W. Niederhut

Paul, This Trump porn star/hush money indictment is small potatoes in comparison with the impending indictments for Trump's unprecedented, criminal efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and his apparent efforts to deliberately hide (and share?) classified documents after leaving office. And let's not forget that Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, and Roger Stone were all involved in Trump's ghastly J6 coup attempt. RFK, Jr. should not get mixed up with those scoundrels. Ultimately, however, what will sink RFK's candidacy is his misguided involvement in the anti-scientific, anti-vaccine movement during the COVID pandemic. Even the Kennedy family has condemned Robert's unfortunate involvement in that debacle.

Here is a copy of Fletcher Prouty's remarkable 1985 letter to his former boss, General Victor Krulak. Recall that Prouty wrote this remarkable letter seven years before Oliver Stone's landmark film, JFK, was released. (Posted on the EF by Greg Burnham on March 31, 2015.) This is a must read for Michael Griffith, and others, on Prouty's history with Ed Lansdale and his thoughts about JFK's assassination. May 26 1985 Victor H. Krulak 3665 Carleton Street San Diego, CA 92106 Dear General, Your good letter of 15 March 85 arrived while I was on a trip. This trip entailed a surge of work that has continued until now and, as I was working on this letter, I got another call and had to leave for a quick trip to Portland, OR. That led to more work. These interruptions certainly don't give an indication of my deep interest in your letter. As you can imagine, the information you provided is most important. I shall look up "First to Fight' and "Organization for National Security" and read them as soon as I can. The brief review of your activities since we both left SACSA was most welcome; and your notes concerning the pictures I had sent to you are remarkable. I feel as though we have come across a barren bit of ground and that together we have found it to be more fertile than either of us, singly, had thought it would be. To have your confirmation of my belief that our mutual friend (Lansdale) was there at that time means quite a lot. I join with you in the question, What in the world was he doing there? Somewhere I have the name of the photographer, and I'll get it. He was a regular commercial photographer who had run around and shot a lot of pictures that day. These pictures, this most unusual series, were - he thought - going to be important. Later, when few if any newspapers seemed interested in them, he wondered what had happened to the "tramps" whom those "policemen" had delivered to the Dallas County Sheriff's office. This led to the discovery that the "tramps" had not even been booked in the Sheriff's office where they had been taken so conspicuously, and that there were no records of or by the police. Attempts have been made through the years to identify the "tramps" and the "police". Many have said one of the tramps was Howard Hunt. It looks like him. To my knowledge no one has ever given any thought to the extra man, our friend. He has been accepted as a simple, uncomplicated pedestrian. Not too long after the appearance of this set of pictures, they were referred to me on the chance I might recognize a CIA associate of some kind. I studied them carefully, concealing the fact that I was startled to see Ed Lansdale in the pictures. I had spotted him immediately. This was years ago, in the Sixties, and I was much closer to EGL then. As a matter of fact I used to see him rather frequently during the Sixties. I was VP of a bank that was across the street from a CIA-leased building in Arlington, and he would pop up now and then from that building. This is an unusual person. I used to fly into the Philippines during l952-1954 rather frequently. I would always stay at Clark where I had several friends. From time to time I'd hear stories about this "Air Force" officer who was working with Capt. Magsaysay. We flew to Saigon and Bangkok also on trips back and forth out of Tokyo. In 1953 I became Commander of that MATS outfit and my regular business included Clark-Saigon-Bangkok, among others... out of Tokyo. On several trips between Clark and Saigon I had groups of officials (USAFilipino6-CHINATS) who were with EGL. He had become a kingmaker by getting Ramon Magsaysay "elected" President of the Philippines. After the fall of Dienbienphu, he was called back to the USA to discuss a similar "Robin Hood" operation in SVN. Allen Dulles dispatched him to Saigon as head of the Saigon Military Mission (a CIA cover) with orders to create a leader out of Ngo Dinh Diem. They became fast friends, and much of the early activity in SVN may be directly laid at his feet. He had full sway over the CIA there, and the CIA had operational control of the military as they were until the Marines landed in 1964. During this period, 1952-1954, I met EGL a few times there and got quite familiar with his Filipino and Vietnamese activities. For example: I flew a big Italian radar unit into Saigon for him in 1954. I began my CIA-related work in Hq USAF in 1955 and was told to create an office for "The USAF support of the clandestine operations of the CIA". I wrote the procedures and got CofS:USAF (Gen. White) to approve it and then took it to Allen Dulles for his OK. Dulles sent me on a round-the-world trip to most of his overseas stations. That was my PhD. Then EGL arrived in the Directorate of Plans on the Air Staff...a fish out of water. My office, "Team B" was there. We met again and we spent quite a bit of time together; but he could not get settled in with the Air Staff. Dulles and the "Big E" decided to help him; so in about 1959 he went to Erskine's office, the office of Special Operations: OSD. Shortly after he went down there I was ordered to that office where I reported in May 1960. During this extended period of long association I learned that EGL was either liked or violently disliked. He was a great behind-the-scene, solo operator. He traveled quite a bit. My CIA friends used to tell me about how many CIA men, and especially French Intelligence men, would gladly have shot him. Then in early 1960 be got rather close to Nixon and they got approval for the operation that became the "Bay of Pigs". He remained actively interested in Laos and SVN. He was somehow involved in Algeria. He wanted to be the Ambassador to Saigon and talked with me about this dream frequently. Achieving this depended on the election of Richard Nixon. The JFK victory jolted his plans, and he took off on a long trip to SVN right after the election - Nov 1960. As he was planning this trip he had me go in town "to buy the grandest present I could find for Diem", I went to Callamer's and ordered the biggest desk set you ever saw. When it was delivered EGL liked it and told me to rush back in town to get a big brass plaque to put on it. He dictated the words "Ngo Dinh Diem: The Father of His Country". I was out over $700 and it was a long time before he got the paperwork arranged to pay me back. Diem died with that thing still on his desk. EGL was disturbed when Erskine retired from OSD and McNamara abolished OSO/OSD. EGL had hoped to take over that job. That left him with a small, very nominal office by mid '61. At this time Earle Wheeler and McNamara called me in to tell me they were going to put my office in the JCS where I would cover all services and be placed within a new structure to be called: SACSA. There I had three bosses in quick succession: Craig (USA), Heintges (USA/CIA), Krulak (USMC). During mid '63 was quite disturbed because of the worsening situation in Saigon and the growing disenchantment with Diem. Although he had always been a "Diem" supporter that does not mean he would have always been one to the end. I noted, in the behind-the-scenes action, it was a very close associate of his (Conien) who had been selected to be the contact man to the plotters against Diem, specifically to Big Minh. I do not know what EGL's role may have been then... if any. Of course you had been out there at that pivotal time, and you may have a much better idea of things than I. That was a crucial time for EGL because he lost Diem as leverage. Then we all worked on the McNamara-Taylor Trip Report to JFK and that brought us up to the day of the loss of Diem and his brother. As I recall, the USA had provided air-travel for them to go to Europe, an Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting; but at the lest minute, unaccountably, both Diems backed away from the plane and returned to the Palace to find it empty. They ran through the tunnel to Cholon and were captured there. Since the views expressed in the McNamara-Taylor Report were those of JFK and his closest advisors, coming from them via your own participation, I am sure - had JFK lived - that further USA activity in SVN would have been reduced considerably. I fully expected to see us out of SVN as soon as JFK had been re-elected. The "home by Christmas" element of the JFK plan was simply the start, and a cue to where he was going. I believe he had confided this to Mike Mansfield. With the McNamara-Taylor Report work done I began to prepare for the trip to New Zealand and Antarctica. As you knows by that time I had been in the Pentagon, close to key positions, for 9 years, consecutively. I had many good friends and many reliable and perceptive sources. It was my belief that things in the Pentagon and in the White House were growing tense about the time I left for the Pacific. After my visit to Antarctica we returned to New Zealand. A Congressman, Pete Abele, R-Ohio, and I got a Navy car and were driven to the N.Z. Alps, Mt Cook. It is a beautiful resort in a place called the Hermitage. As I came down to breakfast the morning after we had arrived, I took a table and sipped coffee waiting for Pete to come. Outside, through huge picture windows, I could see snow-capped Mt Cook, and I could see a small, ski-wheel equipped Cessna leaving an air-strip to deposit skiers, 5 at a time, on a shoulder of the mountain above us. The PA system was announcing the air-lift schedule for skiers in groups of five. Then the voice stopped. It came back with: "Ladies and Gentlemen, the BBC have announced that President Kennedy has been shot, dead, in Dallas." Total silence followed. At that moment, Pete reached the table. His face was ashen. "did you hear what I just heard?" There was not another word of news. All around us the hundreds of New Zealand natives put down their coffee cups. Ladies wiped tears from their eyes. Outside in the beautiful springtime sunlight there was a tall flag-pole with the Union Jack flying in the breeze. Instinctively the entire group moved out around the flagpole. They recognized us as Americans and I told some of them that Pete was a Congressman. They gathered around him. Then a man from the hotel came out, untied the flag cord and lowered the British emblem to half-mast. I understand that was the first time that had ever been done, for an American. We cut short out stay, and left that morning. There still was no news and the car had no radio. We arrived in Christchurch that PM and saw our first newspaper. It carried a Reuters story that the President had been hit by "rapid fire from automatic weapons". It also carried lengthy items about Lee Harvey Oswald. Pete and I talked about the event, I recall saying that I had been trained in "Protection" (I had gone to Mexico City with the Eisenhower party in 1956). I felt something must have gone wrong in the Secret Service and their customary Army "Protection" services. There is no way, under protection tactics, that a lone gunman could have had access to an open and unobserved Sixth Floor window directly over the cavalcade. No way! Furthermore, the "lone gunman" did not agree with the "automatic weapons" of the on the spot Reuters account. Also, how could a paper in distant Christchurch have had so much news on Oswald so quickly? I am fully aware of instantaneous transmission; what I mean is who could have researched and have had that all written for immediate transmission around the world? As you will recall, the Dallas police did not even charge Oswald with the crime until after midnight...that is, on Nov 23rd. They had picked him up on the suspicion of having shot the police officer named Tippet, not JFK. When I got back to Washington four or five days later, I listened to and read all I could about this unusual event. I was convinced it could not have happened as the story was being told. Someone, in power or with access to the inside of power near the top, had been able to create a security vacuum in Dallas. The usual Army organization that augments the Secret Service, the 113th Group, had been told they would not be needed in Dallas. The Secret Service had been told they were needed in Ft Worth but only those riding in the cavalcade would go to Dallas and those in the cavalcade did absolutely nothing. There were no Secret Service, in place, in the vicinity of Dealey Plaza; yet the book says whenever the cavalcade is moving less than 44 mph there must be ground coverage. Then VP Johnson was placed in a car two cars behind JFK. Since the origin of the Secret Service in 1860 this has been one of their ironclad rules...that the President and VP do not show up together. Former VP Nixon, despite his uncertain stories about his whereabouts to the contrary, was still in Dallas that afternoon where he had been with a meeting of Pepsi Cola officials. These were all clever details. These two key men, LBJ and RMN, were trained indelibly by the sound and proximity of those shots. This tactic paid off in subsequent years. It seems that the FBI were not in the scene either. Hoover met with LBJ shortly after Dallas and among other things, J. Edgar Hoover told LBJ: a) Only three shots were fired: the first hit JFK, the second hit Connally, the third hit JFK. He added, "The President would have been hit three times except for the fact that Governor Connally turned after the first shot and was hit by the second." b ) They were fired by one man in 3 seconds. c) They were fired from the Fifth Floor. As we know, these are all wrong. For the Director to be wrong on that date, Nov 29th (I have a copy of his letter) is strong evidence that he did not have people at the scene, and that his story was fabricated, even to LBJ. (He and LBJ had lived across the street from each other for 19 years.) The three shots are doubtful. There were most likely four, or more: i.e. 2 to JFK, 1 to Connally and one miss. This miss hit a curb about 1 1/2 blocks away and a fragment of the curb or bullet hit a man named Tague. Tague's picture with blood running down his face is undeniable evidence. That is four shots. As for Connally interfering with the second shot, this is wrong because the gunman Hoover had in mind (Oswald) was behind JFK and Connally was in front of JFK. No way a shot from behind JFK could have hit Connally, blocking for JFK. Either that or Hover has a gunman in front of JFK. Hoover is wrong on the 3 seconds interval and that a man can fire that rifle three times in three seconds, and aim it too. The interval was just over 6 seconds. He is all mixed up about the Fifth Floor. The entire scenario as entered in the Warren Commission report says that Oswald was on the Sixth Floor. The only point of all the above, herein, is to show that there was a void, as there ought not to have been, at Dealey Plaza in Dallas. Almost no police: auto-borne Secret Service only: no "Protection" Army: no FBI nearby. This took some kind of control. Only someone in a high position could have had the calls made that would have created this void without stirring up action. Then on the scene there were many bogus Secret Service. These were men with some sort of Secret Service identification but on whom there is actually no record. And we have the strange police that you saw in those pictures with EGL. There are in the CIA's assets colonies of stateless experts with all kinds of identities ready for any hit. It is easy, with the right authority, or the appearance of the right authority to have a team go anywhere, to hit anyone provided enough money is put up and an escape is arranged and guaranteed. EGL had used such a deal many times in many operations and knew how to trigger it. He was there, no doubt, to assure the escape that those "Dallas Police" were arranging right at that time when they were inadvertently spotted by that busy commercial photographer. A major part of the scheme would involve the continuing cover-up. Again this can be relatively uncomplicated as long as the person at the top remains high enough up and can remain anonymous. So far this fits the role of EGL. Today, he and many of his long-time associates form the inner core of the Reagan insurgency program around the world. As we see, they are taking on the old Khrushchev role of supporting the wars of national liberation and coming out from under the traditional cloak. I thank you again for your letter, for your observations concerning those photographs and for your collaboration on the identity of the figure in one of those pictures, I am certain that we are on the right track; but where does it lead? So much for now. I trust all is well with you and that I shall hear from you at your convenience. We are off soon on a visit to New England and then on to the Gaspe and Prince Edward Island...the place of my wife's mother's birth. All this as a welcome break after a busy springtime. Sincerely, L. Fletcher Prouty

Since our new forum member Michael Griffith has ignored my advice about studying the Education Forum archival discussions about Col. L. Fletcher Prouty and his long-time USAF colleague, General Ed Lansdale, I am taking the unusual step of presenting some of the exemplary EF archival material about Prouty to Griffith, and others, on the subject. Firstly, I have been reviewing the EF archives, and I have discovered that the best source of accurate information about Fletcher Prouty in the archives is Greg Burnham, a long-time member of the forum, who knew Fletcher Prouty, personally, and has extensive knowledge about Prouty's life and work. For starters, here is Mr. Burnham's March 31, 2015 biographical post about the man CIA propagandists have been referring to for decades as a "crackpot." It's worth reading, along with Prouty's lengthy letter to his former boss, General Victor Krulak, on the subject of Ed Lansdale. (Up Next) On March 31, 2015 Greg Burnham wrote: This is not the biography of a nut: BIOGRAPHY Col. L. Fletcher Prouty (USAF, Retired) Born: Springfield, Mass., January 24, 1917. Attended public schools. President, High School Student Government. Member, undefeated Golf Team. Vocalist with Big Bands, sang in most large dance halls, hotels and colleges in Northeast. Graduate: Mass. State College 1941, A.B. degree and 2nd Lt. Commission, U.S. Cavalry. June 1941 Began military career with 4th Armored Division, Pine Camp, NY. At Communications Officer School, Ft. Knox, KY, on December 7, 1941[Pearl Harbor]. Transferred to Air Force 1942. Earned Pilot's wings November, 1942. Arrived British West Africa [Ghana], February 1943 as pilot with Air Transport Command. Assigned to V.I.P. flying, summer 1943. Personal pilot for Gen. Omar Bradley, Gen. J. C. H. Lee and Gen. C. R. Smith (Founder and President - American Airlines), among others. Landed U.S. Geological Survey Team in Saudi Arabia, Oct 1943, to confirm oil discoveries for Cairo Conference. Assigned special duties at Cairo and Teheran Conferences, November-December 1943. Flew Chiang Kai Shek's Chinese delegation (T.V. Soong's delegates) to Teheran. Chief Pilot (1,200 pilots), Cairo for Air Transport Command. Led special air mission into Soviet Union, and others into Turkey, 1944. Evacuated "Guns of Navaronne" British commandos from Turkey to Palestine. Assisted in capture of leader of German Gold smuggling ring (The actor, Bruce Cabot) in Turkey and Cairo. Led large flight of transport aircraft to Turkish-Syrian border to evacuate 750 American POW's and OSS-selected Ex-National Socialist Intelligence experts from the Balkans, September 1944. The first "overt" Cold War mission. 1945 Transferred to SW Pacific, flew in New Guinea, Leyte and was on Okinawa at end of war. Landed near Tokyo at surrender with first three planes carrying Gen. MacArthur's bodyguard troops. Flew out with American POWs. Photographed Hiroshima, that date. 1946-49 Assigned by Army to Yale University to begin first USAF ROTC program. Taught "Aeronautics" and "Evolution of Warfare". Transferred to U.S. Air Force ROTC headquarters to write college text books. Wrote the college textbook on "Aeronautics" and another on "Rockets and Missiles". 1950-52 Transferred to Colorado Springs to establish Air Defense Command. There, Director, Personnel Planning for Command (77,000 men) and first to put personnel records on Computer. Attended Nuclear Weapons school, Sandia, N.M. Selected for Air Force Command and Staff College, Montgomery, Ala. 1952-54 Assigned to Korean War duties in Japan. Military Manager, Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) during Occupation. Commander, Military Air Transport Service, Heavy Transport Squadron responsible for military and diplomatic flights from Tokyo to Saudi Arabia and back, in addition to daily flights to Korea, Honolulu and Pacific Islands. Founder, Tokyo Toastmasters Club. Attended, JCS operated Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, 1955 1955-1964 Assigned to Headquarters, U.S. Air Force and directed to create an Air Force world-wide system for "Military Support of the Clandestine Operations of the CIA", as required by a new National Security Council Directive, 5412 of March, 1954. Wrote this policy in conjunction with Air Force General Counsel and CIA's General Counsel. Set up a TOP SECRET world wide support force and communications system. Was sent around the world by the Director, Central Intelligence, Allen W. Dulles, to meet the CIA Station Chiefs, 1956. Directed Air Force participation in countless CIA operations during this period. As a result of a CIA Commendation for this work, awarded the Legion of Merit by the Air Force. Photo: Colonel Prouty receiving the Legion of Merit Promoted to Colonel and assigned to the Office of the Secretary of Defense to carry out this same type of work for all military services. Assigned to the Office of Special Operations. With the creation of the Defense Intelligence Agency by Secretary McNamara and the abolishment of the OSO, was transferred to the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to create a similar, world-wide office and was the Chief of Special Operations, with the Joint Staff all during 1962-1963. 1963 Received orders to travel as the Military Escort officer for a group of VIPs who were being flown to the South Pole. Nov 10 - Nov 28, 1963, to activate a Nuclear Power plant for heat, light and sea water desalination at the U.S. Navy Base at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Retired as Colonel, U.S. Air Force, 1964 and was awarded one of the first three Joint Chiefs of Staff Commendation Medals by General Maxwell Taylor, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. 1964-1965 VP International Operations, General Aircraft Corporation... a company created by MIT and Harvard specialists that designed and built aircraft that were used by the CIA and Army Special Forces. 1965-1968 VP-Manager, Pentagon Branch, First National Bank, Arlington, VA, later VP-Marketing, 1965-1968. VP-Marketing, Madison National Bank, Washington, DC, 1968-1971. Graduate, Graduate School of Banking, University of Wisconsin, 1966 - 1968. Charter Member, American Bankers Association committee for Automation, Planning and Technology to develop plans to convert all U.S. banks to automation, including the Federal Reserve System. President, Financial Marketing Council of Greater Washington, D.C. Member, Advertising Club of Washington, D.C. 1971 AMTRAK, as Manager, created nationwide Government and Military Marketing organization. Senior Director, Public Affairs, corporate speechwriter for Presidents and members of the Board, 1972-1982. Retired. Author, Public Speaker, radio and TV, 1950 to present. Book "The Secret Team", Prentice-Hall, 1973, and paperback by Ballantine, 1974. http://assassinationofjfk.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/stphoto.jpg Worked with all major USA TV networks, and with BBC-TV, CBC-TV, Japanese, Canadian, Australian Broadcast Commission and many others. For McGraw-Hill Scientific Encyclopedia wrote "Railroad Engineering" section, and for its "Scientific Yearbook-1982" yearbook, wrote "Foreign Railroad Technology". For Traffic Quarterly and Congressional Record, wrote "Transportation at the Crossroads", July 1981. Numerous magazine articles from New Republic to Air Force, Gallery, Genesis, and Freedom magazines. Consultant: Rail Transportation for Northrop Services Inc., Northrup Corp. and for Ohio Rail Transportation Authority. Assisted Chairman, Joint Economics Committee of the Congress to set up International Hearings and to write "Rail Passenger Services Act of 1981". At request of Oliver Stone, worked as Creative Advisor (1990-1991) on production of his film "JFK" and was the original for "Man X" character played by Donald Sutherland. Book, "JFK, the CIA, Vietnam and the Plot to Assassinate John F. Kennedy" published by Birch Lane Press, 1992. Memberships: Director, National Railroad Foundation and Museum National Press Club, and Foundation Rotary Club of Washington, formerly a Director Member, Society of Historians for American Foreign Relations Family: Wife: Elizabeth Son: David Daughter: Jane Daughter: Lauren Additional data: a) By direction of the Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, a Founder, of the International Air Traffic Controllers Assn. b ) Founder, Tokyo Toastmasters Club c) A Charter member, American Bankers Assn, Committee of Automation Planning and Technology. d) A graduate of the American Bankers Assn, Graduate School of Banking, University of Wisconsin. e) Guest Lecturer, American University. f) Staff, Cairo Conference, 1943 g) Staff, Teheran Conference, 1943

How did RFK, Jr. get mixed up with these right wing jokers? Quite a depressing contrast with the old Kennedy/Harvardian brain trust of his father and uncles.

You forgot to reference the critically important primary source material on this subject (prior to 1964) by Col. L. Fletcher Prouty-- the Joint Chiefs Liaison to the CIA who worked directly with Edward Lansdale and the CIA's Saigon Station for many years, and with the JFK administration until December of 1964. Prouty also co-authored the Pentagon Papers and the 1963 McNamara-Taylor Report. He was a participant/observer of the history of JFK, the CIA, and Vietnam. His work has been misrepresented and Swift-Boated-Vetted for years by CIA propagandists, after he provided firsthand witness testimony about the CIA, JFK, and Vietnam. JFK: The CIA, Vietnam, and the Plot to Assassinate John F. Kennedy: Prouty, L. Fletcher, Stone, Oliver, Ventura, Jesse: 9781616082918: Amazon.com: Books

Indeed. I was at Faneuil Hall in Boston on November 7, 1979 when Ted Kennedy announced his candidacy for the U.S. Presidency. It was a sunny autumn morning and the entire plaza around Faneuil Hall was jammed with enthusiastic Kennedy supporters. The depth of emotion in that crowd was palpable. As for RFK, Jr., I admire many things about the man, and his heart is in the right place, but I think it will be tough sledding for him. There was a derogatory thread about his candidacy over at the Democratic Underground today.

IMO, there's never been a more accurate analysis of Donald's "spirituality" than Peter Wehner's 2016 New York Times essay, The Theology of Donald Trump. I remember it well, because in July of 2016 I was still trying to figure out what made Donald Trump tick. (I'm re-printing this classic essay for interested non-subscribers) The Theology of Donald Trump by Peter Wehner July 5, 2016 SINCE Donald Trump assures us that the Bible is his favorite book, it’s worth asking: Just what is his theology? After Mr. Trump met with hundreds of evangelical Christians a couple of weeks ago, James Dobson, who is among the most influential leaders in the evangelical world and serves on Mr. Trump’s evangelical executive advisory board, declared that “Trump appears to be tender to things of the Spirit,” by which Dr. Dobson meant the Holy Spirit. Of all the descriptions of Mr. Trump we’ve heard this election season, this may be the most farcical. As described by St. Paul, the “fruit of the Spirit” includes forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, hardly qualities one associates with Mr. Trump. It shows you the lengths Mr. Trump’s supporters will go to in order to rationalize their enthusiastic support of him. Dr. Dobson is not alone. Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of Liberty University, has praised Mr. Trump’s life as in many ways exemplary and said that he believes that “Donald Trump is God’s man to lead our nation.” Eric Metaxas, who has written popular biographies of William Wilberforce and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, has rhapsodized about Mr. Trump and argued that Christians “must” vote for him because he is “the last best hope of keeping America from sliding into oblivion.” And should your conscience tell you that Mr. Trump might not be the right choice, Robert Jeffress, the influential pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, explains that “any Christian who would sit at home and not vote for the Republican nominee” is “motivated by pride rather than principle.” This fulsome embrace of Mr. Trump is rather problematic, since he embodies a worldview that is incompatible with Christianity. If you trace that worldview to its source, Christ would not be anywhere in the vicinity. Time and again Mr. Trump has shown contempt for those he perceives as weak and vulnerable — “losers,” in his vernacular. They include P.O.W.s, people with disabilities, those he deems physically unattractive and those he considers politically powerless. He bullies and threatens people he believes are obstacles to his ambitions. He disdains compassion and empathy, to the point where his instinctive response to the largest mass shooting in American history was to congratulate himself: “Appreciate the congrats for being right.” What Mr. Trump admires is strength. For him, a person’s intrinsic worth is tied to worldly success and above all to power. He never seems free of his obsession with it. In his comments to that gathering of evangelicals, Mr. Trump said this: “And I say to you folks, because you have such power, such influence. Unfortunately the government has weeded it away from you pretty strongly. But you’re going to get it back. Remember this: If you ever add up, the men and women here are the most important, powerful lobbyists. You’re more powerful. Because you have men and women, you probably have something like 75, 80 percent of the country believing. But you don’t use your power. You don’t use your power.” In eight sentences Mr. Trump mentioned some variation of power six times, to a group of individuals who have professed their love and loyalty to Jesus, who in his most famous sermon declared, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” and “Blessed are the meek,” who said, “My strength is made perfect in weakness,” and who was humiliated and crucified by the powerful. To better understand Mr. Trump’s approach to life, ethics and politics, we should not look to Christ but to Friedrich Nietzsche, who was repulsed by Christianity and Christ. “What is good?” Nietzsche asks in “The Anti-Christ”: “Whatever augments the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself in man. What is evil? Whatever springs from weakness. What is happiness? The feeling that power increases – that resistance is overcome.” Whether or not he has read a word of Nietzsche (I’m guessing not), Mr. Trump embodies a Nietzschean morality rather than a Christian one. It is characterized by indifference to objective truth (there are no facts, only interpretations), the repudiation of Christian concern for the poor and the weak, and disdain for the powerless. It celebrates the “Übermensch,” or Superman, who rejects Christian morality in favor of his own. For Nietzsche, strength was intrinsically good and weakness was intrinsically bad. So, too, for Donald Trump. Those who believe this is merely reductionism should consider the words of Jesus: Do you have eyes but fail to see and ears but fail to hear? Mr. Trump’s entire approach to politics rests on dehumanization. If you disagree with him or oppose him, you are not merely wrong. You are worthless, stripped of dignity, the object of derision. This attitude is central to who Mr. Trump is and explains why it pervades and guides his campaign. If he is elected president, that might-makes-right perspective would infect his entire administration. All of this is important because of what it says about Mr. Trump as a prospective president. But it is also revealing for what it says about Christians who now testify on his behalf (there are plenty who don’t). The calling of Christians is to be “salt and light” to the world, to model a philosophy that defends human dignity, and to welcome the stranger in our midst. It is to stand for justice, dispense grace and be agents of reconciliation in a broken world. And it is to take seriously the words of the prophet Micah, “And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God?” Evangelical Christians who are enthusiastically supporting Donald Trump are signaling, even if unintentionally, that this calling has no place in politics and that Christians bring nothing distinctive to it — that their past moral proclamations were all for show and that power is the name of the game. The French philosopher and theologian Jacques Ellul wrote: “Politics is the church’s worst problem. It is her constant temptation, the occasion of her greatest disasters, the trap continually set for her by the prince of this world.” In rallying round Mr. Trump, evangelicals have walked into the trap. The rest of the world sees it. Why don’t they? https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/05/opinion/campaign-stops/the-theology-of-donald-trump.html Peter Wehner, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, served in the last three Republican administrations and is a contributing opinion writer.

Sad but true. Conservatives don't have a monopoly on myopia, dishonesty, and denial. And, in the case of the JFK assassination, it's especially galling when "liberals" betray JFK! I naively hoped (and requested) that Joe Biden, an Irish Catholic, would release the JFK records.

Arrested for taking a bribe, eh? That's like arresting a Russki for using a samovar. Isn't Putin's entire Russian Federation oligarchy predicated on bribe taking?

Michael, You're repeating bogus CIA talking points about Prouty that have been thoroughly debunked on this forum, and by Len Osanic and other knowledgeable people. But how could you know that without studying our previous discussions here? You need to do more reading and less writing.

Michael, I'm not going to waste any more time debunking your buzzwords and McAdams/CIA disinformation about Prouty and his long-time colleague Ed Lansdale. The Education Forum has already been there and done that. My advice to you is to educate yourself by studying our lengthy EF threads on the subject. The Education Forum search engine is your friend.

I hope you're right, Matt. If the guy is going to publicly attack the DA, judge, and the judge's wife and daughter, he deserves a gag order. I'm not sure how that could be enforced, but it should be.

Newsflash, Ben. Dean Baquet and the NYT played a major role in getting Trump elected in 2016. Study the references Cliff Varnell and I have posted for the forum on that subject (from Harvard's Berman Institute and the CJR.) Baquet explicitly blocked any pre-election NYT stories about Trump's Russian contacts. There's no excuse for your persistent, willful ignorance on the subject. Study the stats on NYT and M$M news coverage prior to the 2016 election. As an NYT reader, I noted at the time that NYT was running weekly headline stories about Hillary's Emails in the weeks prior to the election. Most were based on anonymous FBI "leaks." Rudy Giuliani was also in that loop. Fox always functioned as Trump's Ministry of Propaganda. The Deep State-- e.g., the FBI (including Russian agent Charles McGonigal) and James Comey-- also played a major role in orchestrating Trump's improbable Electoral College victory in 2016, with their bogus Anthony Weiner laptop "October Surprise." The Trump/Fox narrative claiming that Trump was an adversary and victim of the Deep State only surfaced in 2017, in response to the belated revelations about Michael Flynn and the 2016 Trump campaign's multiple contacts with Kremlin officials. Trump and Fox tried to blame the Deep State for Trump's illegal 2016 campaign collaboration with the Kremlin. Then, after January 6th, Fox tried to blame the Deep State for Trump's J6 coup attempt.

This is why Trump was sent to military school at age 13, after punching a teacher in the eye. He needed limits set on his sociopathic behavior. I predict that he'll test limits on the incitement of hostility and violence toward the legal establishment, to see what he can get away with. And he'll probably use Double Speak, as he did on January 6th-- "Peacefully... March down to the Capitol and fight like hell," etc.

Ben, I'm relieved to hear that you care so little about partisan sentiments! And all this time, I had the mistaken impression that you especially disliked Joe Biden and the Donks! In recent weeks, you have started multiple threads and posted numerous comments about the deplorable failure of Biden and other Donks to release the records-- a source of disappointment for us all. But, in your non-partisan study of the JFK Records Act history, has it come to your attention that the records were supposed to be fully released in October of 2017, when Donald Trump, alone, had the authority to block their release? Glenn Greenwald blamed Mike Pompeo for Trump's historic decision to block the release of the records in 2017. That particular buck, apparently, didn't stop at Trump's desk. It is, understandably, difficult to reconcile Trump's decision to withhold the JFK records with the more general Fox narratives since 2017 about Trump being an adversary and victim of the Deep State, so blaming Pompeo is one solution to the cognitive dissonance. In any case, thanks for the ongoing, non-partisan historiography and additional reminders about deferring to Larry Schnapf. We little people need to know our proper place. 🤥

Ron, I my have to defer firing up a golden reefer. Trump's attorneys will probably drag this case out for years, with endless motions and appeals. As for a gag order, Trump has, reportedly, posted a photo of the judge's daughter on Truth Social this afternoon. Like most sociopaths, he's testing limits to see what bs he can get away with...

Prouty described Lansdale as a "chameleon"-- a man who often disguised and dissembled about his work for Allen Dulles. He (Prouty) also panned the Currey biography of Lansdale as a work of CIA fiction. Prouty also pointed out that Lansdale was bitterly disappointed about JFK's decision to remove him from Vietnam (and reassign him to Mongoose.) As for Dallas, James DiEugenio mentioned (on a thread about the Paul Bleu conference) that Lansdale was in Dallas on 11/22/63. I think the source of that information was John Newman.

The judge, reportedly, warned Trump in court today to stop inciting violence or face a gag order. This is precisely the kind of intervention that sociopaths like Trump require-- the threat of external consequences for bad behavior.

Michael, You, obviously, need to re-read Prouty's book on JFK, the CIA, and Vietnam more carefully. As for your old McAdams-esque talking point about Prouty's unusual Antarctic trip being "routine," we already discussed it in exhaustive detail here. You are repeating exactly the same bogus buzzwords about Prouty that the McAdams goon squad has posted here in the past-- "crackpot," "routine Antarctic trip," etc. The strategy seems to be, "Repeat the bunk about Prouty until uninformed people believe it."

And a projection of Trump's hatred for his critics. But what a great day for America! Trump was just arrested in NYC. I feel like opening a bottle of champagne and listening to Sinatra sing "New York, New York!"

Yes, and I forgot to ask Michael Griffin the most important Lansdale question of all-- a subject Prouty described in considerable detail in his JFK Vietnam book. How did Lansdale become Allen Dulles's favorite CIA black ops/psy ops expert?

C'mon, man. What was the nature of Prouty's long-term relationship with Ed Lansdale? Did Lansdale tell Prouty before 11/22/63 that he would be, unexpectedly, flying to Antarctica? What was Prouty's official position in 1963? Was he working with the USAF and CIA as a briefing officer in the JFK administration? Was he merely a pilot, as Lansdale later claimed? Was Prouty involved in writing DOD material relating to NSAM 263 and JFK's Vietnam policy in the fall of 1963? Where was Ed Lansdale in November of 1963, and what was he doing?

No one expected the records to be released prior to October of 2017, did they? The JFK Records were supposed to be released in October of 2017, during Trump's White House tenure. Were you surprised and disappointed when Trump blocked their mandated release in October of 2017 and April of 2018?

How many times do we have to debunk this idiotic CIA/John McAdams trope about Col. Fletcher Prouty being a "crackpot" on the Education Forum? Michael Griffin is merely the latest McAdams-esque pontificator repeating this bogus CIA propaganda trope here. I'm guessing that Griffin, like Rob Clark, Mark Stephens, et.al., has never read Prouty's books on JFK, the CIA and Vietnam or The Secret Team. How many times do we have to re-direct these McAdams guys to the true facts about Prouty's career as the Joint Chiefs liaison to the CIA in 1963, his co-authorship of the McNamara-Taylor Report, his long-term collaboration with Lansdale in Southeast Asia, and his evidence-based commentaries about Lansdale? There is a good reason why CIA propagandists like McAdams have repeatedly attacked a whistle blower like Prouty who worked directly with the CIA for years before sharing his observations with Oliver Stone and the general public in the early 1990s. Perhaps Griffin can tell us where Lansdale was in November of 1963, and what he was up to.