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To continue following the economic rationale thread, consider that Trump at the GB rally exalted that the US had increased its net wealth by $trillions due to his policies. In a follow up comment, Trump also mentioned another country (I didn't hear him say China) had declined by a corresponding amount.

Now, what is the meaning of this observation? On a surface level, he is of course appealing to the man-on-the-street economic well being ie job, house, car, family, etc. But to strategists who know wars are won due to technology - and the people who can operate/deliver those capabilities - it was a message that was being sent to an entirely different audience.

Because, let's consider just how much money it takes to fund & finance a myriad of R&D projects, a large percentage which never go anywhere. As is probably known by everyone @ FR, the US beat the USSR in the Cold war when Reagan opened the spigot on military spending. The Soviets didn't have the economy - or brain power - to keep up, which led to the entire atrophied pseudo-communist system imploding just a few years later.

There's a lot more to Trump's America first posturing other than appealing to regular citizens' sense of patriotism. Rather, there is a very pragmatic and intentional reason why the economy needs to be powering on all cylinders. And the MIC gets it; boy do they get it. No economy, no goodies. No goodies, eventually an ass kicking is coming someone's way.

PS I've often claimed that Germany lost the war when Hitler was named Chancellor. Imagine if a similar nationalist had, instead of persecuting the Jews, had co-opted their leading scientists? That is, offer a deal to develop what eventually became nuclear weapons in exchange for supporting the formation of greater Israel. History of course would have been completely different.

So too our current timeline - if Kankles had been elected, it's not just regular Americans who would suffer. No, there would be thousands of MIC careerists who would know the jig was up. Destroying an economy, legal and political system, and replacing productive self-starters with low tech illegals would result in the exact opposite scenario as described by Trump above. I say, Trump winning the election looks suspiciously like "mission accomplished".