Interview with Recluse - Part 1
Once again, we had a grand time with this soon to be released interview, and as always, Recluse is in top form... at his entertaining and informational best for this one. The show should be published early next week. Stay tuned for links for the show.
However... After our August 26th Interview, I had the pleasure of corresponding via email with Steven, in which I flipped the script on my colleague, asking him a few questions pertaining to the current, parapolitical state of affairs. Questions raised from our afore-mentioned podcast interview. What follows is an old-school, print interview of our conversation...
Jack Heart: You and I have talked in the past about the Trump Card metaphor, where I had analogized the Orange One to specific cards from the Tarot deck, with you comparing Trump to the Foole card, which got me thinking… In a recent post, I have explored the analogy of Trump as a trickster, Archonic figure, along the lines of the Gnostic interpretation. Your thoughts?
Steven Snider: I very much agree that this is part of Trump's success. To my mind, he's tapped into the Trickster archetype and he's mining it for all it's worth. It's interesting that the phenomenon of phantom clown sightings really touched off again around the time of the 2016 election. This was followed by an invasion of evil clowns in pop culture. Stephen King's It was turned into two successful movies while the Joker returned to the silver screen in separate movies. 2024 witnessed another Joker movie, and perhaps even more intriguing, the staggering box office success of Terrifier 3. The Trickster is clearly a part of the zeitgeist now and I think that's been directly tied to Trump for nearly a decade now.
JH: We have both pondered the deeper, parapolitical ramifications of current events, especially during the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election. Trump’s pick of JD Vance as VP demonstrated Trump’s intention of drilling down into his base rather than seek broader appeal with the electorate. What is your take on the seemingly close relationship between Vance and Peter Theil? In your opinion, does this relationship represent a succession plan by Theil, should Trump be re-elected in November?
SS: Yeah, I think Vance is Theil's candidate all the way. And I'm not sure how happy Trump is about that. I personally did not take any of the "assassinations" attempts on Trump during the election seriously. IMO, that was pure cosplay. But, now that Trump is the president-elect and J.D. Vanc is joining him in the White House, all bets are off. I think Theil sees Vance as a way of locking up the presidency for the next 12 years. Trump defies the Vance/Theil duo only at serious personal risk now...
JH: How does Elon Musk’s going all in for Trump affect the outcome in November and beyond?
SS: Musk taking over Twitter was clearly a part of a long game to get Trump back in office. Musk and Co. (i.e. The PayPal mafia) correctly surmised that social media has far surpassed the legacy media in terms of shaping public opinion. Theil helped set up Facebook and I suspect still has more influence there than many believe. Certainly, it didn't take much to get Zuckerberg on the Trump team. But, the real crown jewel was Twitter and Musk's takeover effectively gave them control of the largest media outlet in the world. The significance of this was laid bare during the Butler incident in which Twitter was able to push a King Kill narrative that large swaths of the American public embraced. I think it really shows the kind of foresight the PayPal mafia has, which is why I've always considered them to be a far more significant threat than their counterparts in the Atlantic Council/New America/WEF nexus.
Stay tuned for part two of the above interview with Recluse. And look for the upcoming second interview with Steven, on his must-listen podcast show... The Farm Mach II.
And while you're at it... check out my new pixilated presence on SubStack
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