Tag Archives: Steve Bannon

Elections – The Winning Strategy

Yesterday, three separate videos appeared in my YouTube feed each speaking to the strategy Donald Trump should adopt to win the 2024 U.S. presidential election. After giving each of them a listen, I decided to query the I Ching, the venerable Chinese Book of Change, regarding the correct strategy needed to win.

Here I summarize the three commentaries, then compare them with the I Ching‘s point of view.

First up is this one: Longtime Trump Loyalist Peter Navarro Calls on Ex-President to Stop the Personal Attacks Against Kamala Harris. Here’s a description:

Peter Navarro, a former advisor to former President Donald Trump, was filling in as the host for Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast on Real America’s Voice and had some campaign advice for his old boss.

While addressing Trump’s campaign strategy of personal attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris during a broadcast on Monday, Navarro — a Trump loyalist who served jail time refusing to cooperate with a Congressional investigation of the January 6 insurrection, which Bannon is serving time for now — said that what worked for him before may not work this time around, especially in battleground states:

He needs votes, and the current rally formula is simply not sufficiently focused on the very stark policy differences between him and Kamala Harris that will swing voters in key battleground states. Instead, when Trump attacks Harris personally rather than on policy, Harris’s support among swing voters rises, particularly among women.

Second, Megan Kelly expands on How Trump and His Campaign Could Get Back on Track Now with Bethany Mandel and Karol Markowicz. She plays a clip of Navarro’s War Room comments: 

The problem you have with giant figures like Donald Trump is that people tend to tell him what he wants to hear, rather than what he needs to hear. But clearly the last three weeks have been difficult. In hindsight, chosing to debate Biden before the Democratic convention was a catastrophic error. 

It’s just less than 90 days to the election. It’s less than half that to early voting. The question is, “What is the strategy going to be?” 

A Trump rally speech now is usually scripted red meat for the Trump base. The current rally formula is simply not sufficiently focused on the very stark policy differences — policy differences — between him and Kamala Harris. 

When Trump attacks Harris personally rather than on policy, Harris’s support among swing voters rises.  

—–

Interestingly, this view could have been taken from RFK Jr.’s play book. Stick exclusively to the issues that matter to the American people. Avoid the vitriol!

—–

Karol Markowicz agrees: 

Anybody who wants Donald Trump to win would tell him run on the issues. Your support will rise if you remind people that just before COVID, their lives were going great, the economy was going great, the country was going in a good direction. No wars. He has an argument to make. 

But he keeps falling back into this childish name-calling. That resonates with his base, but the base is already there. They’re already coming to vote for him. He needs the swing voter who’s saying, “Wow. I’m actually thinking about voting for Donald Trump. . . ” but he keeps pushing them away. 

The Trump campaign keeps saying that Kamala is not talking to the press. Trump should maybe talk to the press just a little bit less, and to likely swing voters more.  

Kelly lists Navarro’s prescribed campaign strategy: 

First, the former president should immediately begin entering into an interactive “jumbotron” policy dialogue with Harris. Once Kamala’s words are played, then offer his contrasting side, most importantly offering a set of concrete solutions. Second, before each rally, Trump should hold a press conference with different officials on specific issues. For example, with Rick Grinnell on foreign policy. Specifically detail what happened during Biden-Harris and what Trump would do differently were he to be placed in the Oval Office again. 

Third, focus on conversations with American citizens harmed by the Biden-Harris administration policies. In Pennsylvania, you’d have fracking workers who have lost their jobs. Put that in the middle of the rallies. Forth, rallies must start on time and only last 55 minutes. Less is more. 

Third, in The Trump team must go on offense, Steve Forbes discusses his article, Here’s How Trump Can Defeat Kamala Harris – And How He Can Lose, with Larry Kudlow.

He warns against flip flopping. What Trump must do is stick to message. Keep hammering home the very basic issues. Don’t try to be humorous. Stick to taxes, the economy, inflation, the border and national security. Keep asking, “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?”

Don’t get sidetracked on her — what she does or doesn’t do. Just focus on those issues. People want to know, “How do we move ahead?”

We can turn this around. In three weeks, we’ve seen a flip flop. Who could have thought that she would be the new second coming? But in three to five weeks, it can flip again. 

Be prepared. . . Go on the offense. Say, “Look what’s happened in national defense. Why do we have to send those assets to the Middle East. . . . Look at the reduction in defense spending in a very dangerous world which Biden-Harris have made even more dangerous.”

Trump has to emphasize, “We don’t have the infrastructure to build the weaponry that we need.” He should make the point that this is the most dangerous period in international affairs since the 1930s. And we know where that led, because of catastrophic mistakes made by people who believed in appeasement. These people believe in appeasement.

 . . . he’s got to tell himself, “This is it. Only 80-85 days left. I just have to focus on this like those runners at the Olympics.” They don’t think about anything else. Just focus on getting across that finish line.” 

In contrast, here’s the approach to campaign strategy received in response to the query, “Please advise as to what strategy will win the 2024 presidential election.”

At first, the response surprised me, though on second thought, it makes good sense.

The result is Hexagram 20, AWARENESS, with a changing line in the third place that results in Hexagram 53, DEVELOPMENT.

Hexagram 20 reads in part:

Seek increased AWARENESS of the patterns which underlie natural events. Tune yourself to the Creative Source of natural change. . . Human relationships will become smooth. Mistakes of miscalculation will be prevented. Avoid unnatural leaders.

Right now, the underlying pattern (habitual, if not natural), is for the Soros-funded, Obama-driven far left to select and put forward a pliable, useful non-entity who can be used as the face of the deep-state machine. The best, appropriate and correct strategy is to not be fooled. Don’t be distracted by the false face. Because it doesn’t matter much who the convenient puppet of the moment is. Prevent the miscalculated mistake of taking empty faces seriously. Instead, focus on the very real dangers being orchestrated by behind-scenes controllers — and their quantum solutions.

The warning, “Avoid unnatural leaders” rings especially true. Biden, Harris and VP pick Walz are each extraordinarily inauthentic political figures. So a winning strategy would contrast these false and fake players’ misrepresentations with a viable candidate’s truthful sincerity.

Contrast them, for example, with RFK Jr., an avid outdoors man who repeatedly affirms the sage-like, I Ching compatible view that Nature Connects Us To God.

Moving on, the changing line in the third place reads, “Learn about yesterday to understand today and plan for tomorrow.” This accords, for example, with the advice not to repeat the historical mistake of appeasement mentioned by Steve Forbes. Contrast the strong stance Trump takes against international foes with the example of apologetic weakness set by Obama and continued forward by the current deep state machine.

The result of heeding the advice of the third line is Hexagram 53, DEVELOPMENT. It reads in part:

A calm attitude and gentle actions will bring steady progress leading to success. Giving in to strong feelings and acting on impulse would defeat your purpose. Avoid hesitation. Avoid haste.

In other words, make carefully timed, deliberate and purposeful moves. Be ware of the temptation to take rash, irrational actions. The winning strategy is to act with impeccable timing . . . to Be AWARE of what to say and do when, consistent with intentional, positive goals that serve the survival interests of the human community.

Pause & Pivot

Today, Friday, June 14th of the year 2024, my early morning process of Pause and Pivot spoke to me in a way that, upon reflection, was speaking to you as well.

For that reason, I’m sharing the outcome with you here.

I came across concept of “pause and pivot,” by the way, in an uncharacteristically small, concise and immediately useful little book, The Art of Contemplation: Gentle Path to Wholeness and Prosperity.

Its amazon book description sums the concept up well:

An exquisite gem of a book, this deceptively simple technique of contemplation can be learned in a single day, and yet it will change your life forever. Taking us through the three levels of contemplation – pausing, pivoting and merging, Richard Rudd invites us to hone the art of contemplation in our everyday lives, to gain insight into any issue or problem, to heal deep-seated trauma and ultimately to find peace and clarity.

In my own case, morning contemplation begins with consulting the Book of Change.

This morning, after lighting a white candle, I paused and then wrote at the top of a new page in my journal:

BHF. OA & MDF. I’m out of sorts. Can’t breathe deeply. Fragmented. Scattered. Without clear direction. Please advise what to be aware of NOW. With humble thanks, Amen.

The answer to this query was Hexagram 48 with changing lines in the fifth and sixth places, resulting in (yet again, from a new direction) the frequently received outcome of Hexagram 18: FRESH START.

In the Common Sense Book of Change, Hexagram 48 looks like this:

In several versions of the I Ching, Hexagram 48 is translated as The Well, referring to the traditional center of rural communities where all gather to meet their basic survival need for water.

In poetic terms, the Well represents our universal, endless and unlimited connection with infinite Source. The vitality of all races represented by water is associated with the basic life force, the chi exchanged, whether knowingly or unknowingly, by every living being on the planet with every in- and out-breath.

To my mind, this reading spoke to my unasked question — a deep frustration. The excruciating conflict between Israel and Iranian surrogates, including Hamas, feels to my heart like two sides of the same coin warring with each other.

The exclusion of patriots Steve Bannon and Alex Jones from the camp of another patriot, RFK Jr,. over apparently superficial personality differences, seems equally unnatural and short-sighted.

What my despairing heart wanted to know was, “What, if anything, could induce humanity to wake up? To end the mutually self-destructive dynamics of judgmental conflict — “othering.”

The I Ching answer’s was this. It will happen when we finally learn to see deeper than cultural identifications, remember and respect our common origin, which the mindful are made aware of with every breath they take.

In my own scattered case, I was being called back to the basics which sustain me. Stop. Pause and pivot away from culturally conditioned pessimism, the grinding sense of the futility of any effort. Return back to the basics. Breathe. Deeply.

But the changing lines directed me to continue further.

The changing line in the fifth place reads, “If you refuse to serve others, your gifts are wasted.”

Ouch! Caught in the act.

I’ve been flirting with undermining ideas about both the futility and risks of writing. Who am I to openly confront the forces which drive the deep state and its globalist objectives — depopulation and subjugation?

Would this not just expose me to the same destructive tactics which frontline patriots endure? Or to simply being ignored. Ridiculed. Relegated to oblivion.

The advice of this line, which heeded, changes to Hexagram 46, PROMOTION. The method and result of accepting responsibility to dedicate my gifts, however modest, to serving humanity are described as: Quiet, persistent self–discipline wins the confidence of others.

Moving on, the changing line in the top, sixth place reflects the opposite side of the coin. It reinforces the value of committing to service, regardless of the consequences.

It reads, “Sharing your gifts will bring blessings and prosperity to many.”

Sigh. Back to the drawing board.

I could speculate on the levels and layers of possible potential. But will let this line speak for itself, sparking imagination about the waves generated by the butterfly effect even one person’s commitment to service sets in motion. And by extension, the combined effect generated by each one of the rest of us as well.

When its advice is heed, this line changes to Hexagram 57, GENTLENESS.

Ah. Coincidentally, The Art of Contemplation is described as the GENTLE path to wholeness and prosperity.

Hexagram 57 reads in part: As the wind moves clouds, shapes mountains, and stirs the trees, so Gentleness has a powerful influence. Quiet, steady gradual actions win respect and cooperation. Avoid noisy conflict.

There it is again. Quiet persistent action seems key.

The combined outcome, Hexagram18, FRESH START, suggests the hopeful potential of returning to universal awareness of humanity’s original origins in Source, releasing short-sighted rationalizations for refusing to serve the whole, and instead dedicating one’s life to that goal.

It offers the hope of a fresh start, first for individuals. Then for the civilization. And, ultimately, for human survival.

I would be remiss were I not to mention that Fresh Start is the subject of the concluding chapter of The Quantum Solution. Chapter Five, It’s Time for a Fresh Start is still writing itself as information new to me comes to attention.

But in the meantime, you’re welcome to pause, pivot and take a look, if you’re so inclined.

What Should We Be Aware of in the Year 2021? IC – 010421

I thought I was done with I Ching blogs. But the muse calls, so here I am, still yet.

I should have known. Sage astrologers with an overview of heavenly timing agree that, though very different from 2020, this new year promises to be its logical extension.

My query to the Book of Change confirms this view. I asked, “What should we be aware of in the year 2021?” Though placements are different, the readings are all familiar from 2020.

January looks to be an intensely volatile month. As I cautioned in the final post of 2020:

The year 2021 promises to be rough, though different from 2020. The process of exposing the corruption of the old order will continue. But the clash between paradigms will intensify, imposing new hardships. Positive change doesn’t come easy. As Kuhn wrote in his classic work on paradigm shifts, entrenched power-holders with vested interests in obsolete ways will fight change however they can.

In particular, January of 2021 promises to be fraught with geographical and political events of explosive intensity. A heads up: astrological markings of January 20th, inauguration day, are strikingly similar to the date of the catastrophic 1916 San Francisco earthquake.

In sum, the year-of-our-Lord 2021 promises to be a roller-coaster ride. So buckle up. There’s no turning back. The only way out is through.

As the American constitutional crisis intensifies, the contrast between opposing paradigms is becoming increasingly clear, deepening into the most basic of all conflicts: the war between good and evil. At the beginning of this “Waterloo week” in American history, Steve Bannon and Archbishop Vigano have spelled out for the world the ultimate choice of 2021. What’s at stake is the outcome of the war between children of light versus children of darkness.

Have you chosen sides yet? (Remember. Failing to choose is also a choice.)

Before continuing to today’s I Ching reading, let me first answer Steve Bannon’s reminder of Martin Luther King’s words: “Courage is the first of all the virtues, because it supports the all others.”

Sounds good.

But when I sat down with my notebook just now, this came through. “TRUST is the root and support of all the other virtues. With Faith, all things follow – courage included.”

I will confess, what I wrote in my notes was a warning. “Use it or lose it.” Don’t ignore the voice of conscience. Forget the powerful hunches and calls to action for too long, and adversity follows. The angelic hosts will lose interest in you. They’ll quit calling, stop guiding. Their protection will cease.

From ignorance and fear – compounded by lack of trust in Self and faith in the Creator – far too many of us earth-dwellers are forfeiting inborn Divine Connection. Which is why, when in doubt, working with the Book of Change is a life-saver.

Though subject to change, at the moment I have no schedule for posting future blogs. It was my intention to shift focus. I’m planning to complete and then publish The Lessons of 2020. Following that, The Phoenix Response and How To Create Positive Change are waiting in line.

Nevertheless, reinforcing the benefits of working with the Book of Change in meeting 2021’s challenges is my central contribution to the “interesting” year ahead.

In 2020, you saw each of today’s Common Sense Book of Change readings. So, as the constitutional crisis peaks, I once again to defer to The Laws of Change published by Jack Balkin, a Yale University Professor of Constitutional Law. His comments are powerful and wise, as well as extraordinarily prescient.

ORIGIN is the original answer to the immediate question, “What Should we be aware of in the Year 2021?” Keep in mind. The answer works as advice for the immediate moment on a personal level. At the same time, it also serves as an overview for the entire year. It works for each of us individually, but collectively as well.

Balkin calls ORIGIN The Well. Keywords include: Human potential; Human resources; Replenishing; Renewal; Nourishing others; and The unchanging.

He comments:

The well is an inexhaustible source of nourishment . . . Jing teaches that people replenish themselves through replenishing others. They grow strong and happy not by trying to keep everything for themselves, but through helping each other and growing together. The human need for love and mutual support is as basic as the drive for self-preservation.

* * *

Advice of Line 3 reads, “Let others know what you can do. Opportunities will develop.”

On a personal level, I’m being advised to let you know about future publications. Similarly, each of us is being advised to contribute what we can to serve the whole. Balkin suggests, “If you find a way to make a contribution, everyone would benefit.”

When this advice is taken to heart and acted upon, the line changes to DANGER. Balkin calls it The Abyss. Keywords include: Water; Darkness; Danger; Despair; Courage and devotion; Maintaining faith; and Getting through to the other side.

He comments:

The world is testing you. Maintain your patience and your devotion. Take things one day at a time. Just make sure that you keep going and do not lose heart.

The enemy you confront is more than a set of forces in the outside world. The enemy is pessimism and lack of faith in yourself. This is the abyss that is the subject of the hexagram. It is not a physical abyss but a spiritual one. To give up and give in is the worst possible thing you could do.

Keep the faith.

* * *

Advice of the fourth line reads, “Withdraw from activities long enough to rest and re-energize yourself.” Balkin comments:

It is time to take stock and put your life in order. Rethink your strategies and reevaluate your priorities and pay attention to your self-development.

When this advice is heeded, the line changes to INNER STRENGTH. Balkin calls it Greatness in Excess. Keywords include: Too much; Overload; Critical mass; Taking a stand; setting priorities; and Making choices.

He comments:

The hexagram symbolizes a condition that cannot last. Something must be done, or else misfortune is likely to result.

One you have decided what the problem is, you must act quickly but with gentleness and composure. The time calls for extraordinary measures, but the transition to a new situation must be peaceful and nonviolent.

Recognize the need for change. Carry it out gently and swiftly, without fear or anxiety.

* * *

The composite final outcome is ADVERSITY. Balkin calls it Oppression. Keywords include: Exhaustion; Being restricted; Hardship; Adversity; Inner affliction; Dried up; and Impasse.

He comments:

Kun is indeed a difficult hexagram, but the law of change is always in operation. Periods of oppression and exhaustion contain the seeds of regeneration and renewal. At the very darkest moment the light is almost ready to shine again.

If you maintain your equanimity and your patience, you will endure, and become a stronger, better person in the process.

To defeat [negativity] maintain your faith, your emotional balance, and your self-confidence. If you can win this inner victory, no outside foe can stand against you.

The challenges of 2021 promise to be enormous. The rewards of overcoming them have the potential to be great in equal measure.

Look for The Lessons of 2020: Using the Wisdom of CHANGE to Build a Better Future in January of 2021.

If you’d like a copy of the Common Sense Book of Change, or extras to give others, click here.

To order Two Sides of a Coin: Lao Tze’s Common Sense Way of Change, click here.

Okay, then. That’s all for now. Talk with you again soon. Take care, all.

Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right – IC – 110720

Unlike math, where two negatives make a positive, two mistakes only compound a problem, making matters worse.

This bonus blog was inspired by a Dan Bongino post, No More Nice Guy Nonsense.

The title concerned me, but I think he got it right.

Bongino understands election theft from personal experience. He ran for a congressional seat in Maryland. In the evening hours of voting, it seemed he won handily. Come morning, he woke up to find out the election had been stolen over night.

Not wanting to seem a sore loser, he acquiesced to injustice. Looking back, it’s one of his deepest regrets. So he’s determined not to make the same mistake now in this important presidential election.

He starts:

Stand by. Hold the presses. The race is not over. It’s fight time. Fight time is here. It has arrived. And by fight, I don’t mean the leftist definition of fight where we’re beating the crap out of our neighbors and burning things down. That’s a leftist thing. I mean this is a time to do what we’ve always done. Go through the process and get every legal, legal, legal count in.

Then, strangely, he continued, We need to learn how to fight like the left. We need to take lessons from the left.

That stopped me short. Seemed like a contradiction. The last thing Trump supporters need to do is stoop to the left’s level, matching hypocrisy, corruption and violence with more and worse of the same.

Tit for tat? We’re better than that. They aren’t our teachers.

The result would look like dogs chasing each other’s tails, spiraling in downward circles of self-destruction.

Speaking of self-destruction, I was very sorry to see that Steve Bannon shot his mouth off. However passionate and probably correct his sentiments, it gave mainstream media adversaries an opportunity to pounce on – an excuse to ban, block and discredit him.

A Sun-Tzu, I Ching warrior would have exercised restraint, held to the middle path of moderation. Kept his powder dry.

Now Sebastian Gorke (an equally passionate but more even-keeled Bannon cohort) – staunch supporter and advisor to the President – also presents himself as a Sun Tze warrior. Which is fine as far as it goes.

BUT . . . The Art of War is just tip of the iceberg. One can’t understand Sun Tze deeply or implement his strategies wisely without first being aware of the I Ching fundamentals which support them.

I felt called to offer a specific example, asking what the oracle would advise both Bannon and Dr. G. at this time. For, sadly, as Bannon’s regrettable mistake demonstrates, gaining competence in the fundamentals of Natural Law would make a powerful difference.

However much provoked, lapses of Hulk-like outrage undermine long-term effectiveness. They’re a disservice to the cause.

But . . . back to Bonjino’s claim that Trump supporters should learn from the left. Fortunately, in the section that starts at 44:52, he clarifies. Viewers are referred to a piece by David Heinz published by the American Conservative called How the Right Can Organize Like The Left.

The #1 take-way: Learn how to organize like the left.

Interestingly enough, the initial outcome of the I Ching reading below is, in fact, ORGANIZATION.

Usually, I simply ask, “What should we be aware of NOW?” For the sake of Dr. G., Bannon, et. al., however, I wanted a specific question, one which covers the strategy side and the need for justice – for both the wronged and wrong-doers.

So I asked The Common Sense Book of Change, “What is the best way to combat election fraud and secure a just outcome for all involved?”

ORGANIZATION is the initial answer. It changes twice.

Advice of line three is, “If a group excludes you, either befriend its leaders or leave.” It changes to ATTRACTION.

Advice of line four is, “Serving others selflessly will help you to prosper and grow.” It changes to UNITY.

When the advice is heeded, the combined final outcome is RESISTANCE.

The I Ching version best suited to address today’s question is Jack Balkin’s The Laws of Change. Not coincidentally, at the time of publication, he was the Knight Professor of Constitutional Law at Yale Law School. Here’s a sample of his comments:

GATHERING TOGETHER (ORGANIZATION)

Keywords

Gathering

Massing

Joining others

Assembling

Having a common cause

Holding yourself together

Pitching in

Cooperation between leaders and followers

. . [in a large group] the ruler needs assistance from trusted subordinates who put aside selfish considerations and devote themselves to the larger purposes of the group.

. . . Fostering unity takes skill and patience. In order to bring people together, whether in a community, a charitable organization, or a business, you must give them a shared sense of purpose.

MUTUAL INFLUENCE (ATTRACTION)

Keywords

Influence

Reciprocity

Attraction

Courtship

. . . the ability to attract others and sway them to your way of thinking. Good and appropriate influence should not be manipulation of one person by another, but rather mutual influence – in which each person is open to the other and responds to the other.

. . . the more important question to ask is whether you have behaved appropriately and with respect for the other and whether the mutual influence that results from your actions is healthy and beneficial.

UNION (UNITY)

Keywords

Joining with others

Joining in

Rallying around a leader

. . . this applies not only to the relationship of a king to an entire nation, but also a smaller, closer, and more intimate association of people.

. . . Successful unions can help all of their members grow as individuals and prosper. But they also require that people be willing to cooperate and work for each other’s good rather than for their own selfish interests.

. . . Unity is more than coming together; it also requires holding people together over the long run, and dealing with the stresses and strains, the difficulties and disagreements that inevitably arise in any group. Holding people together requires leadership – a central person or figure whom others depend on and around whom they can unite.

OBSTRUCTION (RESISTANCE)

Keywords

Impediment

Trouble

Difficulty

Hardship

Hindrance

Looking inward

Self-reflection

Surmounting obstacles within

“One is between the proverbial rock and a hard place.”

. . . instead of pressing ahead urgently one should hold back and accept the situation for what it is.

[Dems are doing the opposite: pressing forward prematurely to usurp the presidency, creating the illusion of a done deal before their corruption can be fully exposed, undone!]

[The rest of us need to cool our jets while the courts sort things out. “Resist not evil. Persist in the good.”]

. . . the point of detaching yourself from your current struggles is not to give up hope of eventual success. Quite the contrary: You must be absolutely determined to prevail in the long run. Rather, the point is to restore your emotional balance and clear your head.

. . . After you have taken time to reassess the situation, you need to join forces with others. Ask for advice from people you respect and trust, and who understand you and your goals. They may have fresh perspectives.

Caveat. Not without irony, it’s exactly when common sense is most urgently needed that folks want nothing to do with calm reason. Freedom fighters and their opponents are equally drunk on the intense energies of the times. Not the time for talk of the I Ching? But we’ve been challenged. “Are you doing your part?” And this is what I’m called to contribute. The rest is up to the powers that move me.

In any event, the warning remains. The real danger here is civil war. Dark lords of the underworld couldn’t care less which side “wins.” So long as Americans remain at each other’s throats, losing hope and trust in each other, THEY win. Humanity loses.

Let all of us think, choose and act accordingly.