Metapolitical Sleight of Hand

“The weapon of choice for politicians…” ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ February 20, 2024 |  [Sign Up]( Metapolitical Sleight of Hand “The weapon of choice for politicians in their election campaigns is paranoia, emphasizing its immense sway.” ― William Castano-Bedoya,  We the Other People: The Beggars of the Mercury Lights Dear Reader, [Special Reminder: In case you missed our late-day announcement yesterday, [The Real October Surprise]( Essential Investor has merged with legacy contributors to Agora Financial. The new, larger, more inclusive project is called The Grey Swan Investing Fraternity. If you’re interested in the scope and benefits of our new endeavor, please see what prompted us to merge [here](. If you’ve been a member of The Essential Investor, please keep an eye out for your new benefits.] February 22, 2024 - “Ironic,” reader JC Wilcox writes in response to our message yesterday regarding the [Real October Surprise]( “just today the justice department indicted the guy who told them Biden and Hunter took $5 million in bribes from Burisma. Turns out he was a Russian agent or manipulated by them. Where’s the story on that?” Where to begin with Mr. Wilcox’s thinly-veiled assumption? The FBI informant/Russian spy story is all over the mainstream news. No need for us to consume, comment, or even think about it. You can choose your sources and pick the stories you want to believe. Who was surprised to see the following stories appear in consecutive order following special counsel Robert Hur’s diminution of the president’s mental capacity: Russian “Nukes In Space”… the death of Alexei Navalny… Russian advances on the Ukraine Eastern Front. Or, these corollary stories: The president is sharp, in focus, on task… Vladimir Putin is a brutal dictator… and funding for Ukraine “must” go through. Each election cycle comes with some big scandal — Hillary's private emails,  Hunter’s forgotten laptop, trumped up "Russian" interference allegations. All of them turned out to be hallucinations. Voters are all too willing to pop the pills, so long as the rave doesn’t stop. Who are we kidding? It's entertaining. The sleight of hand. The tail wagging the dog. The lying. Would you believe that, while in office, Trump increased the national debt by 33% in four short years? That’s more than any president in the nation’s history — except seven of them! Some conservative he turned out to be. The progressive spendthrift Biden hasn’t even increased the debt as much as Trump did — not yet, anyway. Through fiscal year 2023, Biden ranks 15th in the cadre of oval office ne’er-do-wells, having increased the national debt by “only” 9%. (Not that he wouldn’t have spent more money if his buddies had maintained control of the House of Representatives last year.)  One surprising fact in the annals of presidential debt accumulation: Barack Obama is the only Democrat to outborrow Trump since FDR. And Woodrow Wilson two decades earlier. The latter two take the gold and silver medals hands down, with debt increases of nearly 800% each. Ronald Reagan, perhaps surprisingly, takes the bronze. While outspending the Russians on nukes and scheming himself to put missiles in space, Reagan increased the debt by 130% during his eight-year tenure. So, do you think we pick and choose stories, details, and characters to write about because we care which of the two geriatrics gets to be commander-in-chief in November? Heh. Not likely. So it goes, Addison Wiggin, The Wiggin Sessions P.S. Political, media, academic elite — or whatever name you choose – are subject to the same laws of economics as anyone in history, ever. Mounting debt at all levels of society is perilously close to the point of no return. No amount of military power will help the nation contend with the [REAL October Surprise](  P.P.S. If you must, and you’re truly interested in uncovering evil Russians and their efforts to interfere with U.S. elections, and January 6 plots to destroy democracy, we recommend [Public]( founded on Substack by honorary Grey Swan Investing Fraternity member, Michael Shellenberger. Just today, he and his partner-in-crime write: Nihilism And McCarthyism Behind Media’s Trump-Russia Conspiracy Theories Democrats have lost the plot by Michael Shellenberger and Alex Guntenberg in Public Russian President Vladimir Putin is once again interfering in US elections and exercising control over Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump, say the media and Democratic politicians. On Monday, Rep. Nancy Pelosi told MSNBC that Putin was blackmailing Trump with “something financial.” On Wednesday, Rep. Dan Goldman said, “Every election, it seems, the Republicans are used… either wittingly or unwittingly by Russian intelligence to try to interfere in the election.” And today, CNN notes, “Yet another US election appears to be falling prey to Russian interference…” But there is no evidence that Putin is blackmailing Trump, that Russian intelligence services are using Republicans, or that Russia is interfering in the 2024 election. Justice Department special prosecutor Robert Mueller could not prove that President Trump or his campaign had colluded with the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 election. And multiple sources say that US intelligence found that Russia favored the election of Hillary Clinton, not Trump and that then-director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John Brennan, worked with partisans of then-president Barack Obama to “cook the intelligence” to show the opposite. To be sure, there is evidence that the Russian government spreads disinformation. For example, on Tuesday, Justice Department Special Counsel David Weiss alleged that an FBI informant named Alexander Smirnov lied when he claimed a Ukrainian natural gas company had given millions of dollars in bribes to the Biden family. Weiss wrote that Smirnov admitted Russian intelligence officials “were involved in passing” him the story. The revelation proves that there is no evidence of Biden family influence peddling and that the Russian government is actively interfering in the 2024 election, concluded some journalists. In truth, the allegations by Weiss about Smirnov prove no such thing. It is well established that President Biden’s son, Hunter, and brother, James, sold access. There are many emails and text messages, for example, showing the two men promising meetings and involvement from President Joe Biden in various business deals. And one of Hunter Biden’s business partners has testified that selling access to Joe Biden was at the center of various deals the men sought with investors around the world, from Ukraine to China. While the claim that the Russian government is actively interfering in the 2024 election should be understood as a conspiracy theory, we know that Russian interference in the 2016 election was too trivial to have any measurable impact. As such, exaggerating Russia’s influence by conflating it with “interference” is a form of “disinformation,” defined as an effort to mislead people deliberately. No reputable political scientist has produced any evidence that Russia’s trivial social media advertising or its alleged involvement in the release of emails of Democratic officials, which is itself in serious question, had any influence over the outcome of the election. What’s more, there is now strong evidence that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been involved in disinformation efforts aimed at maligning Trump supporters as a dangerous and foreign threat to American democracy. The FBI last year was caught orchestrating a fake kidnapping of Michigan’s governor. FBI whistleblowers offered strong evidence that the FBI is hyping the threat of domestic extremism and terrorism as part of a broader counter populist campaign. And now the evidence is growing that the FBI is spreading false information about alleged January 6 pipe bombs and is, with the Secret Service, covering up the activities of its agents that day… Got something to say? Please, write your words and send them here: addison@greyswanfraternity.com The Daily Missive from The Wiggin Sessions is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We do not rent or share your email address. By submitting your email address, you consent to The Wiggn Sessions delivering daily email issues and advertisements. To end your The Daily Missive from The Wiggin Sessions e-mail subscription and associated external offers sent from The Daily Missive from The Wiggin Sessions, feel free to [click here.]( Please read our [Privacy Statement.]( For any further comments or concerns please email us at feedback@wigginsessions.com. 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