Following up on what you considered a powerful piece is never an easy task. Get the attention of a few D.C. insiders because youâre relatively over the target, and you can find yourself on the receiving end of some real-time, insider information that paints a better narrative than the one I last delivered to our readership. Thank God that I am just a relatively novice writer and aspiring podcast host, because in the passion that went into our last piece, we now find ourselves even closer to the source that we have set out on our quest for. I am going to have to warn you guys before we start our deep dive into this: It gets dark. It gets ugly. And the current situation is even worse than most can even imagine.
We have all felt the fallout from the (illegitimate) results of the 2020 presidential election, and to this day are still regrouping and picking up the pieces from what was the most sabotaged presidency in the history of the republic. Maybe it was because Amanda Milius and Kash Patel were both back on our podcast, Steak for Breakfast again this past Friday where rehashed open some old wounds that each week we try to mend for ourselves and for our listenership. But it was after this particular episode last Friday, combined with a series of phone calls with D.C. (and Trumpworld) insiders that opened my eyes to the reality of the overall situation.
Maybe our wounds - mentally, emotionally and as the America First movement donât need to heal any more. It is even conceivable that they never really did in the first place. The powers that be didnât care about the 74 million voters that went out and cast ballots for Donald Trump. Those 74 million votes would destroy the narrative that the election was both a rebuttal and referendum on the Trump Legacy (11+ million more votes than 2016) and cemented the total body of work (against all odds) of Trumpâs first four years in office. The radical, progressive left got their tentacles around the empty suit that is Joe Biden and his disaster of a VP, Kamala Harris and quickly applied their foot to the gas in what has been the ruination of the nation over the course of the past 15 months. On the Republican side, and shortly thereafter the changing of the guard in D.C., battle lines were drawn, between the establishment conservatives against the Freedom Caucus and Trump-era, America First party members. And behind the scenes, that battle has been just as nasty and corrupted as the overt nature of rule that has been the Biden âadministration.â
While the McConnelâs and the McCarthyâs are aided by the Karl Roveâs, Ronna McDanielâs and Mercury Groups (look it up) of the world; sitting on top of what is essentially an endless supply of money, influence and power within the party, we have seen party lines within the GOP drawn. And it is during that brief stint where we have seen skirmishes pop off that over the next 8 months could evolve into a full-blown civil war in the Republican Party. It is already occurring to some context, on multiple fronts and on a daily basis. Some of the very participants who have sworn allegiance to the MAGA movement in the same breath are destroying the candidates and the fundamentals of our platform right before our eyes.
Everything starts and ends with the man behind the greatest political movement since the signing of the Constitution - the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump. In our last Substack we scratched the surface of what I argued (as a political commentator) as the most urgent issues that is holding the movement back right now: his inner circle. Little did I know that this issue currently is the most critical one facing the entire movement. Now letâs be clear, we are not talking about the Dan Scavinoâs, Kash Patelâs, Liz Harringtonâs, Ric Grenellâs and Devin Nunesâs of the circle here. They are in fact, the outward face of all things MAGA and I know from first hand experience that they are all dispatched and working extremely hard on behalf of the President and for the movement. There is a less public face of the inner circle; the movers and shakers, or, the âmovement behind the movementâ if you will, where a lot of the deep-rooted problems at the very core of MAGA are now taking place.
Currently, there are a group of 10 or 12 individuals at the center of the MAGAverse that are directing the entire ebb and flow of the return tour for Donald Trump. This apparatus has deep ties to the Washington establishment, the cooperate media and all of the country club attending, commerce-backed members of the Swamp. Those like: Justin Clark, a former Al Gore campaign staffer, Susie Wiles, bringer-in of all things money, with connections throughout the legacy media, good ole Bill Stepien whoâs plans have backfired or stalled more than theyâve accomplished anything in regards to helping diversify the popularity and reach of MAGA in recent years. Brian Jack, now acts as the ambassador to the Trump campaign, since accepting employment for Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy. There is Eric Branstad, who heads up the Save America Organization, Tyler Bowyer who acts as a liaison between Mar-a-Lago and the RNC and Bryan Lanza who works with the Trump campaign and via the Mercury Group. The list is longer but this core around the core is a good enough glob to run with and what brings the lens into a clearer perspective. I can tell you one thing - the days of Corey Lewandowski and Dave Bossie just âkeeping it conservativeâ are absolutely over, at least for the time being.
Everyone who is dialed into the America First movement knows that currently, the staging ground and landing platform for âwhoâs whoâ makes it down to Mar-a-Lago for the Trump-hosted events. Unfortunately, from what I have come to learn via current candidates and D.C. insiders is that there are some astonishing things that occur surrounding these events. First of all, it is common knowledge that the tone of these events are set in advance and come with little wiggle room. As should be the case for the most part; they are in fact, they serve a celebration of the Trump legacy and are the roll-outs for the future class of the nationalist, populist participants or who we now commonly call America First candidates. However, and after interviewing so many candidates, speaking with them offline and confirming with D.C. insiders close to the operation, it is clear that the vibe of these events mirrors a lot of the same missteps that occurred in slowing the MAGA agenda down for four years while Trump was in office. More specifically that a lot of grifting and ass kissing is happening in and around these events, and the very same people who are leaving with blessings or even endorsements may have little or no intentions to carry out the MAGA agenda both on the campaign trail and even scarier - once elected to office. To make things worse, there is an, âattack the team (or the inner circle), or their decisions, then you are attacking the Presidentâ component or mentality present as well. So with that kind of toxic energy encasing the office of the 45th President, then you as the reader can only begin to assume what the current climate down in Florida is like at the moment.
You cannot take Trumpâs 96% percent favorability rating in the party for granted. Itâs the reason why Adam Laxalt will succeed in winning back the majority in the U.S. Senate when he defeats his primary challenger and never Trumper, Sam Brown and then the democrat incumbent, Catherine Cortez Mastro in the fall. But you also canât become complacent with the king and queen making, and in the case of some of these candidates (not Laxalt, he is absolutely killing it), you see too much of the âyeah-yeah-ingâ and not enough of the strategic battleground planning. Perfect example is, and we can stay with the U.S. House and Senate - that every insider I have spoken with, whether itâs a strategist, analyst, campaign spokesperson, or inner-circler, the message has consistently remained the same: endorsements for the most part are bought and sold. Ask some of the strongest candidates like Anthony Sabatini and some of the not so strong ones like Mo Brooks. Also, if you think the President has his brain wrapped firmly around all of these picks and endorsements then, you are sadly mistaken. When you look at just the sheer numbers involved, you cannot reasonably think that he alone can sit down and examine the background, demographics, voting records and overall loyalties of nearly 3,000 requests. Everyone from Senators and Governors to Mayors and Land Surveyors want a Liz Harrington distributed, Trump signed, âSave Americaâ headlined endorsement pumped out through social media. And the game that eventually ends with one of those, is even more cutthroat than you could even imagine.
Aspiring candidates are negotiated out, exchanged for projects and for future endeavors within inner circle. With the Kevin McCarthy money making machine firing on all cylinders (he ended the quarter this week at $31 million dollars raised, and over $100 million dollars raised for the fiscal year) and with some of the largest conservative representatives and political insiders ceding that no one will formulate the testicular fortitude to challenge him for Speaker of the House in 2023 - we best buckle up. Because no one wants to step up and challenge McCarthy in the House according to several D.C. insiders we will continue to see this trend and type behavior within the Republican Party, complete with: good PACs being cut off, legitimate donors being pushed out and as we are unpacking this; some of the strongest, populist, nationalist, America First campaigns die in the womb. Whether it is because of the good graces he remains in with Trump is because of the fundraising capabilities - or because McCarthy is known for or that he overtly upholding the Trump agenda (while who knows what is going on behind closed doors). There isnât anyone in the U.S. House at the moment who can do what he is doing that has the interest in challenging for Republican Party leadership in an attempt to force McCarthy to play his hand and reveal whether he is as America First as he claims to be. Regardless of whether there are members of the House who are on paper, more than qualified to do so.
Itâs been reported that true conservative representatives are willing to take loses in the endorsement department in exchange for a few of the actual âAmerica Firstâ agenda candidates being endorsed or backed - the ones primed for the Freedom Caucus, who are going to champion Trump-era policies and lead committees for years to come. That is good. But the ones who arenât receiving the blessing and support of the Trump campaign are having to work so much harder and longer - Mike Collins (GA-10) and Robby Starbuck (TN-5) come to mind. Even Joe Kent (WA-3) who has received a Trump endorsement has gone publicly on the record citing that he knows that Kevin McCarthy and the money entanglement that is his machine is funneling proxy-PAC money into the campaign of his incumbent primary opponent (Jaime Herrera Beutler). All while these honest and true America First candidates champion support for the 45 President, it is simply a shame to watch some of the best candidates we have had in long time have to go at it alone armed only with the grassroots movement. If the current brain trust at Mar-a-Lago would have gotten ahead of this major issue over a year ago and maybe created an âOffice of Endorsementsâ perhaps or even aligned itself with a few (real) firms to explore, vet and recommend candidates for Trump to bestow his blessings on, then we would not be in such a dire situation and at this juncture. With the time crunch we are up against heading into the midterms there seems to be no reasonable options left to try and rectify the situation as well. At the end of the day, the repression coming from the inner circle combined with the lack of utilizing general contracting, digital consultants and more balanced general counsel are holding back the benchmarks we should be clearing into the midterms and as Trump prepares to launch his third, consecutive presidential campaign.
The same unfortunately is occuring for the Senate and method that is being applied to slow down and repress the America First movement. Last Friday, we were joined by former Chief of Staff to the DOD and Special Assistant to President Trump, Kash Patel and Former Trump admin State Dept. official and Producer and Director of the âPlot Against the Presidentâ documentary, Amanda Milius on our show, The Steak for Breakfast Podcast. We love both of these guests; they are true patriots, and are so dialed in to correcting the current course of the country after being through so much bullshit for years serving in and around the Presidential campaigns, and during their years of service to the President while he was in office. This was by far, one of our favorite and spiciest shows ever. While Kash is a bit more polished and proper in way he describes his time in the swamp fighting the deep and administrative state (although we have gotten some eye-opening hot takes from him), Milius has no filter and pulls no punches. She has clarified that former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo was âfake MAGAâ who used his assets to slow the Trump agenda down throughout his presidency while dealing with the pressure of it all by stress eating. She also has informed us that Morgan Ortagus was not the only Trump admin official that would leave the Oval Office, return to their branch or department of government and absolutely trash the president, his family and the Make America Great Again agenda on the regular while Trump was in office. She actually asserted that it was common practice. This notion is pathetic, sad, disgusting and vile as is the nature of the business inside the Beltway. And in my opinion, it has gone unreported for long enough.
The most turtle-like Senator and unofficial spokesman for Wertherâs Originals, Mitch McConnell is (unfortunately) alive and well and at the forefront of the Establishment GOP. Milius dove into this narrative on our show last week as well, and without naming names (you know that she has got receipts), said that several members of Trumpâs inner-most circle have been paid off my Team Turtle to push establishment picks in Senate races for the 2022 midterms to ensure that his announced candidacy to leader the lower-chamber is an cakewalk in regards to reelection votes. Look at the unenthusiastic vibes for Ted Budd in North Carolina (with an endorsement). Also examine Mo Brooks losing his endorsement and in turn, possible RINO in MAGA clothing candidate Katie Britt picking up one in Alabama. It may be what is holding up endorsements for long-time Trump loyalists like former Missouri Governor and current U. S. Senate candidate, Eric Greitens, and even why Trumpworld and the GOP are simply allowing battleground states like Ohio and Pennsylvania simply go to shit when it comes to focusing attention to the senatorial races there. Florida Senator, Rick Scott has made much headway in his quest to shift the Senate more towards the America First agenda and to support Trump-era politics . Armed with a solid (11 Point Plan for America) and with a decent money apparatus coordinating with him behind the scenes, this midterm election season may be the most legitimate chance we have to dethrone McConnell that we have had in a long time.
Could the picture be any scarier? Donât worry, it certainly is. One of the most comforting things that I have really had the opportunity to digest in the midst of this piece is that we can all take comfort in knowing that the Donald Trump we know and love, the man we see on television and who served as the 45th President of the United States is exactly the same man that we see across all those planes. That I can confidently confirm. The other blade of the double-edged sword however, that upholds that narrative is: due to constant shielding and blinding Trump from what is really going on, he sometimes isnât accurately able to read the pulse of the movement and the nation. Example #1 comes from earlier in the year, when it was confirmed to me that Trumpâs advisors were constantly feeding Trump the position regarding Operation Warp Speed and the Covid-19 vaccines. The spin regarding that (and whatever your position on it is) and how negatively anything to do with the pandemic (lockdowns, masks, jabs of jobs, the military and federal worker mandates, schools closed, etc.) never positively resonated with the MAGA movement. It was at this Alabama rally back in March Trump was booed by his base for what I can remember as the first time ever. That hurt me, and not because of what he was saying regarding Warp Speed or about getting the jab, but it was because for the first time, it seemed to me like Trump was completely out of the loop on the pulse of the base. It was soon after that rally that the whole Covid-19 narrative was reworked, corrected and removed from his speeches, but at he time it was enough to make me think and later confirm from a Beltway insider that my hunch about that particular item was correct.
Another blip on the radar as Example #2 stems from earlier this year, as a story that was first proposed in the legacy media, then squashed (or so we thought) for the most was the rumor that Donald Trump and Florida Governor Rod DeSantis were internally feuding over a few items which started with DeSantis backing away from disclosing his booster (not vaccine) status when pushed by the press, which in turn ruffled Trumpâs feathers because at that point he was still on the âWarp Speed / Get the vaccineâ talking points. After Trump left office it was also brought to my attention that the massive successes that Gov. DeSantis was having in Florida all but stayed off of Trumpâs radar. There was never a connection to fighting back against all things Covid-19 related and DeSantis fighting the Biden administration at every turn that parleyed DeSantis to national popularity and (inadvertently) took some of the spotlight off of Trump in the media. I have been able to confirm that things Ron DeSantis has fought for in Florida have been conveyed at Mar-a-Lago as bad news, not good for the movement, or unnecessary, even if you can believe that. Have the fires been put out and have the two biggest names in conservative politics made up at this point? From whom I have spoken with, all sources are saying âfor the most part.â Trump has gone on the record to say that the entirety of the story was âfake news.â Aside for that I have learned that the new social media platform (still in beta testing) from Trump, Truth Social has run into some real problems on its soft launch as it was confirmed that these hiccups and / or speedbumps are not being realistically reported âtruthfullyâ to President Trump while are seeing reports of developers and others involved walking away leak out to legacy media. Believe it or not, Truth Social may become one of the most influential items to use against Trump once he announces his candidacy for the White House again, and that narrative will a topic covered in an upcoming edition of Steak for Substack.
So there you have it: the stand-alone piece that sits in between the MAGA Trilogy piece I put together just over a week ago, and whatever is next on the docket for us. This series will continue to highlight the man who sits on the throne of the greatest political movement this country has seen since The Founding Fathers. Does it change my stance or absolute admiration for Donald Trump, regardless of the flaws that are necessary to point out through the paragraphs that you have just read through - absolutely not. We must shed light on this issues and work together as a movement to do what is right and just and overwhelm every facet of the voting apparatus in the midterms that will give Trump the softest landing into his presidential campaign that we can. We must also stand up to the establishment GOP and hope that we can flip enough Senate seats to rid ourselves of Mitch McConnel, the K Street Corridor and the Wall Street elites once and for all (kudos to Alex Bruesewitz for that bad boy). Regarding Kevin McCarthy, we may be in a âit is what it is situationâ due to the fact that we may not secure enough true America First House seats (although we will gain between 60 and 70 overall) and there is a lack of interest from those who could possible unseat the largest fundraiser in the upper chamber (like Jim Banks, Jim Jordan and someday Marjorie Taylor Greene or Matt Gaetz). It is long overdue to begin hat least, having the conversation on why we are figuratively spinning our tires at the moment and literally still playing defense. The world is on fire right now - from the military disaster in Afghanistan to the conflict in Ukraine, the global economy, inflation, gas prices, empty shelves, vaccine mandates, kids still wearing masks, the wide open Southern Border and the ruination of our oldest and most beautiful cities at the hands of George Soros funded Mayors, District Attorneys and Judges across this great land. 2022 is the start of our referendum on the Biden administration, the deep and administrative states, and the continued assault on the blue collar men, women and families that represent the overwhelming majority of the nation that starts with taking the House and Senate back, and ends in 2024 with us landing super majorities on both chambers and the White House to boot. It is time we finally start having the discussion on how to do so. And its more so time to start acting like we are actually going to achieve it.
Love your work
This reaffirms the importance of Steak for Breakfast and other podcasts highlighting America First candidates not receiving DT's endorsement. Your show gives people like Robby Starbuck the ability to let people know he really is the America First candidate we need. Great work as always Rone.