The most globalist and influential political action organization in the United States is the Council on Foreign Relations. The Donald Trump administration is the most clean of CFR influence in many decades, perhaps since Calvin Coolidge. Traditionally, this organization claims either the president or the vice president in every administration, and always the secretary of state and ambassadorships to the United Nations, Russia and China.
Under Trump, it claims none of these posts. Moreover, CFR members largely fill the majority of presidential cabinet seats. Normally, the CFR has highly placed members in both major political parties and thus, for almost 100 years, it wins in every presidential election.
The CFR is made up of the moneyed elite, capable of bringing to candidates the millions of dollars that are needed to win. It is in both political parties and owns the major media outlets. Thus, its influence over presidential candidates for the past 100 years receives little media attention, but all presidential candidates know of its influence and power. No candidate for president gets to office without CFR approval, until now.
Over the decades, the CFR has been called the shadow government, the secret combination, the moneyed establishment, the eastern establishment and now just the establishment. It has hated only two presidential party nominees: Barry Goldwater in 1964 and Donald Trump in 2016. The first it destroyed, the second it seeks to remove or destroy.
President Woodrow Wilson was the first president to reference a secret influence over politics at the highest level. In his "The New Freedom" (1913) he wrote of his experience with a hidden force: "Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men's views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it."
A hundred years later, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton identified the CFR as her source of direction when she addressed it in its new D.C. "sub-center down the street." She said: "I am delighted to be at these new headquarters. I have been often to the mothership in New York City, but it is good to have an outpost of the Council right here, down the street from the State Department. We get a lot of advice from the Council, so this will mean that I won't have as far to go to be told what we should be doing and how we should think about the future."
In the presidential campaign, the establishment media portrayed Donald Trump as a joke -- certainly not a serious candidate, not a real conservative, a flip-flopper on the issues, anti-women, anti-immigration, insulting to everyone, a braggart, only into himself, least likely to beat Hillary Clinton, only attractive to white males and not in touch with reality with respect to the Middle East, and more. They were wrong. A third of these charges would have easily destroyed previous candidates. The media works to obstruct everything Trump does as president. He is vilified in virtually every national press outlet.
Unfortunately, Trump's CFR record, although the best ever, is no longer pure. CFR Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster replaced General Michael Flynn as National Security Adviser, and Neil M. Gorsuch as U.S. Supreme Court justice is imminent. Gorsuch was first listed as a CFR member in the 2007 Annual Report and thereafter for five years. He is not currently listed. Gorsuch must be questioned regarding this affiliation. Membership in the CFR is by invitation only following a period of observation, making certain that one's loyalty to the values of the organization is impeccable. Those values are empowerment of the United Nations, internationalism, world government, nation building and eradicating national borders -- each out of harmony with the Constitution given us by the Founders.
Gorsuch may be promoted as an originalist on the Constitution, but as a member of an organization that sees the Constitution as an obstruction to the New World Order, which the CFR promotes, the Senate must know which loyalty is primary and, if not the Constitution, he must be rejected by all senators. Should a decision come before him that forces him to choose between two loyalties, internationalism and U.S. nationalism, which will he endorse?
Another concern surfaces: Ruth Bader Ginsburg also has CFR membership and thus two of the nine justices of the highest court in the land could have a higher loyalty. She has made no secret that she views international law (UN law) as constitutional. In fact, her loyalty to the Constitution came into question in 2012 when the Egyptian government sought her advice in the writing of a new constitution. She recommended the South African or Canadian models and could not recommend the U.S Constitution. Two of nine justices who may have a higher loyalty than adherence to the U.S. Constitution is two too many.
Trump would be better off to avoid all globalist organizations and members in his administration. There are plenty of experts available without globalist sympathy. Still, he has done well in reducing globalist influence in those he chooses to advise him.
Harold W. Pease, PhD, is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He has taught history and political science from this perspective for more than 30 years at Taft College. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org.
Editorial on 04/05/2017