America is obviously controlled. Trump isn’t a mastermind… There are obviously greater forces at play. There will be no real change when he’s gone…it’s the same smoke in mirrors, illusions, and manufacture pride and hope I’ve watched my entire life. It’s like it’s theater.

If anything, Trump is actually the puppet masters' control slipping a bit. I don't think they intended for him to be elected in 2016. It was "her turn" after all. And he's more difficult to control and manipulate than their usual presidential fare -- prone to crazy outbursts, going off-script, and too easy to manipulate. How can he be too difficult to manipulate by being too easy to manipulate? Because now anybody can manipulate him, not just the puppet masters. He always tends to agree with whoever he talked to most recently.

They've improvised and adapted since then and regained much of their old control, but I really don't think 'President Trump' was the intended outcome for the oligarchs who actually control the US. He was supposed to just be an also-ran in the Republican primary. But the oligarchs seem to have underestimated Americans' collective racism and the intensity of backlash against Obama that resulted from it. Trump ran on and won with a platform of being more anti-Obama (and more openly racist) than any of the other candidates.

In a way, that's actually a hopeful sign. The oligarchs' control isn't absolute. (Or at least it isn't quite yet.) It's possible to go against what they want, if enough people are behind it. Now if only we could replace Americans' racism with class consciousness and solidarity...