I just heard a good question. Who was Trumps Main Brain while in office.

[fightforfreedom]

While president Trump knew nothing about how our government worked, how our political system, laws, constitution worked. Someone had to teach him. Trump was very strategic in finding every loophole in our system and taking advantage of it. Trump is incapable of doing that himself.

Someone with political knowledge, an understanding of how every thing works, had to be guiding Trump. We know Trump got advise from a lot of people, lawyers. However, who did Trump rely on the most? Who was Trumps main corrupt teacher?

[Ferrets are Cool]

1. Yes, who was TFG's Karl Rove?

[agingdem]

11. if Trump listened to anyone

it was Sean Hannity and Stephen Miller...and as for the inner workings of government, that was McConnell's gig..McConnell may have hated Trump but they had a quid pro quo agreement...McConnell delivers on Trump's brain farts and McConnell gets his court...and when Bill Barr came on board, he turned the justice department into Trump's personal revenge machine with Barr running interference..

[keep_left]

33. There was also some sort of agreement with Charles Koch that caused him to back off.

Remember, Koch was originally a never-Trumper and he used his lavishly-funded "think" tanks to go after Trump. But there was an agreement at some point where Trump would rubber-stamp whatever reactionary judicial appointments Koch and the Federalist Society wanted, no questions asked, and the quid pro quo was that he was buying their silence. The story has been covered in the press, and I know it was also discussed on DU.

[CrispyQ]

2. Kushner, Bannon, & Hannity.

Political dynamos all around.

Not.

[tblue37]

26. And Stephen Miller.

[CrispyQ]

28. I forgot about that putrid maggot. -nt

[Irish_Dem]

3. Jared was the money man, he knew how to monetize everything.

But Jared didn't know anything about how the government works.

[brooklynite]

4. He didn't have one, and that's the point.

And no, he wasn't strategic at all. He didn't take advantage of loopholes, he simply ignored accepted standards and assumed nobody would stop him.

[rzemanfl]

5. Now we have a Supreme Court....

doing the same damn thing.

[JHB]

8. That's the endgame of a 50-year conservative project

One that was backed by everybody who gets described these days as a "reasonable" Republican.

Trump clinched it by putting on three judges on the SCOTUS. It was a deal he made early on to get conservatives to back him no matter what. After that, it was all clear for judges picked by the Heritage Foundation, Federalist Society, and Judicial Crisis Network.

But the plan goes all the way back to the 70s, and it was Reagan who started putting it into effect.

[rzemanfl]

21. True, but ignoring the rules so blatantly

is tied to people getting away with so much, for so long.

[Novara]

7. "Someone had to teach him." - No. Nobody taught him anything

He installed greedy fucks like him, only with brains. He trusted that they would carry out every evil thing he could think of but they'd be smart about it. Bannon, Flynn, Stone - he surrounds himself with people as corrupt as hs is, but who are smarter (which, frankly, isn't hard - an amoeba is smarter). Remember Michael Cohen? Every criminal needs a corrupt lawyer. It's how the mob works. Get others to do your dirty work.

[fightforfreedom]

10. Someone taught him about the loopholes.

Pardons, putting in place acting AGs, Secretaries to bypass the confirmation process. Call, threaten, put pressure on certain people he didn't even know in some cases, to get his way.

Someone was teaching Trump everything. He is too stupid to think of all of this himself.

[Novara]

13. No, nobody taught him anything.

They did the work for him. He's still too stupid. You seem to be laboring under the delusion that he himself did all these things. He hired people to exploit everything and then he just signed his name to the spoils.

He didn't learn anything he didn't already know: how to get people to exploit the loopholes so you can carry our your basest motives. He's done it his whole life.

[Claustrum]

14. No one taught him. He didn't know a thing about how government worked.

So he let whoever wanted in the government (no matter how extreme, and sadly, only extremists were loyal to TFG). And those right wing extremists implemented all of the horrible policies.

[Deminpenn]

34. Exactly

Well said.

[C_U_L8R]

6. His many chiefs of staff

At the start, Priebus seemed like the only one who had a clue how anything worked. Then Kelly and the rest.

[tblue37]

27. Don't forget Stephen Miller!

[C_U_L8R]

30. Miller plotted to break things

The Chiefs of Staff needed to figure out how to break those things more efficiently within the system

[Raven]

9. S. Miller n/t

[Roland99]

12. Stephen "Nosferatu" Miller

[randr]

15. Roger Stone?

Been there since Nixon

[MyMission]

16. Putin is possibility

45 did not follow many conventions and protocols that had been part of our government practices for ages. Insiders advised him how to work within and around that system.

Putin and outsiders advised and encouraged him to defy convention, do as he pleased because he was in charge.

[mahina]

17. I agree. They had enough people to study the ins and outs all day every day

[MyMission]

31. TFG would take advice from anyone who told him what he wanted to hear

or to confirm prior advice he got. Listening to the crazies and criminals because it fit with his plan, or he liked the idea is how he operates. He's a CEO and a grifter, used to delegating and putting others in charge of projects, and manipulating and misrepresenting process and results.

I don't think he had any one person here as a main advisor. He admires and respects Putin, who also served as a role model. And all Putin wants is to cause chaos and destabilize US and the West. Rudy "destroyed" the NY mafia to let in the Russian mob. Advice from him and others, Stone, Bannon, Manafort, Flynn, etc is meant to disrupt and destroy and demoralize our society, while earning them money in the process. I tend to believe there's a lot of underlying Russian influence in the GOPQ, and they found their way in because of greed and self interest. Same thing that motivates their majority.

[mahina]

32. 100%

With you on all points.

I am intrigued by your user name. What is your mission if you don’t mind asking?

[MyMission]

37. My first mission was to defeat tfg and

To shed enlightenment on how dangerous he could be.

It's also my personal joke. I'm Jewish, we don't go on missions, but I live in the south and encounter many who are preparing for or returning from a mission. They helped elect him.
My current mission is to spread awareness and enlightenment of a different sort... intellectual and science based. Thanks for asking.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

18. McConnell certainly knew how to use Trump

McConnell poisoned the Judiciary for generations to come, including the U.S. Extreme Court.

[CrispyQ]

29. U.S. Extreme Court - perfect! -nt

[MissMillie]

19. I'm not convinced that he was adept at finding loopholes.

I'm more convinced that he was good at getting people to ignore his criminality. He's been getting people to ignore his corruption all of his life.

[blm]

20. Putin and FOX 'news'.

[many a good man]

22. The ghost of Roy Cohn

[Arazi]

23. Putin with help from Sean Hannity and Steve Bannon

[fightforfreedom]

24. I think Rudy may have been Trumps main brain.

He knows how the law works and he knows how politics works. Rudy was fanatically helping Trump his entire presidency.

[dalton99a]

25. +1. And they go way back

[Mr.Bill]

35. We'll know if Trump ever gets indicted.

Because Trump will blame that person for everything.

[Mc Mike]

36. The Mercers and Roger Stone.