First-time readers, the dialogue in this blog is set in the future (sometime after the year 2020). Each entry assumes there has been a 5th revolution in the US — the Revenge Revolution. More about Revenge Revolution and author, Entry #1. List and general description of entries to date. Annual assessment if Revolution plausible.
Note: most characters appear in a number of entries, with many entries building on previous conversations. Profile of characters. You’ll catch on quickly. Thanks for your time and interest…and comments. Series about “Who Took Out the Donald?’ begins Entry #244.
Scene: Restaurant Washington, DC near Jordan’s office. Jordan, Gelly (Jordan’s assistant) and two-long time friends having drinks and hors d’oeuvres.
(Coffee delivered to table)
Jordan: “Gelly, good idea about ordering coffee. Waiter, when you get a chance, I’ll take the check, please.”
Gelly: “So, Jordan, I’ve been listening to your rationale about the FBI taking out the Donald. I agree the idea seems plausible, even logical, but…”
JC: “…excuse me for interrupting, Gelly. I agree with you. Plausible, yes. Likely, maybe. But what else info do you have to support the argument?
Jordan: “Greenie, where are you in this?”
Greenie: “I’m all ears waiting for more of your rationale.”
Jordan: “OK. If you guys buy-in so far…and it seems as if there’s more than enough evidence already to support my argument…”
JC: “Get to the point, please.”
Jordan: “Tough crowd. And tell me why I’m buying dinner?
Greenie: “We like you Jordan. We just want you to quit wandering.”
Jordan: “What convinced me the FBI realized they needed to take out the Donald was his repeated public implications that Comey was either lying or, as he told the Russians, that Comey was some kind of ‘nut case.’ It’s not smart to belittle the well-respected head of an agency that’s investigating you, especially if it’s the FBI.”
Greenie: “I recall Trump calling Comey a nut case…to the Russians no less…but don’t recall him claiming Comey was lying.”
Jordan: “Trump was a master of one thing – false implication.”
Gelly: “At least he was a master of something.”
Greenie: “Nice jab, Gelly.”
Jordan: “I recall…must have been the second week when all the Comey stories broke…that Trump started rambling during a press conference with some non-critical head-of-state and made some strong implications that Comey had lied. That was a few days after he implied there were tapes implicating Comey.”
Greenie: “Of course, Trump never produced the tapes. In fact, from what I understand from the few people I still know in the right places, the FBI was likely taping Trump’s conversations. I don’t know if the Donald ever understood how sophisticated the FBI technology was for listening in on conversations.”
Gelly: “What about Trump’s calls to Comey to get the FBI to drop investigating Trump’s staff’s dealing with the Russians?”
Greenie: “You’d think a president would know not to try to influence the group investigating him. What did he think Comey was going to do?”
JC: “Remember, he’s Trump. He’s the center of the universe and everyone else revolves around him. He probably thought Comey would act all the other munchkins Trump employs or calls a friend…do what the boss man wants and don’t ask question.”
Greenie: “Did he realize the government doesn’t operate like a family-held business? Apologies for the rhetorical question.”
Gelly: “Look, I’m not the brightest crayon in the box but I look like a genius compared to Trump.”
Jordan: “Don’t sell yourself short Gelly. I shouldn’t have been surprised but what really frustrated me was the lack of meaningful action by Trump’s staff.”
Greenie: “You talking the big-dog staff or the munchkins like Sean Spicer and his what’s-her-name assistant press secretary?”
JC: “You mean that Conway bimbo?”
Greenie: “No, Conway wasn’t the assistant press secretary. She was Ms. Alternative Facts. She was awful, too. Anyway, doesn’t matter now what her name was.”
Jordan: “I meant the big-dog staff, agency heads like Tillerson and Mattis. Plus Speaker of the House Ryan and Senate Majority Leader McConnell. These guys were supposedly adults.”
JC: “So instead of being adults, these guys played hide-and-seek behind some fence. In the meantime, Trump got more and more out of control.”
Jordan: “I don’t know what the agency heads or Congressional leaders were waiting on before taking action against but they could not have been that blind.”
Greenie: “Politics before country was their mantra.”
Gelly: “So…and I know we’ve touched on a number of issues…so, when one assessed the risks of Trump’s crazy behavior and matched that behavior against the lack of action by either cabinet officials or leaders in Congress, the FBI concluded the Donald had to be taken out. And then the FBI took him out, right?”
Jordan: “Gelly, you got it. Great summary. And with that I need to go. Later, guys.”
(Unison): “Bye Jordan. Thanks for dinner.”
JC: “Now that he’s gone, let’s start talking about stuff that really matters.”
Greenie: “You mean like, Gelly, how are the kids?”
(Conclusion of ‘Who Took Out the Donald?’…at least for now, anyway.)
reenie:
Sandy:
JC:
JC:
Greenie:
JC:
Greenie:
JC:
Greenie:
Gelly:
Sandy:
Greenie:
JC:
Greenie:
JC: “Maybe heads should have rolled at the White House sooner. Sorry, that was too easy.”
Sandy:
JC: “Yes, we would…right Jordan?”
Gelly: “I guess that’s what’s confusing me. I agree Trump was like a water bug when it came to international policies – he’d head off in one direction one second and then quickly shift to another direction. But other than some blustery talk about bombing North Korea and the infamous wrong-way destroyer claim, he never caused any turbulence below the surface. The diplomats and the professionals somehow handled the foreign-policy issues.”
Gelly: “Seems to me that some of the Trump proposals, if implemented as drafted, would have completely split the country. Even though some of the crazier the ideas were eventually watered down, we still had the Revenge Revolution. Just how much carnage would there have been if had not been taken out?”
Gelly: “Ya’ know, it’s probably not fair, but when I think of Trump as president I think of Howdy Doody.”
Greenie: “Thanks for the compliment…but it’s been a while since I was an insider. Anyway, I want to hear your take.”
JC: “Maybe first in not studying and first in narcissism. But he’s no one’s academic. And I’m sure Wharton would rather not admit he’s an alum.”
JC: “More like, if you don’t disappear voluntarily, then you, too, will disappear.”
Waiter delivers a round of drinks.
Gelly:
JC:
Greenie:
Greenie:
Gelly:
Jordan:
Jordan:
Greenie: “Jordan, if you don’t mind, I’d like to continue the conversation we began at the office. You know lots of the ins and outs of Washington…so why did the Donald get taken out?”
JC: “I hear you Jordan. How much do you think he owed on those properties…and to whom?”
Gelly: “So you guys think he was heavily in debt. If so, like JC said, money owed to whom?”
JC: “What was that guy on the transition team who had been some high-level dude at Bank of Cyprus?”
Gelly: “Then are you saying then that the Russians took out Trump?”
Jordan: “Good point, Greenie. I’ve always been suspicious about the sudden change in attitude. And, then, within a day or so of the change in attitude, Secretary of State Tillerson is at the Kremlin and has a private, unscheduled, undocumented two-hour meeting with Putin. That meeting doesn’t smell right. How much of a bad-ass could Tillerson have been? Just a couple of years before, Putin gave Tillerson a Russian Order of Friendship medal.”
Jordan: “Good one Gelly.”
Jordan: “I agree he might have thought he could give the proverbial finger to the Russians and walk away…but that’s not how it works.”
Gelly: “Jordan, the dynamic duo is here to see you – JC and Greenie.”
Greenie: “I’m visiting JC for a few days. She offered to edit some of my articles on the cause of the Revenge Revolution.”
JC: “So…Jordan, does Captain Queeg’s behavior in Caine Mutiny remind you of anybody who used to be in Washington…you know, like…”
JC: “I’d forgotten how wacko those guys in the White House really were…starting with the Donald.”
Greenie: “When there was no evidence of a wiretap, he claimed the former Attorney General broke the law by doing her job and should be put in jail.”
Greenie: “Finally, Queeg appoints his wet-behind-the-ears son-in-law as executive officer in charge of the ship…and also appoints the pretty-face, but ‘not-the-brightest bulb’ daughter, as key advisor.”
Greenie: “Queeg….I mean Trump was really dangerous. What I think was even worse – a lot of supposedly responsible people, including Republican leadership in the House and Senate….didn’t want to admit how much Queeg and staff really were out of control.”
Jordan: “Well, I really hate to say this…I mean I’d better think about it.”
JC: “Let me guess. One is the Russians, which seems like an obvious choice. From what I can tell, they have him by the short hairs.”
JC: “You thinking an inside job…like someone from one of the intelligence agencies or the special ops guys in the military? Yikes, the thought of that makes me squirm.”
JC: “It was. But now all that’s over. To end on a more positive note, the country survived after president Queeg. Lots of turmoil and the Revenge Revolution but we survived.”
Economics and do my regular job. Well…”
ranted and raved, asking, “Why should we use government money to bail out Chrysler and General Motors?” The comments continue, “Management at these companies has made bad decisions, UAW wages are too high and no one wants to buy their cars. Besides, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai and Mercedes all make vehicles in the United States.”
What makes me an expert? My comments are based on some fundamental laws of economics and 40+ years in the auto business. The auto experience includes being inside a large auto company as well as starting several companies offering hybrid-electric or 100%-electric drive systems. I’ve been in technology centers, on factory floors, in boardrooms, in design centers and in dealership showrooms and service bays. I’ve been involved with some good, some bad and some ugly projects.
What makes the auto industry different from most other industries is a combination of large-scale, complex manufacturing and demands for extremely high levels of reliability and durability, especially compared to other products. Everyone I have ever met who entered the auto industry after time in another industry makes the same comment after 2-3 weeks, “The auto business is much more complicated than I realized.” And the comment usually includes several expletives.
Thus, for technology to be introduced in cars and trucks – even very expensive vehicles – cost must drop 1 to 2 orders of magnitude, or more than 90%, from cost acceptable for a defense or aerospace application.
Well, you say, “I still don’t understand why we need to bail out GM and Chrysler. Seems like the government is pouring money down a hole.” As a point of clarification, when I talk about the auto industry, I mean more than just assembly plants. The core of the auto industry is primarily component design and manufacturing. The assembly plants get all the glamour but industry guts are in components – electronics, robots, batteries, wheels, frames, tires, steering, foundries for engines and brakes and many other components.
Further, some technology breakthroughs have a long-lasting impact. An example is the effort by GM in the early 1990’s to develop and introduce an electric vehicle, known as the GM EV1. While GM was praised for introducing the car, and skewered when stopping production, the advances in technology developed for the EV1 program became the foundation for many of the electronics available in cars and trucks today, 20 years after the EV1 concept car was introduced at the Los Angeles auto show.
Finally, and let’s hope this never occurs again, but what happens if the U.S. needs manufacturing capacity for a large-scale ground war? A domestic auto industry, both assembly and component manufacturers will be critical for rapid conversion from automotive production to defense materiel. Having only assembly plants without domestically sourced components – engines, transmissions, axles, electronics, and so forth – offers no benefit for national security. (For insight into how the auto industry contributed to production of war materiel in WWII, visit 
If you still have doubts, name one country worldwide that has sustained growth in GDP and real growth in consumer incomes without a strong manufacturing base built around a strong automobile industry? Call me when you can name one.
Gelly: “Jordan, you’ve done it again?”
Gelly: “You mean the executives of the company that’s relocating. But I never though about the cost of these relocations to the people where the company left and even…”
Senior executives and sha
Many 
Taxpayers 
Do these relocations create a net gain to US societ
Gelly: “Actually, I liked the analogy. It helped me understand how wealth is created for a society rather than just an individual.” 
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of steps, the raw 
turning the corn into ce
Medical care
Retai
The reallocation is particularly true 
technology has replaced much of the labor content in manufacturing. And the use of technology to replace workers will only continue. 
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