Who is Thomas Barrack and how close is he to Donald Trump?

[kentuck]

As you may have noticed, those that are closest to Trump business deals are seldom in the public eye, and he never mentions their names?

It is reported that Thomas Barrack has been Trump's close friend for thirty years. He was second to Ivanka to speak at the Inauguration.

It is alleged that he got $1.5 Billion lobbying for the U.A.E. and the Saudis, after his stint as head of the Inauguration Committee. (There have been questions about the tens of millions of dollars that was raised for the Inauguration and how much went into the pockets of a few individuals?)

It is difficult to imagine all those loose dollars flying around and Donald Trump not getting his cut? When he made his "Muslim ban", he did not include U.A.E or Saudi Arabia on it. That was noteworthy at the time.

Thomas Barrack was a shady character from the beginning. He entered into the Trump inauguration plans, with not much known about him, much like Paul Manafort, another questionable individual. Later, he lied to the FBI about his lobbying efforts for U.A.E and the Saudis. That is one of the reasons he was arrested.

There is still a lot we do not know about this story.

[lagomorph777]

1. Now we finally understand this:

[kentuck]

2. It is surely connected.

I have little doubt.

[viva la]

3. I was so taken aback by the idea that he was a "close friend" of Trump

But then a reporter who knows Barrack well said he is the smarmiest guy, really ingratiating, everyone's best friend.

And it's all transactional, of course-- "you're my best friend! You can trust me to invest your $!"

What intrigues me is that Trump is so... ersatz. Fake. He's not a real billionaire. He doesn't even live like a real billionaire. He's not a big businessman.

And, um, "real billionaires" seem to figure that out pretty quick. Mark Cuban had a funny riff about how he knew Trump was lying about his wealth.

So Barrack-- who apparently (scuse me while I puke a bit) is a billionaire-- still cozies up to Trump and pretends to admire him and look up to him and defer to him.

Why?
Well, how long has Barrack been working for/with UAE?
Like how long had Manafort been canoodling with Putin before he (rather, Putin) decided to get Trump nominated?
(Also thinking of Rupert Murdoch-- a real billionaire cynic power oligarch-- who loudly despised Trump until he could use him.)

Maybe independently and together they've been working to get this grossly unqualified and corrupt man into power. I don't know why they'd choose HIM== probably because he is so easy to flatter.