“An ultra-rich right winger put Trump in the White House and now controls the country’s political agenda.”
If it can be said that any one person is responsible for Donald Trump’s election then Robert Mercer is the clear choice. The founder of Renaissance Technologies hedge fund is a billionaire, backer of Republican politicians to the tune of $25 million in 2016, and patron of the effort to take the United Kingdom out of the European Union. When Trump’s campaign was foundering under the onslaught of Hillary Clinton’s $1 billion, Mercer brought him a lifeline of cash and staff like Steve Bannon.
The corporate media have said far too little about Mercer’s influence, preferring to create elaborate scenarios of Russian government interference. Vladimir Putin is the scapegoat for Democratic Party chicanery and incompetence and is a perennial target because he insists on acting in his country’s interests. The Mercer story is a secret hiding in plain sight. It is the stuff of spy thrillers but it is all too real. An ultra-rich right winger put Trump in the White House and now controls the country’s political agenda.
According to a former Mercer employee he is not just conservative. He is an outspoken racist too. David Magerman says that Mercer told him the following: “The United States began to go in the wrong direction after the passage of the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s; African-Americans were doing fine in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s before The Civil Rights Act; The Civil Rights Act ‘infantilized’ African Americans by making them dependent on government and removing any incentive to work; The only racist people remaining in the U.S. are black; and White people have no racial animus toward African-Americans anymore, and if there is any, it’s not something the government should be concerned with.”
“Mercer is not just conservative; he is an outspoken racist.”
Mercer certainly isn’t forcing Trump to do anything he doesn’t want. The two are in sync politically and ideologically. Not only are the two racists, but they want to reduce government to “the size of a pinhead.” A man who hates black people and wants to destroy any governmental authority is the one who made good on the white American yearning for their very own president.
Trump is still a highly sought after Mercer prize. When Steve Bannon was identified as a source for the recent book Fire and Fury he was immediately and very publicly cut off from Mercer’s largesse. After attacking Trump, Bannon is a now a nonperson in the eyes of his former boss.
The ultra-rich far right have reached their holy grail. They have gotten more from Trump than from any other Republican but one wouldn’t know that from reading a newspaper. The corporate media say hardly a word about the man who is most responsible for Trump’s presidency and who intends to get rid of as much governmental power as he possibly can.
Trump has already dismantled net neutrality, appointed cabinet officers who destroy the work of their respective agencies and uses every opportunity to pull Obamacare apart piece by piece. The recent tax bill accelerated the bipartisan effort to give rich people even more money and in so doing starve the government of revenue. As for Mercer, “He’s happy if people don’t trust the government. And if the president’s a bozo? He’s fine with that. He wants it all to fall down.”
“The corporate media say hardly a word about the man who is most responsible for Trump’s presidency.”
It must be pointed out that Democrats have played their own role in destroying an array of governmental protections. Bill Clinton did away with the right to public assistance and was on the verge of a deal with Newt Gingrich to privatize Social Security. Barack Obama bailed out the banks, extended the Bush era tax cuts for the wealthy and began governmental austerity that cut the budget of every federal agency.
One would think that Mercer would be a target of Democratic Party ire but his name goes unmentioned. He is a problem for them because they have done in small steps what he is doing in one fell swoop. The Democrats are happily beholden to rich people too. They have had a sort of deal wherein they do the minimum to fight for more inclusive policies while they also do the bidding of banks, big pharma, school privatizers and any other interest group who will pay for their loyalty. But Mercer and Trump have cut out the middle man. They have the power to gut it all.
The people are at the mercy of the far right and have no effective political opposition.
Margaret Kimberley’s Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com . Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com
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