Trump Advisers Expound on Imaginary Friends and Illuminati

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by: Colorado Pols

It is unclear that President Trump actually listens to any advice he receives from, well, from anyone. If Trump does indeed regularly dismiss counsel on policy issues foreign and domestic, there are at least two people we can only hope are among the voices he ignores.

From the Chronicle of Higher Education

At the top of that list, as Political Wire explains, sits Trump’s top trade adviser:

Peter Navarro, President Trump’s top trade adviser, has quoted staunch China hawk “Ron Vara” more than a dozen times in at least six of his books, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports.

However, it turns out that Ron Vara…doesn’t actually exist.

You can read the full Chronicle of Higher Education story by clicking on the embedded link above. The short version is that trade adviser Peter Navarro regularly quotes the words of one “Ron Vara,” who is not a real person. From the Chronicle story:

Navarro has quoted Vara a dozen or so times in six books, usually as an epigraph before a chapter. In Death by China, published in 2011, Vara offers this sweeping assessment of the country’s roughly 1.4 billion people: “Only the Chinese can turn a leather sofa into an acid bath, a baby crib into a lethal weapon, and a cellphone battery into heart-piercing shrapnel.”

Eagle-eyed readers will notice that “Ron Vara” is an anagram of “Navarro.” That’s not a coincidence; “Ron Vara” is an imaginary person created by Navarro — the same person who is apparently Trump’s top adviser on trade issues with China.

Yet as Justin Wingerter reports today for the Denver Post, Navarro isn’t the only odd duck to have caught Trump’s eye recently:

A Colorado Springs lawyer appointed by President Donald Trump to a federal education board is a prolific author of self-help Illuminati books whose education company has been accused of handing out certificates to undeserving applicants.

The White House announced last week that Trump had nominated George Mentz to the Commission on Presidential Scholars. His nomination does not require Senate confirmation…

…Mentz’s books include “The Illuminati Secret Laws of Money,” “The Illuminati Handbook,” “50 Laws of Power of the Illuminati,” and “100 Secrets and Habits of the Illuminati for Life Success.” Nearly all of his works are about money and often center on mindfulness secrets to achieving wealth.

There is a non-zero chance that President Trump will select a cartoon character for an administration job before next November.

13 thoughts on “Trump Advisers Expound on Imaginary Friends and Illuminati”

Phoenix Rising says:

October 16, 2019 at 12:25 pm

Well, Donny does like to use pseudonyms himself. And is a purveyor of conspiracy theory. These are not surprising associations, though they are a bit depressing to think about. As for the cartoon character, if he hasn't been referred to the administration already I nominate Roger Rabbit's Judge Doom.

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1. MADCO says:
  
  October 16, 2019 at 6:58 pm
  
  good choice
  
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hawkear says:

October 16, 2019 at 2:07 pm

surprised he didn't use Art Vandelay

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1. unnamed says:
  
  October 16, 2019 at 2:10 pm
  
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JohnInDenver says:

October 16, 2019 at 3:20 pm

I wonder how George came to the attention of the Trump Sad!-ministration.

MENTZ, GEORGEDONALD J. TRUMP FOR PRESIDENT, INC.COMENTZ LAW FIRM11/10/2015$1,000.00

MENTZ, GEORGEDONALD J. TRUMP FOR PRESIDENT, INC.COMENTZ LAW FIRM01/31/2016$1,700.00
MENTZ, GEORGEDONALD J. TRUMP FOR PRESIDENT, INC.COGLOBAL ACADEMY OF FINANCE AND MANAGEME06/28/2016$2,700.00
MENTZ, GEORGE MR.TRUMP VICTORYCOGLOBAL ACADEMY OF FINANCE AND MANAGEME06/28/2016$2,700.00
MENTZ, GEORGE MR.TRUMP VICTORYCOGLOBAL ACADEMY OF FINANCE AND MANAGEME07/27/2016$2,500.00

2015 AND 2016 — $10,600

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1. harrydoby says:
  
  October 16, 2019 at 3:30 pm
  
  Further, according to the same Denver Post article, Mentz is unapologetic about running a diploma mill
  
  Both companies award certifications, allowing applicants to add an alphabet soup of titles after their names. For a fee, you can become an accredited life coach, a certified political scientist, a master Islamic financial specialist or more than a hundred other titles. Having such a certification “makes you one of the next generation of global leaders,” according to a message from Mentz on the GAFM website.
  
  A Wall Street Journal article in 2004 found AAFM awarded certifications to applicants who had never taken a course and, in some cases, had not taken a test to prove they knew the topic at hand. In 2010, another Wall Street Journal article found several people listed on AAFM’s board of advisers had never advised the company and were unaware the company was claiming them as an adviser.
  
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  1. Early Worm says:
    
    October 16, 2019 at 3:43 pm
    
    Is it impressive or nauseating that Mentz's AAFM appears to be the operation that Trump University could have been or should have been?
    
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MADCO says:

October 16, 2019 at 4:35 pm

"There is a non-zero chance that President Trump will select a cartoon character …"

this post is very, very, unfair.
there are many comic book characters who would be fine additions to the administration. Not to mention other fictional characters.

Mr. Finch.
(Atticus or Harold)

Bruce Wayne

Diana Prince

~~Richie Rich~~

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1. kwtree says:
  
  October 16, 2019 at 5:43 pm
  
  T’challa. Shuri. Hell, any Wakandan. But of course, our *resident would go for Killmonger or Ulysses Klaue
  
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  1. MADCO says:
    
    October 16, 2019 at 6:52 pm
    
    Ha!
    
    well done
    
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JohnInDenver says:

October 16, 2019 at 8:19 pm

And the day just gets better — not only is Trump choosing advisors with questionable understandings of the nature of crediting sources and understanding of the Illuminati … he has new historical insight to share. Trump just claimed 'The United States and Italy are bound together by a shared cultural and political heritage dating back thousands of years to ancient Rome,'

I'm not certain what elements of "political heritage" Trump wants to claim. There is the post-WWII rapid rotation of Italian governments. The pre-WWII development of Italian fascism. The rise of the rich in Venice. The extensive domination of the Italian peninsula by the Roman Catholic Church. The fall of the Roman empire. The extensive list of assassinated or murdered Roman emperors, or those Emperors deposed/blinded/exiled/mutilated/imprisoned/tortured or abdicated. [http://www.allempires.com/article/index.php?q=fate_of_roman_emperors] And maybe, just maybe, the Republicanism advocated by Cicero — an ideal which had never been real and which resulted in a number of autocratic executions and gyrations in public policy.

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1. Diogenesdemar says:
  
  October 16, 2019 at 10:52 pm
  
  Caligula, Nero, Commodus . . .
  . . . Bush, Ttump.
  
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2. Conserv. Head Banger says:
  
  October 17, 2019 at 8:05 am
  
  "fall of the Roman Empire…." I think you mean the Western Roman Empire. The Eastern Empire continued to exist until the taking of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453 CE.
  
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