Is Trump Being Blackmailed Over Epstein Island? | Alexander Dugin

MAGA turns on Israel—and Trump: Is Trump being blackmailed over Epstein Island? Trump has declared war on Iran at the cost of losing his core voters. Furthermore, an unprecedented wave of anti-Israel sentiment has emerged within the MAGA base. Trump has lost the majority of his previous supporters. Many Americans are now ready to go against Trump, because what Trump is doing now is in total opposition to what he has promised. The neocons who now manipulate Trump were initially against Trump. They belong to the Never Trump faction of the Republicans, but now became supporters of Trump more in order to manipulate him.

 

Donald Trump and his then-girlfriend Melania Knauss stand with financier Jeffrey Epstein and 
British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on February 12, 2000.

 

On the other hand,  Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Charlie Kirk, the main figures in MAGA—all feel betrayed by Trump. Elon Musk has abandoned Trump or is hinting, making allusions that Trump was involved with Epstein. At least, he participated in some pedophilia-related actions. That is a huge accusation. Musk has abandoned Trump’s camp before, on the eve before this Israel-Iranian war, and now the American-Iranian war has started. Another faction of MAGA—Rand Paul and Steve Bannon—recently met with Trump at the White House, urging him not to get involved in the Iranian war.

From POTUS to IsraHell's waiter: Genocide Don pulls the chair for Genocide Bibi,

February 5, 2025.

I think that now MAGA is not just split—it is totally lost. So Trump is, more than in the first term, kidnapped, taken as hostage by globalists, by deep state, by neocons, by all of those against whom he fought during his electoral campaign. He has destroyed his political base.

Musk suggested creating his new party, possibly dubbing “the America Party, ” earlier on. The left wing of the Democratic Party, with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders, are already against Trump, together with people like Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon, Alex Jones, Charlie Kirk, Matt Gaetz, and many others. So there is doubling in new politics—Trump has lost Trump. Trump is now outside of Trump once more.

At the same time, I don’t see the importance and the power of Democrats has grown—not at all. So Democrats still have a very low profile, a very low level of support. And Trump has lost his own support incredibly fast. So there is a huge amount of people in the United States who are against the war, but who have zero political representation. Before, they were distributed between Democrats and Republicans, and now they are totally abandoned. Immediately, we have a third pole. There are globalist left liberals, globalists; there is this MAGA core—that is the millions and millions and millions. That’s a third party or a third pole or a third power whose representation is now very badly needed in the United States, because the mass of the population that is not satisfied, neither with globalists or deep state nor with Trump now, is huge.

Elon Musk has once asked his 220 million followers if they think it’s “time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle,”on his social media account with 200 million people, 60 million have participated in this poll and 80% have said yes. Musk and MAGA, if they would start a new party, I think it would win in all the ongoing elections.

 Elon Musk, June 5, 2025: "Time to drop the really big bomb: Trump is in the Epstein files."

The photo authentically depicts Donald Trump and financier Jeffrey Epstein together in 1997. 

We need to follow this moment, because it is not just hesitation from parts of people supporting Trump—Trump has lost his core voters, and they have no representation after the moment of glory, after the moment of victory when they won with Trump and through Trump. They once felt that victory was so close, and now, with this new war, they have lost all hope in Trump.

So I believe the Third World War, involving the United States, could unfold in parallel with a civil war within the country—not only between two factions of the population, but a three-pole civil war. Not just one against the other, but there are liberal democrats, there is the hardcore MAGA, and there are Trumpists and neocons loyal to Trump.

And now, in MAGA in general, there is unprecedented amount of anti-Israel feeling inside the United States. Most people—mostly American nationalists and patriots—they were more or less pro-Israel. And now, it is millions and millions of people hate Israel who they believed are trying to control the American government, which is against US sovereignty. They have nothing against Jews or Israel initially, but when Israeli politicians are believed to be manipulating the American government, that is different. That is a loss of sovereignty.

 

I have never seen in my life such a huge wave of anti-Israel feelings in American society. It is not anti-Semitic, not at all—it is anti-Israel. I think that the blow against Trump is much greater than he could have suspected. So there is something much more tectonic in these changes. That was a trap for him. That was his mistake, a big error—the biggest error he has committed, maybe in all his life—with this bombing of Iran. He didn’t reach any goal. Now, the United States is at war officially against Iran. He didn’t hit the goal, and he has lost everything, more than he could permit himself to lose.

I think that maybe he was really blackmailed. Many American patriots, they say Trump was blackmailed by Mossad, because he participated in the orgies or illicit actions on Epstein Island. They blackmailed him through those networks, and that would end his presidency immediately. Because Epstein’s case is something so awful that all American people are in a state of rage against that. And if Trump is now, it seems, implicated in or participated in that—so that would end his career. But many consider that the war against Iran is confirmation of the fact that he was on the Epstein list.

Reference:
Alexander Dugin (June 25, 2025)  - MAGA Turns on Israel—and Trump: Is Trump Being Blackmailed Over Epstein Island? 

 

See also:
David Pyne (June 25, 2025)  - Israel Lobby Fractures MAGA, Trump Support Falling, War Powers Expanded. (video)

We Have Completed Our Very Successful Attack | Donald J. Trump

 @realDonaldTrump

June 22, 2025 01:53 AM 

 

@realOsama

September 11, 2001 12:00 PM 

 

@RealHirohito

December 7, 1941 12:00 PM 

 

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Already In the Thick of World War III | Alexander Dugin

Some people probably think that World War III might pass us by. That’s the "Patrick Syndrome": everything happening around us supposedly doesn’t concern us. Don’t fool yourselves. We are already in the thick of World War III. The United States has carried out a bombing strike on our ally, Iran. And nothing stopped them. Now, there’s nothing stopping them—or anyone else—from striking us next. At some point, they’ll decide that not only Iran, but Russia too should not have nuclear weapons. Or they’ll come to some other conclusion.

 

As useful as a band-aid on a corpse.

We’re already at war. They might strike if we advance. They might strike if we retreat. They can strike whenever and wherever they want. Ukraine, of course, is not Israel for the West—but it plays a similar role. Not long ago, Israel didn’t exist either. But it emerged and became a proxy for the collective West (although many Israelis would argue the opposite—that the West is actually a proxy for Israel).

Ukraine is in the same position. And it’s no surprise that Zelensky isn’t just asking, but demanding full support from the West—including nuclear weapons. The role model is obvious: the West is "Ukraine’s proxy." And by the way, the Kiev regime bombed Donbas in much the same way Israel bombs Gaza—only with fewer resources, and with Russia responding more decisively to protect its own people than the Islamic countries did.

 As more players join the war, the situation will evolve rapidly.

Our appeals to the UN and our peacekeeping efforts are now as useful as a band-aid on a corpse. If Iran falls, we’re next. Trump is entirely under the control of the neocons, just as he was in his first term. The MAGA project is over. There will be no “Great America”—only regular globalism.

Musk had already explained everything: Trump was involved in unsavory activities on Epstein’s island, and the footage is in Mossad’s hands. Musk distanced himself in time. Trump has lost his agency. He thinks he can just launch one strike—like he did with Soleimani—and then pull back. But pulling back isn’t an option. He has simply started World War III—and he’s not capable of ending it.

The MAGA project is over.

 

Now much depends on Iran. If Iran regroups and keeps fighting, it still has a chance to win. The Strait of Hormuz is closed. The Houthis have blocked shipping in the Red Sea. As more players join the war, the situation will evolve rapidly. China will try to stay out—until it gets hit too.

 

If Iran surrenders, it will lose itself and betray everyone else. That goes for the rest of us as well. Russia is facing a deadly choice. The question is no longer whether to fight or not—Russia is already at war. Everyone knows this, except the Patricks. The question is: the way we’ve been fighting is no longer enough. That resource has been exhausted. So now we must fight differently. In a new way.

 

Alexander Dugin 

June 22, 2025

China is Ready for Any Type of Conflict and Economic Decoupling | Victor Gao

China will fight to the end, as the government has declared, and it has now imposed a retaliatory tariff of up to 125 percent on all US exports to China. If things are not handled properly, this could mean a complete halt to China-US trade—both ways. No goods will be exported from the United States to China, and everything made in China will cease to be sent to the United States. This is decoupling. 

» In essence, China is now declaring that it is prepared to fight to the end

—whether in a trade war, tariff war, technology war, or even a real war. «

Victor Zhikai Gao, April 16, 2025.

If the United States truly welcomes this, China will reciprocate, leading to the breakup of China-US relations. Whether this situation evolves from peace to war remains to be seen, but we must all be prepared. In essence, China is now declaring that it is prepared to fight to the end—whether in a trade war, tariff war, technology war, or even a real war. So, the ball is in Trump's court. He decides, and China will reciprocate. China will never succumb to US pressure.

This is the moment of truth. China wants to defend free trade; the United States wants to destroy it. The rest of the world is watching, and a choice will be made by the end of the day. However, China will not accept being held at gunpoint, forced to swallow impossible demands. China is a country that values dignity and decency above economic gains or losses. So, if you want to hold a gun to China’s head, China will hold a gun to yours. If you want to strike China on the cheek, China will strike back. That is the decision and determination of the Chinese nation.

Reference:

Al Arabiya News (April 16, 2025) - China Says It's Ready For War With America. (video)

See also:

Gerry Nolan (April 13, 2025) - Rare Earth Retaliation: China Chokes America’s War Machine.

Gerry Nolan (April 12, 2025) - The Last Tariff: China Ended the US’s Trade War With a Whisper.

Ray Dalio (April 7, 2025) - Don't Make the Mistake of Thinking That What's Now Happening is Mostly About Tariffs.
Ganesh Valiachi and Soundarya Murugan (March 29, 2025) - The End of the Dollar Era? China’s Digital Yuan Is Reshaping Global Trade.

 Lu QiYuan (March 15, 2025) - The US Will Now Cannibalize Its Own Allies and Vassals to Survive.

» Americans, you don't need a tariff. You need a revolution. «

Anonymous Chinese TikToker, April 13, 2025.

They rob you blind, and you thank them for it. That's a tragedy. That's a scam. That's why I'm saying this right now: Americans, you don't need a tariff. You need a revolution. For decades, your government and oligarchs shipped your jobs to China—not for diplomacy, not for peace, but to exploit cheap labor. And in the process, they hollowed out your middle class, crushed your working class, and told you to be proud while they sold your future for profit. 

Yes, China made money. But we used it to build roads and lift millions out of poverty. From healthcare to raising living standards, we reinvested in our people. My family benefited from it too. What did your oligarchs do? They bought yachts, private jets, and mansions with golf course driveways. They manipulated markets, dodged taxes, and poured billions into endless wars. And you? You got stagnant wages, crippling healthcare costs, cheap dopamine, debt, and poverty wrapped in a flag—made in China—while they picked your pocket. 

As part of the growing 'Trade War' TikTok trend, a Chinese factory has gone viral after 

revealing that the true cost of producing a $38,000 Hermès Birkin bag is just $1,400 

— and now, high tariffs are ringing the death knell for Western luxury brands.

For 40 years, both China and the United States benefited from trade and manufacturing, but only one of us used that wealth to build. This isn’t China’s fault. This is yours. You let this happen. You let the oligarchs feed you lies—while they made you fat, poor, and addicted. Now they blame China for the mess they created. You don’t need another tariff. You need to wake up. You need to take your country back. I think you need a revolution.

NATO Is Now A Zombie Alliance Without Legitimacy | Admiral Cem Gürdeniz

We are witnessing the second great breakdown of a global security order since World War II. The first came after 1990, when the Soviet Union voluntarily dissolved, and Washington rapidly expanded its influence across Eastern Europe. But today, 80 years after the end of that war, the US is beginning its own retreat – shifting its strategic center of gravity from Europe to the Asia-Pacific.

» Israel’s genocide in Gaza, supported openly by Washington, 

shattered any remaining legitimacy. «

[...] Its strategy is no longer about global control but about retrenchment and preparing for great power rivalry in the Pacific, particularly with China. This isn’t a tactical adjustment – it’s a systemic collapse. NATO’s defeat in Ukraine was not just a battlefield loss – it was the end of an illusion.

The post-1990 order was built on the illusion of unipolarity. The US declared liberal capitalist democracy as the universal model. In this system, the West controlled finance, China was tasked with manufacturing, and resource-rich states were expected to supply energy and raw materials. But this model encountered fatal contradictions. US military power failed in Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan. Instead of stability, it brought destruction. Russia reasserted itself militarily after 2008. China rose economically and technologically, challenging Western hegemony.

» Turkey’s Blue Homeland Doctrine, [...] is ultimately a testimony to the 

clout of anti-Western ultra-nationalism in the Turkish military and state. «

And together, they built a Eurasian counterbalance. Most crucially, the Global South saw through the facade. Israel’s genocide in Gaza, supported openly by Washington, shattered any remaining legitimacy. The Western system now lies exposed – economically overleveraged, diplomatically isolated, and militarily vulnerable.

Trump is not the architect of this collapse – he is the product of it. […] He knows NATO is a burden, not an asset. His challenge is not ideological – it’s existential. He wants to keep the American empire alive by cutting it down to a sustainable size. NATO is now a zombie alliance. It exists more as a myth than a functional military bloc. Its expansion has been reckless. Its operations – from the Balkans to Libya to Ukraine – have destabilized entire regions, and its credibility is collapsing.

» The way forward is to secure our geopolitical destiny in Eurasia – on our terms. «

[…] BRICS is growing. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is expanding. Trade is moving away from the dollar. Regional powers like Iran, India, Brazil, and Türkiye are asserting themselves. This is not a return to Cold War blocs. It’s a rebalancing – a world where no single center dominates.

[...][Türkiye] must abandon the illusion that foreign direct investment and EU integration will save us. That model has failed. It brought debt, privatization, and dependency. Our economy must be built on production, not speculation. This means reindustrialization, food and energy sovereignty, and regional trade in local currencies. We must protect strategic sectors from foreign ownership. Our Central Bank must be independent not just from the government, but from foreign influence. […] The way forward is not to chase illusions in Brussels. It is to return to Kemalist principles, integrate with the rising Asian century, and secure our geopolitical destiny in Eurasia – on our terms, not theirs.

Quoted from:
Ceyda Karan (April 11, 2025) - ‘Blue Homeland’ architect Admiral Cem Gürdeniz warns: 

NATO has failed, and the EU wants Türkiye on its knees.

See also:

Cem Gürdeniz (2020) - Turkey in the Century of the Sea and Asia.
Ray Dalio (April 7, 2025) - Don't Make the Mistake of Thinking That What's Now Happening is Mostly About Tariffs.

Rare Earth Retaliation: China Chokes America’s War Machine | Gerry Nolan

China just halted exports of key rare earths to the US, slapping export controls on seven categories of critical metals and magnets used in everything from EVs and smartphones to fighter jets, missiles, and drones, delivering a surgical strike to the spinal cord of America’s supply chain. Welcome to the new trade war: geoeconomic strangulation, without firing a shot.

China halts export of key rare earth minerals and develops a ‘regulatory system’ 

to completely block certain minerals from reaching specific US companies.

 

[...] You want to slap 145% tariffs on our goods? Fine. But good luck assembling a single Javelin, F-35, or iPhone without our dysprosium, terbium, and neodymium. China controls over 90% of global rare earth production. Washington just remembered that the hard way. This isn’t just a tit-for-tat move. It’s strategic economic warfare, targeting the soft underbelly of US dominance: the illusion that it can wage hybrid war without being vulnerable itself.

» Dumber than a sack of bricks. «

And now? The US is scrambling: Talking about deep-sea mining, rushing to build stockpiles, and begging Australia and Canada to step up. Canada, eh? Too little, too late. You spent three decades offshoring everything, and now your empire can’t build a toaster, let alone a missile guidance system, without Beijing’s blessing. Ok, maybe you can build a toaster, to be fair. [...] Every chip, every drone, every smart weapon in the Pentagon’s closet runs on components China can choke off in 48 hours. Trump called it “Liberation Day.” 

 

Quoted from:

Gerry Nolan (April 13, 2025) - Rare Earth Retaliation: China Chokes America’s War Machine.

The Last Tariff: China Ended the US’s Trade War With a Whisper | Gerry Nolan

It happened with no fanfare. No saber-rattling. No choreographed press conference. Just one quiet statement from Beijing’s Customs Tariff Commission: "Tariffs on US goods will rise to 125% — and this will be our final adjustment. Regardless of future US actions, China will no longer respond." In Washington, they saw a concession. In reality? Beijing walked away from the last imperial leverage DC had left.

 » Tariffs on US goods will rise to 125% — and this will be our final adjustment.
Regardless of future US actions, China will no longer respond. «
China's Customs Tariff Commission, April 11, 2025.

In Trump's chaotic circus, tariffs are sold as economic patriotism, blunt-force trauma marketed as “tough negotiation.” But tariffs are the last resort of a hollowed-out empire that no longer produces, competes, or innovates, only thinks it can still dictate.

Trump’s latest move, slapping a 125% tariff on Chinese goods, was meant to flex dominance. Beijing waited, matched it perfectly, then froze the board. "There is no possibility of market acceptance of US goods in China." Translation: “We don’t need you anymore.” No further hikes are necessary. The US is de facto cut off from the colossal Chinese market. That's not de-escalation. That's de-dollarization in practice. Geoeconomic Aikido, using the empire’s aggression to accelerate the break from it.

» China never bluffs—and we see through those who do. « 

Chinese Embassy in the US, April 10, 2025.

Washington still believes in a world that no longer exists. It thinks it can dictate trade terms while running trillion-dollar deficits, threaten its way into solvency while its factories rust, and that China will forever tolerate economic warfare just to retain access to Walmart shelves and US Treasury bonds, bonds that are a ticking time bomb for the hollowed empire.

But that world is gone. China has reoriented trade through Belt & Road. It’s fortified currency alliances with BRICS+, hardened internal markets, and invested across the Global South. Most importantly, it has shifted away from Western export dependency.

» Even if the US imposes even higher tariffs, it would no longer make economic 

sense and ultimately go down as a joke in world economic history. « 

Chinese Embassy in the US, April 11, 2025.

So when Beijing says, “we will ignore further US tariff moves,” it’s not a concession. It's sovereignty. The US has already been priced out, there’s no need for more theaters. This is the reckoning of a rentier empire built on financial parasitism, not production.

The definition of narcissism.

America doesn't have the tools to win a trade war, it doesn't make the tools anymore. Wall Street eviscerated its industrial base. Labor was deskilled by decades of outsourcing. Infrastructure crumbled while $10 trillion burned in forever wars. Trump’s 125% tariff isn’t policy, it’s a symptom. An empire in late stage declined. The power of Beijing’s response isn’t the tariff, it’s the refusal to respond again. No escalation. No panic. Just a clean break from a failing system.

A message to the Global South: “We won’t be dragged into Washington’s chaos. We won’t fight over a burning house. We’ll build new ones.” It's multipolar maturity. Let the US isolate itself, tariff its own supply chains, and raise rates until its middle class fractures. Beijing will trade in yuan with the Global Majority, while America tariffs itself into irrelevance.

 » The reckoning of a rentier empire built on financial parasitism, not production. « 

Markets have lost nearly $6 trillion net since February, despite brief rebounds. Wall Street knows: this isn’t 2001. China isn’t cowering. It now holds the keys to rare earths, battery tech, and semiconductors. Trump framed the tariffs as punishment for “ripping off the USA.” 

 

But who really gutted America’s industries? China? Or Goldman Sachs? Who looted pensions, turned homes into hedge fund fodder, and spent trillions on wars that only enriched Raytheon and BlackRock? The real theft wasn’t done in Beijing. It was done in boardrooms, think tanks, and Senate halls under the banner of “free markets” and “security.”

 » There is no possibility of market acceptance of US goods in China. «

The US is de facto cut off from the colossal Chinese market.

This moment isn’t the climax of a trade war. It’s the end of illusion, that the US can sanction, tariff, and bully its way to eternal dominance. Beijing just called time. 125% is the ceiling. From here forward, they won’t play the empire’s game. They're building a new one, with bricks, not bombs. With real trade, not tribute. With allies who don’t need threats to stay loyal.

Quoted from:
Gerry Nolan (April 12, 2025) - The Last Tariff: How China Ended the Empire’s Trade War With a Whisper.

 

 

Trump economic counselor Peter Navarro accuses China of killing "1 million Americans with fentanyl" and "destroying over 60,000 American factories and 5 million manufacturing jobs". Who prescribes opioids to millions of Americans, leading to addiction? Did China choose to ship these factories offshore and deindustrialize for tax evasion and cheap labor?

See also:

 Lu QiYuan (March 15, 2025) - The US Will Now Cannibalize Its Own Allies and Vassals to Survive.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China (February 20, 2023) - US Hegemony and Its Perils.

And, of course, no one understands tariffs—only Trump does.

Don't Think That What's Now Happening Is Mostly About Tariffs | Ray Dalio

At this moment, a huge amount of attention is being justifiably paid to the announced tariffs and their very big impacts on markets and economies while very little attention is being paid to the circumstances that caused them and the biggest disruptions that are likely still ahead. 

 

Don't get me wrong, while these tariff announcements are very important developments and we all know that President Trump caused them, most people are losing sight of the underlying circumstances that got him elected president and brought these tariffs about. They are also mostly overlooking the vastly more important forces that are driving just about everything, including the tariffs.  

 The 80 Year Big Debt Cycle.

The far bigger, far more important thing to keep in mind is that we are seeing a classic breakdown of the major monetary, political, and geopolitical orders. This sort of breakdown occurs only about once in a lifetime, but they have happened many times in history when similar unsustainable conditions were in place. More specifically:

 

1. The monetary/economic order is breaking down because there is too much existing debt, the rates of adding to it are too fast, and existing capital markets and economies are supported by this unsustainably large debt. The debt is unsustainable because the of the large imbalance between a) debtor-borrowers who owe too much debt and are taking on too much debt because they are hooked on debt to finance their excesses (e.g., the United States) and b) lender-creditors (like China) who already hold too much of the debt and are hooked on selling their goods to the borrower-debtors (like the United States) to sustain their economies. 

 

» We are seeing a classic breakdown of the major monetary, political, and geopolitical orders. « 

There are big pressures for these imbalances to be corrected one way or another and doing so will change the monetary order in major ways. For example, it is obviously incongruous to have both large trade imbalances and large capital imbalances in a deglobalizing world in which the major players can't trust that the other major players won't cut them off from the items they need (which is an American worry) or pay them the money they are owed (which is a Chinese worry). This is a result of these parties being in a type of war in which self-sufficiency is of paramount importance. Anyone who has studied history knows that such risks under such circumstances have repeatedly led to the same sorts of problems we're seeing now. 

 

So, the old monetary/economic order in which countries like China manufacture inexpensively, sell to Americans, and acquire American debt assets, and Americans borrow money from countries like China to make those purchases and build up huge debt liabilities will have to change. These obviously unsustainable circumstances are made even more so by the fact that they have led to American manufacturing deteriorating, which both hollows out middle class jobs in the US and requires America to import needed items from a country that it is increasingly seeing as an enemy. In an era of deglobalization, these big trade and capital imbalances, which reflect trade and capital interconnectedness, will have to shrink one way or another. 

 

  From Trade War to Financial War.

Chinese Embassy in the US, April 11, 2025.

Also, it should be obvious that the US government debt level and the rate at which the government debt is being added to is unsustainable. (You can find my analysis of this in my new book How Countries Go Broke: The Big Cycle.)  Clearly, the monetary order will have to change in big disruptive ways to reduce all these imbalances and excesses, and we are in the early part of the process of it changing. There are huge capital market implications to this that have huge economic implications, which I will delve into at another time.  

2. The domestic political order is breaking down due to huge gaps in people's education levels, opportunity levels, productivity levels, income and wealth levels, and values—and because of the ineffectiveness of the existing political order to fix things. These conditions are manifest in win-at-all-cost fights between populists of the right and populists of the left over which side will have the power and control to run things. This is leading to democracies breaking down because democracies require compromise and adherence to the rule of law, and history has shown that both break down at times like those we are now in. History also shows that strong autocratic leaders emerge as classic democracy and classic rule of law are removed as barriers to autocratic leadership. Obviously, the current unstable political situation will be affected by the other four forces I’m referring to here—e.g., problems in the stock market and economy will likely create political and geopolitical problems.  
 

 » Tariffs on US goods will rise to 125% — and this will be our final adjustment.
Regardless of future US actions, China will no longer respond. «
China's Customs Tariff Commission, April 11, 2025.

3. The international geopolitical world order is breaking down because the era of one dominant power (the US) that dictates the order that other countries follow is over. The multilateral, cooperative world order the US led is being replaced by a unilateral, power-rules approach. In this new order, the US is still largest power in the world and is shifting to a unilateral, "America first" approach. We are now seeing that manifest in the US led trade-war, geopolitical war, technology war, and, in some cases, military wars.  
 

4. Acts of nature (droughts, floods and pandemics) are increasingly disruptive, and
 

5. Amazing changes in technology such as AI will be highly impactful to all aspects of life, including the money/debt/ economic order, the political order, the international order (by affecting interactions between countries economically and militarily), and the costs of acts of nature. 

 

 Shadowboxing in a hall of mirrors:

On April 12, Trump excluded smartphones and electronics
from his April 9, 125% tariff on China.

Changes in these forces and how they are affecting each other is what we should be focusing on. For that reason, I urge you to not to let news-grabbing dramatic changes like the tariffs draw your attention away from these five big forces and their interrelationships, which are the real drivers of Overall Big Cycles changes. 

 

Ray Dalio, founder of the world’s largest hedge fund, said mismanaged global tariffs and economic

policies could push the US economy, already nearing recession, into a far worse crisis, April 13, 2025.

[...] I also urge you to think about the interrelationships that are critically important. For example, think about how  Donald Trump's actions on tariffs will affect 1) the monetary/market, economy order (it will be disruptive to it), 2) the domestic political order (it will likely be disruptive to it as it will probably undermine his support), 3) the international geopolitical order (it will be disruptive to it in many obvious ways that are financial, economic, political, and geopolitical) 4) climate (it will somewhat undermine the world’s ability to deal with the climate change issue effectively), and 5) technology development (it will be disruptive in some positive ways to the US, like bringing more technology production into the US, and in some harmful ways, like being disruptive to the capital markets that are needed to support technology development and in too many other ways to innumerate here.)
 

Quoted from:
Ray Dalio (April 7, 2025) - Don't Make the Mistake of Thinking That What's Now Happening is Mostly About Tariffs.

[Ray Dalio is the founder, CIO mentor, and member of the Bridgewater Board.]

 

See also:
Ray Dalio (March 26, 2025) - How Countries Go Broke: The Overall Big Cycle.

Lu QiYuan (December 8, 2024) - Scott Bessent's Covert MAGA Strategy for Trump 2.0.  

Trump commenting on how much money his billionaire friends made when he paused

tariffs on Wednesday, April 9: "He made $2.5 billion today, and he made $900 million". 

Corruption, insider trading, or just good timing and coincidence? 

April 10, 2025.

Gold Rises Not with Inflation, But with Geopolitical Issues | Martin Armstrong

Comment by FD: Is he breaking the London metals dealers’ hold to suppress the gold price?

 

 There is NO STORE OF VALUE because everything rises and falls.

Reply by Martin Armstrong: I am tired of hearing the same constant nonsense about gold being intentionally suppressed by dealers, and that’s why it’s not at $10,000. I have traded against these people for years. Here is a clip from  The Forecaster with Barclay [Leib], who used to work for me years ago, talking about how he checked me out with Goldman Sachs before taking the job. 

 

Every manipulation these dealers ever pulled off was to the upside – not to suppress gold. They sell 10x more when people think gold is rising, not declining. This BS claim that they were suppressing gold to help the government keep inflation in check is total BS!  

 

[...] Gold rises NOT with inflation, but with geopolitical issues. Here was the National Debt Q2 1980 at $877.614bn. As of Q2 2024, it stood at $36,218bn. The debt has risen 40.29% since 1980. Gold hit $875 on January 21, 1980, in the cash market. If gold rose because of inflation or the debt level, then it should be $35,260 per ounce. The gold dealer could buy all of Wall Street with that price.

 

Gold/USD (Monthly Bars).

Since the start of the never-ending, ever-larger global US War-of-Terror in September 2001, the price of
gold in USD rose from 251 to 3,176 USD/ounce by April 2025 (average annual growth rate: 17.35%). 

The average annual inflation rate in the US from 2001 to April 2025 is approximately 2.7%.
The cumulative inflation rate in the US from 2001 to April 2025 is approximately 74.9%.

In 2001, the US federal debt was $5.8 trillion and rose to $34.8 trillion by April 2025 (annual growth: 9.86%).

Preliminary results of the global US War-of-Terror in 2023: 4.5 to 4.7 million Muslims killed, with millions more wounded and
maimed. 38 million Muslims displaced, and tens of thousands of settlements, institutions, and infrastructure destroyed. Eco-
nomies collapsed, misery widespread, and famines and mass migrations triggered. US budgetary costs: $8 trillion plus interests.

 

These people who make up these excuses [gold price manipulation] are unbelievable. Gold pays no interest, which is why they lease it out. Otherwise, it is a dead asset that brings in no income. It is a hedge against the government in times of uncertainty—that’s it. It is not a hedge against inflation or the size of the debt. That has been a great sales pitch, but that is it.

Quoted from:
Martin Armstrong (April 8, 2025) - Part II – Gold Manipulation?

 

See also:

Martin Armstrong (October 31, 2024) - BRICS Will Not Kill the Dollar—War Will.