Podbean logo
  • Discover
  • Podcast Features

    Your all-in-one podcasting solution.

    Podcast Studio

    Easy-to-use audio recorder app.

  • Livestream

    High-performing audio live, without limits.

  • Podcast App

    The best podcast player & podcast app.

  • Ads Marketplace

    Join Ads Marketplace to earn money
    through sponsorship on your podcast.

    PodAds

    Manage your ads with dynamic ad insertion capability.

  • Patron & Paid Content

    The seamless way for fans to support you directly
    from your podcast.

  •  
  • All Arts Business Comedy Education
  • Fiction Government Health & Fitness History Kids & Family
  • Leisure Music News Religion & Spirituality Science
  • Society & Culture Sports Technology True Crime TV & Film
  • Live
  • Log in
  • Start your podcast for free
  • Podcasting
    • Podcast Features
    • Live Stream
    • PodAds
    • Podcast App
    • Podcast Studio
  • Monetization
    • Premium
    • Patron
    • Ads Marketplace
  • Enterprise
  • Pricing
  • Discover
  • Log in
    Sign up free
Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael

Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael

Society & Culture

The Pro-Trump, 'Anti-Deep State' Deep State Plot Against Gen. McMaster? w/ Russ Baker

The Pro-Trump, 'Anti-Deep State' Deep State Plot Against Gen. McMaster? w/ Russ Baker

2021-05-29
Download

On this edition of Parallax Views, on May 13th, 2021 the New York Times published a tantalizing report by journalists Adam Goldman and Mark Mazzetti. "Activists and Ex-Spy Said to Have Plotted to Discredit Trump ‘Enemies’ in Government", read the eye-catching headline that promised to add yet another scandalous chapter to the already scandal-ridden story of the Trump Presidency.

Following the attention-grabbing headline, Goldman & Mazzetti, through documents and interviews, details a "campaign" by pro-Trump elements to discredit government officials perceived as potentially disloyal to the modus operandi of President Trump in the early years of his Presidency. Brining to mind Richard Nixon's "dirty tricks" and the tradition of what in D.C. slang has come to be known as political "ratf*cking, said campaign included a "planned sting operation against Mr. Trump’s national security adviser at the time, H.R. McMaster" and "secret surveillance operations against F.B.I. employees, aimed at exposing anti-Trump sentiment in the bureau’s ranks". According to Goldman & Mazzetti's reporting the plot involved former British spy Richard Seddon, controversial private security contractor Erik Prince of Blackwater infamy (and, for what it's worth, the younger brother of Trump's Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos), and operatives of Project Veritas, a right-wing conservative activist group founded by James O'Keefe and previously known for its operations against Planned Parenthood, ACORN, and others.

In regards specifically to the sting operation against Gen. McMaster, which involved what in intelligence circles is known as a "honey trap", the NYT story mentioned another player in this cast of character: Barbara Ledeen. A former GOP Senate Judiciary Committee staffer, Ledeen admits to at least a minor role in the plot against McMaster in the NYT report. However, she is only mentioned rather briefly in the article itself.

Investigative journalist Russ Baker, author of Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, America's Invisible Government, and the Hidden History of the Last Fifty Years and CEO/Editor-in-Chief of the news outlet WhoWhatWhy, joined me to discuss his recent article, co-authored with Matt Harvey, detailing how there may be another angle to explore in this story after taking a closer look at who Barbara Ledeen is and the circles she travels in. As Baker explains, Ledeen is the wife of one Michael Ledeen. Michael Ledeen, for the uninitiated is "a historian, campaign adviser, and freelance intelligence operative, who served as a consultant to the National Security Council and departments of State and Defense under Republican administrations" who figures into such political intrigues as the Iran/Contra affair and the Niger yellowcake forgeries that played a role in launching the Bush administration war on Iraq on the basis of that Saddam Hussein possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs).

Michael Ledeen is part of a milieu that has come to be known as the Neoconservatives. The neocons reached the apex of their political influence during the Presidency of George W. Bush and took hawkish positions on Iraq, Iran, and other countries in the Middle East even prior to 9/11. Prominent elements of the movement included the Project for a New American Century think tank and long-time D.C. mainstays like Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, and Elliot Abrams among others. 

In our conversation, Baker notes the complexity of this story and why the Ledeen connection matters. Chiefly, Baker points out the the Ledeens are heavily associated collaborators of Gen. Mike Flynn, who was fired from a prominent position under President Obama only to return to prominence under President Donald Trump. However, Flynn's return proved short-lived and he was ultimately replaced by Gen. H.R. McMaster.

Additionally, Baker discusses the issue of neoconservatism and its relation to Israel and Netanyahu's Likud Party. Specifically, neoconservatives take an approach of strong, hardline support to Israel. In fact, for some neocons, this support is so hardline that it has led to right-wing admonishments of generally Israel-friendly Presidents like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama for being perceived as not sufficiently supportive of Israel. McMaster, Baker, argues may, despite not having a particularly radical stance on Israel, be seen in this regard by some neocons.

Baker is quick to point out in our conversation that this discussion of neoconservatism and pro-Likud politics should not be used to support anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Instead he believes we should examined how the foreign policy ideas of neocons like the Ledeen and their relationship to Flynn may figure into the contour of a broader story about why politically right-wing elements in Washington, D.C. would seek to craft a sting operation against Gen. H.R. McMaster. And moreover how this plot against McMaster by alleged 'Anti-Deep State' elements may instead actually represent feuding factions of the deep state (by which, Russ points out, we mean the entrenched bureaucracy in D.C. rather than the lunatic fringe conspiracy theories of QAnon and its ilk).

All that and more on this edition of Parallax Views!

view more

More Episodes

On the Brink: Jenin’s Rising Resistance (Armed Resistance in the Jenin Refugee Camp) w/ Yumna Patel
2023-03-30
REPLAY: The Israel/Palestine Conflict and The Specter of Meir Kahane w/ Yossi Gurvitz
2023-03-27
Pro-Israel & Right-Wing Groups Accused of Collaborating to Stifle Academic Freedom: The Case of Dr. Lara Sheehi w/ Dr. Lara Sheehi
2023-03-21
The Russian Far-Right and the Neo-Nazi Attack in Bryansk w/ Dr. Marlene Laurelle
2023-03-18
Birds of Prey: Hitler’s Luftwaffe, Ordinary Soldiers, and the Holocaust in Poland w/ Philip W. Blood
2023-03-16
Silicon Valley Bank and the Economy w/ Mike Swanson/Corporate Media, Big Tech, and Project Censored’s State of the Free Press 2023 w/ Mickey Huff
2023-03-14
Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, & Human Rights w/ Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied Since 1967
2023-03-13
Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich Calls for ”Wiping Out” Palestinian Village of Huwara w/ Estee Chandler of Jewish Voice for Peace
2023-03-11
John Quincy Adams and American Foreign Policy w/ David C. Hendrickson
2023-03-11
The Russian Antiwar Movement and the Crackdowns Against It w/ Ilya Budtraitskis
2023-03-09
Inequality Kills Us All: COVID-19’s Health Lessons for the World w/ Dr. Stephen Bezruchka
2023-03-08
Team Jorge: The Israeli Private Contractors Involved in Global Election Meddling Ops w/ Dr. Emma L. Briant
2023-03-03
Rampage in Huwara: Israeli Settler Violence in Palestine’s West Bank w/ Richard Silverstein
2023-03-01
Secret Power: Wikileaks and Its Enemies w/ Stefania Maurizi
2023-03-01
Private Military Contractors and The Rise & Fall of the Mozart Group w/ David Isenberg
2023-02-27
Sympathy for the Raging Boll: Re-Evaluating Filmmaker Uwe Boll, from the German QAnon Shooter Docudrama HANAU to the Columbine-Inspired HEART OF AMERICA w/ Uwe Boll
2023-02-24
Your Waking Nightmare: Exploring the UFO Through the Lens of Horror and Techno-Realism w/ David Metcalfe
2023-02-23
Atomic Days: The Untold Story of the Most Toxic Place in America w/ Joshua Frank/U.S. Foreign Policy & Nuclear Weapons Delivery Systems w/ Yint Hmu
2023-02-21
Lula Goes to Washington: What Lies Ahead for U.S.-Brazil Relations, Lula’s Foreign Policy, & the Recent Lula/Biden Meeting w/ Andre Pagliarini
2023-02-16
The Chinese Spy Balloon Incident & U.S.-China Relations w/ Mel Gurtov
2023-02-15
  • ←
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • →
012345678910111213141516171819

Get this podcast on your
phone, FREE

Download Podbean app on App Store Download Podbean app on Google Play

Create your
podcast in
minutes

  • Full-featured podcast site
  • Unlimited storage and bandwidth
  • Comprehensive podcast stats
  • Integrate with iTunes and Google
    store
  • Make money with your podcast
Get started

It is Free

  • Podcast Services

    • Podcast Features
    • Pricing
    • Enterprise Solution
    • Private Podcast
    • The Podcast App
    • Live Stream
    • Audio Recorder
    • Remote Recording
  •  
    • Create a Podcast
    • Video Podcast
    • Start Podcasting
    • Start Radio Talk Show
    • Education Podcast
    • Church Podcast
    • Nonprofit Podcast
    • Get Sermons Online
    • Free Audiobooks
  • MONETIZATION & MORE

    • Podcast Advertising
    • Dynamic Ads Insertion
    • Patron Program
    • Affiliate Program
    • Switch to Podbean
    • Submit Your Podcast
    • Podbean Plugins
    • Developers
    • Badges
  • KNOWLEDGE BASE

    • How to Start a Podcast
    • How to Start a Live Podcast
    • How to Monetize a podcast
    • How to Promote Your Podcast
    • How to Use Group Recording
  • Support

    • Support Center
    • Podbean Blog
    • What’s New
    • Free Webinars
    • Podcast Events
    • Podbean Academy
    • Podcasting Smarter
    • Resources
  • Podbean

    • About Us
    • Careers
    • Press and Media
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us

Copyright © 2006-2023 Podbean.com