How Donald Trump Happened: They Kept Him Afloat for a Reason...and It Wasn’t Democracy

The Frankenstein Story They Never Wanted Told

How Donald Trump Happened: They Kept Him Afloat for a Reason…and It Wasn’t Democracy

The Frankenstein Story They Never Wanted Told

The Jack Hopkins Now Newsletter #558: Thursday, September 18th, 2025.

The Setup That Made the Strongman Possible

If you’ve ever wondered how in hell a bankrupt casino operator…tabloid punchline… and reality TV con man managed to hijack a major political party…and now stands on the precipice of dismantling democracy…you need to understand something:

This didn’t “just happen.”

Trump didn’t stumble into power like a drunk tourist into a blackjack table. He was propped up…bailed out…leveraged...and finally unleashed by forces foreign and domestic…billionaires..power brokers…and global authoritarians who all saw the same thing:

A weak man with no moral compass.
An ego that could never be satisfied.
A need for cash…power…and adoration.

And here’s the kicker: they knew they could use him.

Act One: Born into a Rotten Empire

Fred Trump built his fortune with government subsidies and political favors.

He also built it by locking Black families out of housing…the DOJ sued in 1973.

That’s the soil Donald grew in: segregation as business model…corruption as family trade.

Donald inherited not just money…but the plumbing of New York real estate: mobbed-up unions…political machines…and a culture where bribery wasn’t a scandal…it was the cost of doing business.

By the 1980s, Trump was knee-deep in deals that no clean banker wanted a part of. Who stepped in? Deutsche Bank.

After every American lender cut him off…Deutsche saw a different kind of asset: a flashy frontman with buildings perfectly suited for moving foreign cash into the U.S.

In the 1990s and 2000s…Russian oligarchs…fresh off the collapse of the Soviet Union…were looking for safe havens for their loot.

Trump Tower…Trump SoHo…Trump Hollywood? All became laundromats. Properties were bought in cash…through shell companies…with no questions asked. Trump wasn’t “selling condos.” He was selling access.

This is why when people say “Trump was broke,” they’re half right. He was broke in America. But globally, he was becoming a service provider to oligarchs and petro-princes.

Act Two: The Apprentice…and the Grooming

By 2004, Trump’s brand was toxic in New York. Bankrupt casinos.

Failed airlines. Empty buildings. He was the punchline.

Then NBC handed him the role of a lifetime: The Apprentice.

A fictional CEO who always knew best…who fired weaklings and rewarded “deal-makers.”

The show wasn’t reality. Trump wasn’t deciding who got fired. Producers fed him lines. Sets were staged. But the image stuck. To millions of Americans who’d never set foot in Manhattan…Trump wasn’t a fraud…he was the boss.

And here’s where the political operatives slid in. Roger Stone had been whispering in Trump’s ear since the 1980s. Paul Manafort knew how to weaponize foreign money and dirty tricks. Steve Bannon knew how to feed an algorithm with rage and resentment.

The test run came in 2009: Birtherism.

Trump demanded Obama’s birth certificate. Night after night on Fox News…he pushed it. It was racist. It was baseless. And it made him a hero to a Republican base desperate for someone to “say the quiet part loud.”

Trump wasn’t just groomed. He was market-tested.

Act Three: The Right-Wing Machine Bets Big

By 2015, the GOP wasn’t looking for a gentleman. They were looking for a wrecking ball.

For decades, they’d built the infrastructure:

The Federalist Society:

Quietly grooming judges…ready to seize the courts.

The Heritage Foundation, ALEC:

Cranking out legislation to deregulate…privatize…and suppress voters.

Fox News & talk radio:

Marinating an entire generation in grievance and resentment.

Then came Trump: vulgar…unfiltered…addicted to the spotlight. He wasn’t respectable. But he was perfect.

Enter the billionaires:

Robert & Rebekah Mercer:

Funded Cambridge Analytica.

Sheldon Adelson:

Poured millions into ensuring Trump’s Israel policy was a carbon copy of Netanyahu’s wish list.

The Koch network:

Decided they didn’t need to like Trump. They just needed him to sign the tax cuts.

And evangelicals? They weren’t looking for a saint. They were looking for a king who’d hand them the courts. Trump delivered.

Act Four: The Foreign Connection

Trump was never just an American problem.

Russia:

Since the late 1980s, Trump had been dangling the idea of Trump Tower Moscow. Russian oligarchs poured cash into his properties. Putin saw him as a chaos agent who could divide NATO…weaken Europe…and destabilize America.

Saudi & UAE:

When Trump was on the financial ropes…they bought his condos…stayed at his hotels… and pumped money into his orbit. In return…they got weapons deals and blind eyes to their crimes.

Israel (Netanyahu):

Found a transactional partner who’d move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and green-light settlement expansion.

Was Trump a “groomed asset”? No. He was worse. He was a willing mark.

Act Five: The Perfect Storm of 2016

Too many GOP candidates. Winner-take-all primaries. And a media landscape drunk on ratings.

CNN, MSNBC, Fox…they handed Trump an estimated $2 billion in free coverage. His rallies were aired like sporting events. His insults became headline news.

Meanwhile…Cambridge Analytica was microtargeting voters with stolen Facebook data. Russian troll farms were pumping disinformation into swing states.

The playing field wasn’t just tilted…it was hacked.

And the result? Trump wasn’t inevitable. He was manufactured.

Act Six: Governing Like a Strongman

Once in power…Trump moved like every authoritarian before him:

Installed loyalists:

He did so…to sabotage agencies from within.

Stacked courts:

With judges who would serve the movement…not the law.

Turned the presidency into a cash register:

Every Mar-a-Lago wedding…every Trump hotel booking by foreign governments was a bribe in plain sight.

Fawned over dictators:

Putin in Helsinki…Kim Jong Un’s “love letters,” MBS and the glowing orb.

This wasn’t incompetence. This was a strategy of demolition.

Act Seven: The Coup That Never Ended

January 6th wasn’t just a riot. It was a trial balloon.

Could a sitting president send a mob to stop the certification of an election? Could he bully state officials to “find votes”? Could he lean on the military…the DOJ…and Congress all at once?

The answer was chilling: Yes. And he almost got away with it.

Since then…Trump has turned the GOP into a personal cult. The RNC pays his legal bills. The courts he stacked now shield his agenda. And the base? They believe he is democracy.

The Hard Truth

So was it a plan?

Not in the Hollywood sense. There wasn’t a smoke-filled room where oligarchs… billionaires…and generals chose Trump as their man.

It was worse: a convergence.

• A corrupt businessman addicted to money and flattery.

• A right-wing machine built for decades…waiting for the right figurehead.

• Billionaires who needed someone shameless enough to give them everything.

• Foreign autocrats who saw a weak man they could manipulate.

Trump is the Frankenstein monster. He didn’t invent authoritarianism. Authoritarianism invented him.

What This Means for Us

Every democracy that collapses does so because too many people say: “It can’t happen here.”

But it’s happening here.

And if we don’t recognize how it happened…the money…the operatives…the billionaires, the foreign leverage…we won’t stop it.

The machine will just find the next Trump. (although, as I’ve written about before, finding someone with that kind of charisma…isn’t as easy as it might seem.)

BONUS: The Money Lifelines That Built the Monster

Let’s pull back the curtain and talk about what nobody in polite corporate media will spell out:

Donald Trump should’ve gone broke…gone away…and been forgotten a hundred times over.

He didn’t. And that’s not luck. That’s lifelines…deliberate…strategic lifelines from players who needed him alive and on the board.

Here’s how it really went down.

Deutsche Bank: The Last Bank Standing

By the 1990s, Trump was radioactive in New York finance.

Citi wouldn’t touch him. JPMorgan laughed him out of the building. Even Bear Stearns…a firm that would finance almost anything…had him on the blacklist.

But Deutsche Bank? They rolled out the red carpet.

Why? Because Deutsche was trying to muscle into Wall Street’s big leagues and needed “name” clients.

They didn’t care that Trump had stiffed every other lender in town. They cared that he was flashy…he generated headlines…and…most importantly …his real estate could move money.

From 1998 to 2016…Deutsche made over $2 billion in loans to Trump and his companies. Even after he sued them. Even after he defaulted.

The bank’s private wealth division in particular…the one already caught laundering money for Russian oligarchs…kept handing him lifelines. Some loans went through subsidiaries in places like Cyprus…a hub for post-Soviet laundering.

Every banker who looked at the books said the same thing:

This doesn’t make financial sense. Which means it made a different kind of sense… political and strategic.

Russian Oligarchs and the Condo Laundromat

Here’s what most Americans don’t realize: real estate is the perfect money-laundering machine.

• Buy in cash.

• Use an LLC.

• No one asks questions.

• Sell later…pocket clean money.

Trump’s properties…from Trump Tower in Manhattan to Sunny Isles Beach in Florida …became safe-deposit boxes for dirty money.

An estimated one-third of Trump Tower condos sold in the early 2000s went to shell companies or anonymous buyers linked to post-Soviet networks.

Sunny Isles was literally nicknamed “Little Moscow” in Miami real estate circles because of how many Russian buyers flocked there.

These weren’t retirees from Moscow looking for a Florida tan. They were businessmen and power brokers moving cash. Trump got the sales. They got their money cleaned. Everybody smiled.

The Gulf Connection

The Saudis and Emiratis also played their part.

• In the 1990s…when Trump was drowning…Saudi royals swooped in and bought entire hotel floors from him.

• In 2001…the Saudis bought the 45th floor of Trump World Tower for $4.5 million. Later…the Saudi government would spend hundreds of thousands at his hotels while lobbying his administration.

• When Trump needed liquidity…wealthy Gulf buyers were always around to prop him up.

The payoff? As president, Trump gave the Saudis a blank check:

• Arms deals worth $110 billion.

• No punishment for the Khashoggi murder.

• Backing their blockade of Qatar.

That’s not coincidence. That’s ROI.

Israel’s Netanyahu: A Transactional Alliance

Don’t overlook this one. For Netanyahu…Trump was a dream.

Sheldon Adelson…the casino billionaire…funneled tens of millions into Trump’s campaign…and what did he get?

The U.S. embassy moved to Jerusalem…recognition of Golan Heights annexation…and a partner who never said no.

Trump wasn’t thinking about global strategy. He was thinking about cash and loyalty. Adelson gave him both. Bibi got policy in return.

Was It a Plan? Or an Opportunity?

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

No. Trump wasn’t recruited at 25 and groomed for decades like some Manchurian Candidate. He was too sloppy…too vain.

But over time…he became the perfect mark.

• Every bankruptcy tied him tighter to foreign money.

• Every loan default made him more dependent on Deutsche.

• Every condo sold to an oligarch built invisible IOUs.

• Every “deal” with Gulf royals taught them he’d deliver if flattered and paid.

By the time he descended that golden escalator in 2015…the network wasn’t speculative. It was locked in.

Why This Matters

Here’s what I want you to burn into your brain:

Authoritarianism doesn’t arrive in jackboots first. It arrives in bank wires…condo deals…and golf course purchases.

The reason Trump could play wannabe strongman is because for 30 years…foreign cash and willing banks kept him afloat.

And now? Those same forces don’t just want Trump. They want the system broken. That’s exactly why he’s busy…breaking it.

Or, as I say when talking to a close friend, “He’s smashing the system faster than f*cking butter melts on a warm biscuit!”

I don’t speak that way to be cute. I say that…because it’s the truth…with emphasis on the danger and speed of what’s happening.

They want democracy hollowed out. They want America paralyzed while they feast.

This is why I keep hammering the “follow the money” angle. Because once you see how Trump was kept alive long past his expiration date…you understand why the stakes are what they are.

Because when you follow the money…the fog lifts…and you see the machine for what it is:

Trump didn’t rise because he was strong…clever…or inevitable.

He rose because foreign oligarchs…shady banks…and billionaire power brokers kept him afloat long past the point any ordinary con man would’ve drowned.

That understanding is power. It strips away the myth..exposes the pipeline…and reminds us that what’s at stake isn’t just one man but the entire infrastructure of corruption that built him.

And if that system could manufacture Trump…it can manufacture another.

(One with the same kind of charisma and ability to pull people in as rapidly as Trump did? We’ll see. Again, that’s harder than one might think.)

That’s why naming it…unmasking it…and cutting it off at the roots is central to any fight to save democracy.

They didn’t build him because they loved him. They built him because he was useful. And useful tools don’t retire; they just get replaced them with newer models.

BONUS II: The Operating System-How the Strongman Money Machine Really Works

This isn’t a story. It’s an operating system.

Authoritarians don’t win ideas. They purchase leverage…launder reputations…and weaponize institutions. If you “follow the money” far enough…the mystery disappears and a ruthless pattern snaps into focus.

Below is the 12-stage playbook…the machine that kept Trump alive and will keep manufacturing the next one unless we smash the gears. Keep this close. Share it with people who still think it’s random. It’s not.

1) Debt as a leash

When legitimate lenders won’t touch you, you become available to the lenders who will. Debt isn’t just money…it’s leverage. The more you owe…the easier you are to steer.

“Rescue” terms (personal guarantees…cross-collateralization…balloon payments) make you obedient. Not loyal…obedient.

Red flags:

Repeat refinances with last-resort desks; loans booked offshore; private-bank exceptions; collateral wildly out of line with cash flow.

2) Real estate as a washing machine

Cash + LLC + condo = cleansed. Towers…golf courses…branded residences…high-end property is the perfect laundromat. Anonymous shells buy off-plan…flip…and park wealth. You pocket fees, “licensing,” and bragging rights. They get clean capital and a phone number that always picks up.

Red flags:

Bulk cash purchases by shells from secrecy havens; rapid flips below/above market; unusually high percentage of anonymous buyers.

3) The fixers: lawyers, accountants, PR

Every strongman brand rests on a triangle of enablers. White-shoe law firms build the shells and trusts. Accountants engineer the tax magic. PR shops flood the zone…“visionary businessman,” “philanthropist,” “builder.”

Behind the curtain: NDAs, arbitration clauses, and litigation as intimidation.

Red flags:

Serial SLAPP suits; arbitration mandates for employees/contractors; charitable foundations doubling as PR vehicles.

4) Dark-money IV lines

When power needs to be quiet…it moves through nonprofits and pass-throughs: 501(c)(4)s, donor-advised funds, “educational” institutes that conveniently release “reports” aligning with donor interests. The donor buys narrative; the narrative buys policy.

Red flags:

New (c)(4)s that immediately spend 7–8 figures; grants ping-ponging among allied groups; “issue ads” that conveniently mirror a candidate’s message.

5) Capture the referees (courts, regulators)

You don’t need every judge…just enough. Pipeline groups vet the resumes…feed clerks into the system…and build years of IOUs. Meanwhile agencies are hollowed out:

Budget cuts…politicized general counsel, “review” processes that run out the clock. Law becomes a speed bump.

Red flags:

Synchronized amicus briefs from donor-funded shops; rules gutted via “guidance” memos; sudden surges in lifetime appointees from a single vetting org.

6) Media oxygen

Authoritarians don’t silence media at first—they overfeed it. Outrage as programming. “Live from the tarmac.” The rule: dominate the cycle, monetize the spectacle, reduce truth to one more opinion. Buy up local stations. Seed “think tanks.” Turn pundits into a product line.

Red flags:

Wall-to-wall rally coverage; affiliate groups buying talk-radio blocks; “experts” whose bios trace back to the same set of donors.

7) Data ops & psychological micro-targeting

The strongman brand is sold like detergent: segment…test…iterate…weaponize grievance. Harvested data + look-alike audiences + cheap programmatic inventory = a conveyor belt of fear…identity..and “us vs. them.” Bots amplify; dark posts disappear after doing their damage.

Red flags:

Sudden spikes in new pages running political creative; shell “merch” stores collecting emails; identical creative across “unaffiliated” pages.

8) Foreign policy for sale

Autocrats abroad don’t need you to love them; they need you to depend on them. Hotel blocks, licensing deals…“investments,” post-office book deals…sovereign wealth “partnerships.” In office, this becomes policy: arms packages…sanctions relief… sweetheart approvals. Quid, meet quo.

Red flags:

Government delegations staying at personal properties; overnight policy U-turns tracking donor/trader positions; post-tenure speeches at eye-watering fees.

9) Crisis judo

Every investigation becomes a fundraising drive; every indictment…a pilgrimage. Legal peril is recast as holy persecution. The base wires cash to “the fight,” while the fight pays lawyers who delay…appeal…and delay again. The goal isn’t to win in court…it’s to outlast.

Red flags:

“Emergency” fundraisers minutes after court filings; legal PACs paying family companies; counsel swapping between campaign…PAC…and private matters.

10) Patronage & silence

Rewards flow to keep mouths shut and hands busy: ambassadorships…advisory titles.. board seats, “fellowships,” reality-TV cameos. Disloyalty gets punished…contracts yanked…permits delayed…audits initiated. The message lands: pick a side.

Red flags:

No-bid contracts to political allies; miracle zoning changes; sudden IRS curiosity for critics.

11) Impunity loops

Pardons, settlements “without admission,” NDAs…disappearing evidence. Meanwhile, the calendar is a co-conspirator: run out the clock on statutes, then claim “old news.” By the time facts are public, the narrative is hardened and the base is inoculated.

Red flags:

Midnight pardons; hush-money settlements routed through shells; “I don’t recall” as performance art.

12) Succession planning

The machine’s endgame isn’t a man. It’s a model. Once the blueprint works…financiers start scouting the next vessel: less baggage…same obedience. The brand updates; the operating system stays.

Red flags:

“Fresh faces” with old donors; think-tank “fellows” who materialize fully funded; curated influencer ecosystems warming the crowd.

Field Guide: How to Follow the Money (Without a Badge)

You don’t need subpoenas. You need a process. Here’s a civilian playbook that hits way above its weight.

A) Build the map first

• Timeline: bankruptcies…refinances…partnerships…sudden wealth.

• Entities: LLCs, trusts, “Holdings,” “Ventures,” “Partners.”

• People: lawyers…accountants..bankers..PR…consistent co-signers.

• Venues: towers…clubs, hotels…golf courses; who pays…when…and why.

B) Correlate cash with policy

Put the money event and the policy event on the same line. Donations → appointments. Hotel blocks → votes. “Investments” → executive orders. You’re not proving crimes; you’re proving patterns.

C) Read the footnotes

Annual reports…bond prospectuses…charity 990s…FEC filings…lobbying disclosures. Footnotes are where “accidents” live: related-party transactions…contingent liabilities… in-kind contributions.

D) Exploit public infrastructure

• Corporate registries: Delaware…Wyoming…Nevada (and note the agents).

• Property records: deeds..liens…UCC filings…condo declarations.

• Campaign finance: who gave…via what passthrough…on what timetable.

• Court dockets: glance at the exhibits…not just the headlines.

E) Cross-pollinate

If a name shows up in three different contexts…bank loan..shell LLC…think-tank board…you’re not chasing coincidences anymore. You’re tracing roles.

The 25 Questions That Break Open a Corruption Story

1. Who really paid that bill?

2. What changed hands that had nothing to do with invoices?

3. Why this lender, not that one?

4. Who guaranteed the loan after everyone else ran?

5. Which property sells far above market…and to whom?

6. Which “charity” mostly buys gala tables and consulting?

7. Who shows up in the cc: line across deals?

8. Which shell company keeps reappearing in unrelated contexts?

9. Who gets hired after losing a contract...and by which ally?

10. Which judge shares a patrons’ list with the donor?

11. Who keeps the calendar when the cameras leave?

12. Which foreign trips align with sudden domestic pivots?

13. Who’s paying the lawyers…really?

14. Which invoices are “rounded” and repetitive?

15. Who moves from regulator to regulated in record time?

16. Which “grassroots” groups share a print vendor?

17. Who bought blocks of rooms where?

18. What gets announced on a Friday evening?

19. Who’s underwriting the pollster running the message?

20. Which “consultants” are family by another name?

21. What disappears from biographies after a scandal?

22. Which “security” contracts look like hush retainers?

23. Where did the PAC-to-LLC-to-PAC boomerang go?

24. Who is always in the room but never on the org chart?

25. What explodes the day before filings are due?

Answer five cleanly and you have a story. Answer ten and you have a map. Answer fifteen and you have a case.

How We Choke the Pipeline (Practical, Now)

Beneficial ownership, everywhere.

No more anonymous shells buying towers and influence.

End the real-estate AML exemption.

Apply banking-level scrutiny to high-end property deals nationwide…not just a few zip codes.

No dark-money pass-throughs.

Real-time disclosure of donors for electoral and “issue” spend; bar 501(c)(4) shell-games.

Hard firewall between office and enterprise.

No self-dealing hotels, clubs, or “events.” If you hold power…you don’t sell rooms to petitioners…period.

Lifetime sunlight for judges.

Real-time gift/travel disclosures; random assignment to block judge-shopping; bright-line recusals for shared donors.

Cool the revolving door.

Multi-year bans on lobbying/consulting after public service; meaningful enforcement with personal penalties.

Digital ad transparency.

Public…searchable libraries of political creative…spend…targeting…and vendors.

None of this is radical. It’s seatbelts for a democracy driving at highway speed.

Why this Bonus II matters

Because once you learn to see the pattern…you can’t unsee it.

The money told the story before the headlines did. It always does. And that’s how we stop pretending Trump is a singular horror and start treating him as a product line.

Cut the fuel lines, the engines die.
Expose the operators, the machine stalls.
Change the rules, and suddenly the strongman looks small…because without the pipeline…he is.

That’s the real fight. Not just against a man…but against the operating system that built him…and is already building the next one.

That’s it for now. Be sure and read The Daily Kick…below.

Back soon.

-Jack

P.S. If this article lit a fire under you…and you don’t want to miss a single one, free or paid…now’s the time to step up. Become a paid subscriber and help me keep bringing the heat…every damn week.

The Piano in the Rubble

After WWII…a bombed-out German city lay in ruins. A soldier walking through the wreckage heard something impossible: music.

He followed the sound and found a young man playing piano in the rubble of a destroyed theater…fingers bloody but determined.

Why play when the world had burned? Because art…hope…and stubborn beauty are weapons against despair.

That pianist wasn’t just making music. He was making a statement: “You can destroy my city…but you will not silence me.”

That’s resilience. Not waiting for perfect conditions to begin…but creating something meaningful in the ashes.

If you’re waiting for life to “calm down” before you act…stop. The time is now. Even in rubble…play your song.