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July 18, 2024
Today, we will talk Trump, Bitcoin and the swamp…
Let’s begin with this aerial picture that gives you a good perspective of where the rooftop shooter was standing relative to Trump on stage—just 130 yards away with a straight line of sight, which is quite incompetent of the Secret Service.
I agree with Gerer Capital here…
Comparisons with the attempted shooting of President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s are also relevant.
We can see how competent the Secret Service was back then and how they immediately jumped into place.
Let’s compare that with many of the videos from Saturday. We can see that the current Secret Service can holster weapons, gear falling to the ground, erratic fearful movements, and no show of force or composure.
I agree with this post that today’s Secret Service does make presidents less safe. Whoever put a female 5'5” Secret Service agent on a 6'3” President should lose their job immediately.
This is just basic common sense.
We should also remember in our prayers and thoughts the Trump rally attendee who was murdered by one of the bullets. This is Corey Comparator, who, unfortunately, was killed on Saturday.
If we look at the prediction markets, we can see that Trump has surged ahead even further since the assassination attempt.
Polymarket
Now, there’s a 71% chance he will win the election and a 56% chance he’ll win the popular vote, which is rare for Republicans.
I trust these kinds of polls because there’s $258 million riding on this one and $47 million riding on another. This differs from MSNBC, which calls someone up in their living room.
These are real people betting millions of dollars on the outcome. It seems clear that if the election were held today, Trump would win by a landslide, akin to what Reagan did to Carter in 1980.
Wikipedia
We can also see Bitcoin moving up sharply since the assassination attempt. It’s hard to know how much of this to attribute to that and the prospects of a Trump victory, but that is what Bitcoin is doing now.
How well did our professionally trained journalists do in the heat of the moment?
Were they able to protect us from all those terrible online conspiracy theories and misleading citizen journalism that plague X and Twitter?
Supposedly, the talking point in all the newsrooms was not to talk about an assassination attempt or gunshots but just about loud noises.
So, Trump leaves the rally after loud noises erupt—this is the Washington Post.
Washington Post
Yahoo News and the Associated Press: Trump whisked off stage in Pennsylvania after loud noises rang through the crowd.
Yahoo News, AP
As did, Cleveland 19 News: Trump whisked off stage in Pennsylvania after loud noises rang through the crowd.
Another favorite: Trump pumps his fist after the Secret Service rushes him offstage after the incident. This is the quality of our journalism these days.
ABC News: Trump was escorted off stage by the Secret Service during a rally after loud noises rang out in the crowd.
And, of course, my favorite of all: Secret Service rushes Trump off stage after he falls at a rally, trying to equate it to Biden falling.
Trump getting shot in the head versus Biden walking upstairs—I think this was a pretty good meme.
My favorite from my own beloved Sunday Denver Post, which is a complete piece of garbage: gunman dies in attack.
This is why you should not trust the main media.
Articles like this: Why can inflation actually be good for everyday Americans and bad for rich people?
CNN
It’s actually the exact opposite, as you would expect. I agree with inverse Kramer here…
The downside is that Elon’s the same guy who wants to put a chip in your brain and is building the world’s most advanced spy satellite swarm for the U.S. government.
NobsBitcoin
So, I don’t always know what to make of Elon, but I was certainly grateful for Twitter X over the weekend.
Trump showed incredible courage after his narrow brush with death. You’ve probably never been shot at if you think you’d show similar courage in that situation. Seeing Trump’s courage and bloody face gave me serious William Wallace vibes. Maybe this is just masculine, but it made me want to grab my sword and head out on the streets.
Here’s William Wallace—a great movie if you haven’t seen it. And here’s the iconic photo of Trump, which will go down in history for his courage and composure.
More thoughts on Trump: he’s a fiat billionaire to the core. He’s often an ill-mannered boor and probably hasn’t read a book in 40 years.
Still, something is refreshing about a moderate Democrat from the 1990s who never changed his views even as the Overton window shifted so far to the left. I’m also always amused by how frustrated white paternalistic leftists get when black, Hispanic, and Latino Americans, primarily male, express their admiration for Trump.
Despite his lack of book learning, Trump’s intuitions have often been spot on.
He has a real gift.
When he spoke about Germany’s fatal reliance on Russian gas and oil, the German politicians laughed at him, but Trump was correct. Also, the absurdity of being dependent on Chinese factories for U.S. national defense products—this is crazy, and Trump was one of the first to highlight it. The stupidity of having an open border paired with a welfare state and poor election voter controls is another.
Trump is also a brilliant campaigner and one of the modern masters of political rhetoric. He can inspire and lead in an era of boring bureaucrats and petty technocrats. For a fat old man who overeats Kentucky Fried Chicken, he has tremendous energy and drive. He’s definitely the Teflon Don—you can prosecute him, say bad things about him, jail him, even shoot at him. Still, you only end up making him more popular.
My favorite is the notion that the only way to preserve democracy is by eliminating the most popular politician in America. People who say this reveal their motivations—they don’t care about the people.
Trump is one of the very few U.S. politicians who, I believe, isn’t suffering from extremely low testosterone levels, and it shows. He really is from a different generation, with all the good and bad that brings.
Unfortunately, Trump is not much of an operator regarding the tedious work needed to build political consensus and get Congress to turn the President’s agendas into law. To be fair, the permanent government employees who reside in the swamp did a pretty good job of hamstringing everything he tried to do during his first administration.
But it was also Trump’s fault.
In his first term, Trump didn’t drain the swamp; instead, he hired the swamp, mainly in the form of swamp creatures from Goldman Sachs, like Steve Mnuchin as head of the Treasury, and people like Gary Cohn from Goldman Sachs.
What about the 2024 election?
It’s wise to vote for politicians who promise to do good things for Bitcoiners. It’s brighter than voting for politicians like Elizabeth Warren who hate you, want to confiscate your Bitcoin stash, and jail you. I could see Trump taking office and doing some good things for Bitcoiners in the first few months.
Unfortunately, I could also see him doing a complete about-face a few months later when his advisers tell him there’s a serious currency crisis. Bitcoin is destroying the dollar, and he needs to do something to stop Bitcoin.
Trump’s first term doesn’t give me much hope that he’ll accomplish much, but even benign neglect of Bitcoin and Bitcoiners would be refreshing after the endless hostility of the Biden administration.
There’s a further bonus to Trump winning: we’ll get to watch “journalists,” “educators,” “economists,” “experts,” and other unproductive and dishonest people gnash their teeth endlessly. They really hate and fear Trump.
The Deep State seems to fear him as well, so that’s a big plus for voting for him. I’m also looking forward to continuing to laugh at all the brainwashed people who think Trump is literally the second coming of Adolf Hitler.
If Hitler had a daughter, he probably wouldn’t have let her marry Jared Kushner, and he wouldn’t have pardoned Kushner’s father.
Advice for Trump’s second term: please wreak as much havoc as possible. Try to actually drain the swamp this time, and good luck with that. Start by firing 95% of federal government employees, like Milei is doing in Argentina.
Shut down the FDA, DEA, and Department of Education.
Shutter the IRS, CIA, FBI, ATF, and all these other three-letter agencies.
Start by vetoing all bills that fund foreign proxy wars.
End the Fed and replace it with a strategic Bitcoin reserve akin to Fort Knox for gold.
End all capital gains taxes on Bitcoin so we can use it freely as the money it clearly is. Make America great again by fighting hard for sound money, states' rights, and U.S. constitutional protections.
Do everything you can to shrink the federal government.
I’m not holding my breath; my expectations are extremely low. You can’t eliminate the swamp through voting anymore; it’s just gotten too big and powerful. But I would be happy to be pleasantly surprised for once.
As I’ve said many times on this channel, the most important step is voting with your money first by moving all of your U.S. dollars into Bitcoin, thereby undermining the federal government’s money printers.
Vote with your feet and your money first… and then you can vote in elections and hope and pray that the voting machines and ballot-counting mechanisms are honest—though they probably are not.
Bitcoin University is an educational channel devoted to Bitcoin, financial freedom, and self-sovereignty. Matthew also covers relevant macro and financial news.
Learn more at: https://www.bitcoinuniversity.com/
Follow him on Twitter: @mattkratter
Join Bitcoin University: https://www.bitcoinuniversity.com/join
Matthew Kratter is the founder of Bitcoin University YouTube channel, which currently has over 235,000 subscribers.
Before going down the Bitcoin rabbit hole, he founded and ran Trader University, focusing on trading and investment strategies for stocks, options, and futures. Given his hedge fund background and decades of trading experience, Matthew provides a unique perspective.
In late 2019, after finally recognizing Bitcoin’s importance, he began liquidating his stocks and other investments and moving his savings into Bitcoin.
Now, Matthew is all in on Bitcoin, devoting the majority of my time to producing Bitcoin educational content on YouTube and on this site.
In his free time, he enjoys skiing and hiking in the Rockies with his wife, kids, and dogs.
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