Clark's Scribbles

Trump’s Friends List

President Trump’s Friends List should be at least as important as his Enemies List. He has many enemies and he adds more every day. Anybody who publicly criticizes him can end up on his enemies list. That has sinister implications. But his Friends List gives us better insight into what is going on. It is easy to become the president’s enemy. Only exceptional people are treated as friends.

Russian president Vladimir Putin is at the top of the list. The Helsinki Summit is the tip off (tinyurl.com/Trump-Putin-Helsinki-2018). The two men were grinning and touching like two kids in love at the press conference after the unheard of closed door meeting between heads of state. President Putin came right out and said the he wanted Donald Trump for president in 2016. He may even have said that he helped tip the race in Trump’s favor.

In March of 2017, Xi Jinping accepted the role of “President for Life” at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party. President Trump responded with admiration, “He’s now president for life. President for life. No, he’s great and look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot someday.” (tinyurl.com/Trump-says-President-for-life)

A month later, April 7, 2017, Xi Jinping was Donald Trump’s honored guest at Mar-a-Lago when the President acting as Commander-in-Chief launched a missile strike against a Syrian airbase.

Kim Jong Un, leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or more simply North Korea, managed to get a summit with President Trump in June of 2018 (tinyurl.com/Trump-Kim-Singapore-2018). Our president was less effusive in his public appearances with the leader of the DPRK than with President Putin. Mr. Trump went so far as to admit that Kim Jong Un might disappoint him. But he has done some very nice things for the “Little Rocket Man.” He had the American people pay for Kim’s travel and lodging during the summit. He ordered joint military exercises between the US and South Korea halted because the North Korean leader found them provocative (tinyurl.com/Trump-cancels-military-exercis).

Kim Jong Un may not be in the same Friend category as Vladimir Put or Xi Jinping but he certainly ranks ahead of former CIA Chief John Brennan or Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Disgraced White House Staffer Rob Porter looks more like one of Trump’s friends than either of those two men. President Trump has looked at bringing the serial spouse abuser back onto his staff (tinyurl.com/Trump-friend-Rob-Porter).

Trump’s Friends List includes three dictators and a wife-beater. Two of the dictators are known to be murderers. Vladimir Putin’s opponents die at an astounding rate. Many of them are poisoned. Kim Jong Un had his half-brother Kim Jong Nam murdered in the Kuala Lampur International Airport by two female assassins using a liquid nerve agent (tinyurl.com/KJU-murders-half-brother).

Paul Manafort, who was just convicted of tax fraud, hiding foreign bank accounts and bank fraud, is also on Trump’s Friends List. Hours after the guilty verdicts were announced, President Trump took a moment to talk to reporters about his former campaign manager. He said that Manafort was a good man. He pointed out that Manafort had worked for major political figures like Ronald Reagan and Bob Dole (tinyurl.com/Trump-speaks-out-on-Manafort ).

Manafort worked for Gerald Ford’s re-nomination in 1976 when Governor Ronald Reagan was the principal challenger. He switched teams in 1980 and worked to get Reagan elected. He also worked for dictators like Phillipine President Ferdinand Marcos, Angolan guerilla leader Jonas Savimbi, Lebanese arms dealer Abdul Rahman Al Assir, and Russian oligarch Oleg Deripasaka.

In 2004, Deripaska enlisted Paul Manafort’s help in resurrecting the political career of former KGB operative Viktor Yanukovych (tinyurl.com/Viktor-Yanukovych-Story). Yanukovych had just suffered a resounding defeat in the Ukraine. Manafort transformed the man’s style and image. Yanukovych was elected president of the Ukraine in 2010.  But by 2014, his corruption and exploitation of presidential powers led to a revolt that forced him to flee the country. He found asylum in Russia.

Manafort’s magic life came to an abrupt end. His luck had run out.

Then in 2016, Donald Trump’s presidential campaign gave Manafort an opportunity to get back in the game and start making money again. The Trump campaign was perfect. It “…was a shambolic masterpiece of improvisation that required an infusion of technical knowledge and establishment credibility.” (“The Atlantic”, March 2018, tinyurl.com/American-Hustler-Paul-Manafort)

And so Paul Manafort became Donald Trump’s mentor and is now enshrined on Trump’s Friends List.

An ancient proverb says, “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are.”  Franklin Foer suggests in his article, “American Hustler” that Donald Trump is no exception.

“… The president bears some likeness to the oligarchs Manafort long served: a businessman with a portfolio of shady deals, who benefited from a cozy relationship to government; a man whose urge to dominate, and to enrich himself, overwhelms any higher ideal.” (“The Atlantic”, March 2018, tinyurl.com/American-Hustler-Paul-Manafort)