior. He just leaned on the railing of his porch and watched us chase his dogs around.

But the most bizarre thing is that I have neighbors who are loath to do anything because they seem to think it’s not nice. Not sure if this is an extreme case of “Midwestern nice” or something else.

The owner is a white guy with a man bun who wears neon pink pants btw

https://twitter.com/joekampf/status/1791213905353564655

Pit bulls are extremely aggressive and require disciplined owners. Not all breeds are the same. But very stupid people seem to like very big and strong dogs they can’t control

https://twitter.com/joekampf/status/1791213905353564655

Read 7 tweets

Pedro L. Gonzalez

@emeriticus

Jan 25

BREAKING Trump has issued a statement in support of the Republican governors defying the Biden administration on the border

Just kidding, he posted about E. Jean Carroll about a dozen times

It just keeps going

look at my GOP front runner dog it’s over

Read 5 tweets

Pedro L. Gonzalez

@emeriticus

Dec 30, 2023

Mike DeWine Is an Idiot

🧵

Today, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed a bill designed to ban the crime against children called “gender-affirming care.” What DeWine presented as the well-thought-out reasoning behind his decision was a steaming pile of garbage.

DeWine claimed that, were he to support the bill, “Ohio would be saying that the state, that the government, knows better what is best for a child than the two people who know that child the best—the parents.”

“The Ohio way is to approach things in a systematic manner, to follow the evidence, to be careful, and that’s really what we’re doing,” DeWine added.

Where to begin?

Perhaps it's best to start by highlighting that there is little (to be charitable) to no (to be honest) solid evidence behind the long-term effectiveness of “gender-affirming care” for minors.

Two major investigations recently conducted by The New York Times and Reuters came to that conclusion, each in their own wending way. Moreover, the puberty blockers used in this obscene form of “care” are administered off-label—without approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The pharmaceutical companies that profit from this have no desire to even conduct clinical trials to establish their safety in this regard or attempt to understand the permanent consequences of blocking puberty at a critical developmental stage. Why should they bother? They have fools like DeWine who will gladly enable them to pump poison into the veins of your sons and daughters.

Read⤵️

Lupron Depot-Ped is the most commonly prescribed puberty blocker given to “transgender youth.” Here are some adverse events filed in the FDA’s reporting database in connection with the drug:

-Depression
-Suicidal ideation
-Emotional disorder
-Depressed mood
-Emotional distress
-Mental disorder
-Psychotic disorder
-Suicide attempt
-Growth retardation
-Antisocial behavior
-Psychotic symptom

⤵️

So when DeWine says he is following the evidence, he betrays his stupidity about the issue or assumes the average American is stupid or both. But they’re certainly smarter than he is on this.⤵️

Read 9 tweets

Pedro L. Gonzalez

@emeriticus

Dec 27, 2023

DeSantis' campaign has had problems. No doubt. But that's not the full picture. A key problem, one that had to be discovered the hard way, is that Trump has a patronage network that will not move to or support a different candidate.

For reasons that become obvious, this is a sacred cow few people on the right are prepared to poke, let alone slay.

Tucker Carlson's first post-Fox advertising deal was with a company in which Donald Trump Jr. is an investor. Once that happened, the hope of impartiality was gone. It's the same deal with Human Events and Post Millennial. The Human Events Media Group acquisition of Post Millennial was led by Trump donor and booster Jeff Webb, so there was no chance those publications would swing behind or help a Trump rival.

Consider that when Daniel Penny's legal defense fundraiser blew up because DeSantis promoted it, Post Millennial did a story about it *without mentioning DeSantis* once. It was like Stalinists erasing a purged person from a photograph.

When I was still doing conservative media, I was told that Team Trump was monitoring programs for critics, using their influence to try to suppress them. There is just no scenario in which a network like this will select a candidate that is best for the movement rather than the network itself, even if the individuals involved were to want the latter.

The whole thing was described to me simply as: if you play ball, you get access; if you decide that Trump isn't the best way forward, you lose access (and worse, if you don't keep your mouth shut). If you're a personality, that means no more invitations to Mar-a-Lago for a movie screening or retweets from big accounts. But there was no way of knowing how any of this worked until someone challenged Trump, then the whole thing sprang into action and circled the wagons around him and himself.

The ramifications of all this will extend beyond the primary, regardless of the outcome. There will be permanent fractures and disillusionment. That's how I feel about national "right-wing" politics right now. But to understand why, you have to understand the networks.

Nothing against @AuronMacintyre btw, these are just my thoughts on the broader rw landscape

This is a double edge sword btw, because if you benefit from it, it's nice and it can help you do some good or get your message out in your space--but it will also work against you by justifying everything Trump does. Say you're a pro-Trump tough on crime person. Sorry--but if Trump wants to do the First Step Act, you're going to get the First Step Act shoved down your throat. And the harder you protest, the more it will hurt going down.

Read 5 tweets

Pedro L. Gonzalez

@emeriticus

Dec 11, 2023

New: While serving in the Trump administration, Brooke Rollins was, among other things, instrumental in the passage of the First Step Act that freed rapists and murderers from federal prison

She now runs Trump’s official think tank, making over $550K

🧵

Rollins was one of the advisers who told Trump that getting tough on Black Lives Matter/George Floyd rioters in 2020 would seem racist

He of course agreed with her

Now, Rollins runs Trump’s America First Policy Institute (AFPI), which will likely staff the next White House if he wins

It’s been called the “White House in waiting”

politico.com/news/2022/07/2…

Read 8 tweets

Pedro L. Gonzalez

@emeriticus

Nov 30, 2023

https://twitter.com/vivekgramaswamy/status/1730011191768977629

Vivek is responding to my reporting. He isn’t being honest. He didn’t just say something “stupid” on a podcast. He sent members of Congress a memo advocating against lifting lockdowns and for creating a national registry. A company he created pitched the idea to the FDA and worked with the federal government on it.

Here’s a timeline:

-February 2020: Datavant, a healthcare data company created by Vivek, recruits George W. Bush-Era FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach.

-March 2020: Datavant begins spearheading a registry of COVID-19 patients by pooling medical records from across the country (WSJ).

-April 3, 2020: Vivek says on the Rockefeller Client Insights podcast that he supports a system where people would be “segregated” under a national testing regime.

-April 8, 2020: Datavant is in touch with the FDA about a “proposed registry” that “would aim to include every patient who has been tested for COVID-19” (WSJ).

It was around this time that Vivek circulated the memo I obtained to members of Congress in which he argued against lifting lockdowns and for implementing universal testing to determine who could go back to life. He concluded by proposing a “public-private” partnership, which is what his company Datavant pitched to the federal government.

-November 2020: Vivek’s company announced that it was collaborating on gathering patient data with the National COVID Cohort Collaborative, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.

Vivek didn’t just support lockdowns—he tried to profit from it while collaborating with the very “regime” he claims to oppose. Then he tried to bury it, like he tried to bury details about his background by paying a Wikipedia editor to sanitize his biography weeks before declaring his candidacy.

https://twitter.com/vivekgramaswamy/status/1730011191768977629

He and his team have to pretend this is about the podcast because what I actually wrote is far more damning. I knew they would. That’s why I wrote this at the end:

Nothing says TRUTH like hiring someone to erase inconvenient details about your biography right before you run for president.

Read 4 tweets

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