I didn't say Simon says

Simon Luria is a pseudonymous writer based in New York City. He claims to be world famous, but that's obviously a marketing technique – unless he is famous under another name. Luria's political affiliation isn't clear from the two e-articles by him I've read. A charitable guess would be a Libertarian who supports Gary Johnson. A less charitable guess would be a “Newmanite”, a supporter of the late Fred Newman and his peculiar political projects.

This short article argues that Donald Trump is really a Democratic plant inside the Republican Party, that his presidential campaign is intentionally wrecking the GOP, and that The Donald is secretly colluding with none other than Hillary Clinton. The author claims that Trump wants to lose, that his real aim is to promote his commercial brand, and that he might even “walk away” from the presidency if elected!

No real evidence is presented, and all the facts or factoids in the article can easily be explained in other ways. It's not a secret for those in the know that Trump is an establishment figure, that he has long-standing connections to everyone from the Bush clan to the Clinton family, that he often financed political candidates, and that his political affiliations have been fluid. His Republican opponents are using this against him, and even some liberals (like Michael Moore) have peddled the conspiracy theory that “The Donald doesn't want to win”. It's also obvious that Trump, despite his populist rhetoric, wants to broker a deal with at least a section of the old establishment he is nominally running against. He probably couldn't run the country otherwise…

Of course, none of this explains why most of the establishment is working overtime to stop Trump from winning the elections. Are they *all* in on it? Nor does it explain why Trump constantly makes new “mistakes”: it can't be in order to lose, since it's precisely the “mistakes” which makes him soar in the opinion polls! Why does he campaign so heavily in so-called battleground states, if he wants to lose in the Electoral College, as Luria intimates? And how can anyone just “walk away” from the presidency if elected? That would make Mike Pence, not Hillary Clinton, president… On one point, the pamphlet has already been overtaken by events, since Trump recently did attack Clinton for her collapse at the 9/11 commemoration (Luria believes that Trump's earlier failure to do so proves the conspiracy). The mercurial Donald is moving too fast even for the Kindle independents!

The truth, in my opinion, is that Trump is an opportunist who has realized that a grand maneuver towards the seething middle class/working class discontent, especially in its right-wing form, is the best way to capture the Republican Party and the presidency. While a section of the establishment supports him, most establishment figures don't, since they fear what the populist dragon might do once it has been awakened by Trump's catcalls. The establishment on both sides of the partisan divide wanted a safe race between Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush (or Paul Ryan). Since Trump isn't a genuine populist, he might still be possible to “buy over” at the last minute, but if so, the buyout will most likely benefit the moderate or liberal Republicans, not the sadly imploding Democrats.

Ultimately, we want to know who “lures” behind the pseudonym Simon Luria. Why doesn't he mention Trump's longstanding connections to the Bushes, or to other Republicans such as NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani? He only singles out his friendship with the Clintons. Why is Luria angry at Trump for leaving the Independence Party of New York? Is it a coincidence that the Independence Party has endorsed Gary Johnson, a spoiler heavily promoted by the media to undermine Trump? Luria claims to be politically incorrect and anti-establishment, but in this e-article he shows himself to be just another Glenn Beck, the “conspiracy theorist” who endorsed, wait for it, Mitt Romney!