A “Democracy” If We Can Keep It

A quick-start guide for building misinformation memes online JULY 24, 2024 SPEAKEASY A GREY SWAN PUBLICATION A “Democracy” If We Can Keep It “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”  – Winston Churchill --------------------------------------------------------------- [Exciting News: You’re now seeing Grey Swan Investment Fraternity branding for this email, representing our new mission. There's nothing you need to do on your end to continue receiving your emails. Our "new look" simply better represents our goal of delivering you deeper access to the Grey Swan intelligence community — and warn you of potential low-probability, but high-impact events. Watch for the Grey Swan website soon!] [Turn Your Images On] Addison Wiggin Founder, Grey Swan Reader, July 24, 2024 – Not everything has to be a conspiracy. The digital age just makes it easy to spin one up. C’mon, everyone does it. Social media is the secret sauce behind making “pick-your-own” (PYO) adventures in truthland fun and profitable. President Biden’s post on X announcing he was dropping out of the 2024 race on Sunday was laughable enough. It also spawned a cottage industry of “Where the heck is he? Is he dead?” memes. Biden’s actual diagnosis of Covid has been dismissed as a calculated political ploy… and outside of Dr. Jill’s control. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris’ own track record is getting a fast RuPaul makeover. While some rude people think she failed as “border czar,” she really only failed at one job. “Harris has never been a top Biden advisor,” Unreported Truth’s Alex Berenson writes. “Yet she saw him far more than any member of the press or public and is the only person in his administration who has Constitutional responsibility [under the 25th Amendment] to ensure the president’s fitness for office.” Oops. Don’t mention that part. If you do, you’d be missing out on the mystery… the spectacle… the miraculous. Back in February, and then again in April, when we forecast that [“nine little words”]( would force Biden to yield his candidacy, we knew there would be some backroom horse trading before anyone got the media’s blessing. But this… A few quick bank transfers… and poof!... the former mistress of California king-maker Willie Brown, has suddenly stunned the political world. Headlines preen over Harris’ $84 million overnight fundraising prowess… and now over $100 million today. With Trump getting his ear pierced, Biden fumbling spectacularly in the debate, getting Covid and dropping out via social media… it’s hard to imagine how the election could get any more absurd. Yet, it undoubtedly will. Though stories, memes and misinformation have always been the good stuff of political muckraking, now everyday people get to play along and participate with their phones! Beware, though. There are still some rules. Here’s a quick-start guide: It’s anticlimactic, or just plain boring, to point out that Democratic Party “superdelegates” chose Barack Obama in 2008 despite Hillary Clinton had won the primaries that year. It’s mundane and uninteresting to reveal the maneuvering donen to keep Bernie Sanders from becoming its nominee in 2016 and 2020. And you’re only being annoying if you point out that the party assembled a $100 million war chest to silence Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. last fall and throughout this year. Lastly, you're really out there if you bother to observe that the official party line for the Democratic Party routinely exhibits textbook examples of what psychiatrists call “projection.” To get that particular meme right, MAGA Republicans are not just “deplorable” anymore… they are a threat to democracy! You’re allowed to make a meme quoting Hitler’s propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels who may have once said “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” But only if you add a picture of the fascist Donald Trump with a bandage on his ear. And whatever you do, don’t quote the founding fathers. Pointing out that Ben Franklin stated that the Constitution gave us a “republic, if we can keep it” is just downright rude. Even if, after 235 years and 59 presidential elections, we are still trying to innovate ways to prove we can’t keep it. Somehow, despite our best efforts, the American Experiment continues. Below, we present a guest essay from our friend, Wiggin Sessions alum, and a one-time presidential candidate for the libertarian party, Michael Rectenwald. Michael takes a stab at reviewing this week’s political theater with, shall we say, a more respectful bent. 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Daily Missive readers can [skip the waitlist]( with this exclusive referral link. --------------------------------------------------------------- CONTINUED... The Fraud of “Our Democracy” [Michael Rectenwald, Substack]( As if we needed further confirmation, the recent and mysterious withdrawal of Joe Biden from the presidential race—issued in a post on X on Sunday July 21, not on official White House or presidential letterhead but rather under a “Joseph R. Biden, Jr.” masthead—is proof-positive that the “our democracy” mantra endlessly mouthed by establishment shills has been nothing but utter doublespeak and an attempt at mass deception. [Turn Your Images On] Notwithstanding the fact that the United States of America is not a democracy but a Republic, the deep-state Democrats heading the UniParty have demonstrated that they are nothing but anti-democratic frauds posing as protectors of a pro-democratic stronghold against the forces of fascism, totalitarian dictatorship, or whatever other hyperbolic rhetoric and misdirection they use to deflect from their own dictatorial rule. The disavowals that Biden was dropping out just hours before the X post, the fact that his campaign and White House staffers were blindsided by the announcement, and the vanishing of Biden from the public eye combine to give the distinct impression of backroom legerdemain amounting to a palace coup orchestrated by the Democratic Party elite. The New York Post cites “sources” who state: “Operatives at the very highest levels of the Democratic Party threatened Joe Biden with forcibly removing him from office unless he stepped down.” Further, at this time, speculation is swirling on social media and beyond that Biden may even be dead, or at least more dead than he has been for several years. In any case, the pressure campaign and the dismissal of the Democratic primary results (“14 million votes,” according to Biden himself) illustrate anything but “democracy” in action. We are witnessing instead the subversion of the “democratic” electoral process, whatever its many flaws and ill-conceived premises. (The “right to vote,” as Hans-Hermann Hoppe noted in “What Must Be Done,” “is nothing else than exercising the opportunity to loot the property of others.”) The testimony of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on Capitol Hill on Monday July 22 about the July 13 attempted assassination of Donald Trump only adds to the palace intrigue. Cheatle repeatedly rebuffed demands that she answer questions with any specificity, and members of both parties called on her to resign. Three “liberal” media outlets received Cheatle’s opening statement before it was sent to the House Oversight Committee investigating the event. Further, the USSS director had no timeline prepared for the congressional inquiry. Even mainstream media pundits are lending credence to so-called conspiracy theories that the assassination attempt was an inside job. Pundits have suggested that the FBI and the DHS, the latter of which oversees the USSS, have been wielded as political tools and are now apparently undertaking a coverup of their deed. Whatever the case, departments of the deep state are generating conspiracy theories, as if spontaneously and by design. With the disappearance of Biden and the growing questions swirling around the shootings, the sense that we are under a shadow government is all but undeniable. As I mused on X: Some imaginative people might be led to wonder whether Biden can’t fire Cheatle or do any public appearances—because he’s dead. Such imaginative people might raise some serious questions, such as: When did he die? Who wrote the letter announcing his departure from the race? Was he murdered? Is this a coup? Was he killed as the fall guy in a conspiracy to assassinate Trump? Not saying that’s what I think…I’m just saying… [Turn Your Images On] But never in my life have the questions of “who’s in charge” and “what are they doing” been more conspicuous. An apparent coup and its coverup are being orchestrated before our very eyes. No longer can anyone in their right mind think that “our democracy” means anything other than their pathocracy—masked, ever-so-thinly, by the spectacle of so-called democracy. Yet this exposure of nefarious deep-state or shadow government machinations should be taken as a welcomed turn of events. As it shuttles one figurine leader out and attempts to shuttle another figurine leader in under our very noses, we are witnessing, in real time, the blatant operations of a government behind a faux government and its attempts to maintain legitimacy of rulership over the U.S. The fraud of “our democracy” has been revealed for everyone, even the uninitiated, to see. Whether Biden himself is dead or still has a faint pulse, the gods of “our democracy” have died, never to be resurrected.~~  [Michael Rectenwald, Substack]( --------------------------------------------------------------- In Association With Stansberry [Former hedge fund manager: "Move your money before the Fed's next meeting on July 31"]( [Turn On Your Images.]( In 2022, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates and triggered a stock market event that slashed the average investor's portfolio nearly in half. Now, according to the man whom CNBC calls 'The Prophet', the Fed could soon trigger another dramatic stock event – one investors have seen just 13 times since 1920. He warns: "This event will likely dictate the next decade of every American's financial life, and [it's critical for you to take steps now to prepare."]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Believe it or not, it’s been just 11 days since the assassination attempt against Trump. Now, with Biden dropping out under unusually quiet circumstances and Democrats singing the praises of Kamala Harris as fast as they can project them, we wait with bated breath for the next twist in this election. Have any thoughts on what fate has in hand next for the 2024 election? Or a favorite meme from the past few days that may have gotten overlooked? Do send them to addison@greyswanfraternity.com. So it goes, Addison Wiggin Founder, The Wiggin Sessions P.S. They have arrived! As we’ve been threatening to do, The Wiggin Sessions interviews have finally immigrated to the Grey Swan Investment Fraternity! If you missed the first “Wiggin Sessions @ Grey Swan” with Zoltan Istvan, never fear you can find it [right here](. In the coming weeks look for all-new interviews featuring Grey Swan contributing members John Robb, Mark Jeftovic, John Robino, Shad Marquiz and more… As before, if you have folks in mind you’d like me to invite onto the show or questions you would like me to ask when I organize these speakeasy events, please let me know at addison@greyswanfraternity.com. How did we get here?  For a complete review of the financial, economic, and political history of the United States from [Demise of the Dollar]( through [Financial Reckoning Day]( and on to[Empire of Debt]( — all three books are available in their third post-pandemic editions. [Turn Your Images On]( [Empire of Debt: We Came, We Saw, We Borrowed]( is now available at [Amazon]( and [Barnes & Noble]( or if you prefer one of these sites:[Bookshop.org]( [Books-A-Million]( or [Target](. 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