CNN's Poly PEU Nondisclosure

CNN's Smerconish had Admiral James Stavridis on his show this morning with no mention of his full time job at The Carlyle Group, a politically connected private equity underwriter (PEU)  This nondisclosure occurred for the fourth week in a row (March 7, 14, 21 & 28).  

Stavridis is working overtime in his role with Carlyle "focusing on international activities and global strategy"  as Carlyle intends to profit from the fighting, as well as the aftermath.

There are three things that I’m watching. Number one: What is the physical location of Steve Witcoff and Jared Kushner? These are the two absolute negotiators that Trump trusts the most. Are they in Geneva or another neutral site? Are they in a plane headed toward Europe? Are they parked in New York? Are they down to Washington for consultations?

Stavridis' other two things are the Marines and the Strait of Hormuz.

Host Michael Smerconish avoided this line of questions but went on to point out insiders profiting from Polymarket bets relative to Trump's various and sundry "excurions" (wars) and financial markets in a later segment.  

Special Envoy Jared Kushner is another PEU who has played a significant role in the current conflict.  Affinity Partners promotes its ability to read and influence international tea leaves.

Jared is currently seeking $5 billion in additional funding from Middle Eastern countries for Affinity Partners.  

Libertarian TechGods turned interventionist once they saw the potential of tapping Uncle Sam's wallet, something known for decades by the more subtle PEU boys.

Palantir’s co-founders, Peter Thiel and Joe Lonsdale, have both publicly argued that conflict with Iran is inevitable, with Lonsdale saying he was hoping to “invest in Iran” after a regime change. 

Palantir’s CEO, Alex Karp, predicted war with Iran would prove the worth of the company’s autonomous weapons system.

Did Palantir's system target the girls elementary school in Minab, Iran?  That answer may never come in our free and open democracy.

Stavridis agrees with the TechGods of Spying:

Iran could still do damage, they could use terrorism, they could use cyber, they could continue to close the strait. But their capability is reduced to a point where, as an investor, I continue to be comfortable in getting into the region. 

And all of this, I think, ultimately is going to move the Israelis and the Gulf Arab states closer together. Put those two things together, I think the Gulf remains highly investable. 

...the investment opportunities in a post conflict Iran are very high. It’s three times the size of Texas, full of oil and gas, a highly educated population, and a deep sense of history.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  And they want to go All In on Iran.  As for Carlyle, Stavridis noted:

“We’re going to assess the geopolitical risk. We’re going to bake that into our investment thesis” – and in many cases, that leads us to pass on markets where the risk-return isn’t there.

Uncle Sam takes the risk, PEUs & TechGods get the return.  At preferred tax rates to boot!

Trump II Stacks PCAST with TechGods

Trump II announced his first round of appointees to his council of advisors on science & technology.  To no surprise, it's full of TechGods.  

There is a record of customer harm between Marc Andreessen, who walked away from fintech Synapse's collapse, and Mark Zuckerberg, who's company was found liable for harming children in two different court cases.  Good to have both the child predator "facilitator" and financial conman view on the panel.  

What, no prediction market founder?  Isn't this the way "knowledge" will be grown in the future?  Hardly,  they couldn't even foresee that insiders would create stacked bets to profit handsomely.  

Access to the federal budget and continued regulatory capture is the aim of this dastardly crew.  Meanwhile, Trump plans to usurp them in as many ways as possible.  After all, Trump II is a deal maker and deal makers earn deal fees.  

I predict a fusion tie-up in the future once Trump Media and Technology Group merges with TAE Technologies.  Surely, Bob Mumgaard will want to buy out TAE-TMTG at a premium price.  

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU (private equity underwriters) and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.

Update 3-27-26:  America's new Addiction Center bar will open in Washington, D.C.  

‘The Situation Room’ by Polymarket is coming to Washington, D.C.,” read the announcement posted last Wednesday to Polymarket’s social media. The prediction-market company described the pop-up as “the world’s first bar dedicated to monitoring the situation,” a kind of newfangled sportsbook that instead of showing live sports and betting lines would pipe in information of every kind about the state of the world, from live X feeds to real-time flight radar.

Customers are encouraged to show up with all their addictive apps, car titles, home deeds and large credit lines, dollar or crypto based.  Wage garnishment forms will be available for those who need to leave and get home to their families, assuming they have not been sold to cover prior lost bets.

Churchill, Mr. Henry & Trump II

The White House published a Presidential Message on the 251st anniversary of Patrick Henry's famous speech given in the Henrico Parish Church (later renamed St. John's Church) on Richmond's Churchill. 

Trump II's message focused on the famous line "Give me Liberty or Give Me Death."  Trump has usurped this to "Give Me (whatever I want) or I will Give You hurt (possibly including death)."

Here's how one author summarized Trump II:

"Trump's playbook - built on domination, disruption, and relentless self-promotion—breaks every conventional rule of leadership yet often achieves results through sheer force of will"

It breaks nearly ever Biblical commandment as well.

Here's the part of Patrick Henry's famous speech the White House did not include in its special message:   

We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? 

For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it. I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging the future but by the past. 

And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. 

Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? 

Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it?

May I offer an update?

"What means this domestic martial array (ICE, Palantir, Anduril, Hadrian, Flock, FBI purchased citizen location data)?  For what purpose Sir?  And this from people who claim to be Libertarians?  Liberty for them but not for all?  Hogwash!  

Give me a President who wishes to serve, not to be served!  One who would cast off the eye of intrusion in daily life and return government to supporting the common good, not  surveilling the common man.

What good is it to have a dossier on every citizen, where various monarchical ministries know more about us than we know about ourselves?  And why are there dank shadows where this light of constant inspection never reach?  What is hiding there?

Who is hiding there?  They who prey on the young and innocent.  They who twist our faith for their earthly purposes of greed and power accumulation.  They who tariff our tea for the king's purse and call it beautiful.  Travesty!

It's purpose must be to take our very souls while protecting the profiteers and the king's henchmen!  Have you no decency, Mr. Thiel?  Give me real Libertarians, not apartheid replants!  

And this would be king, my God he is insufferable.  Surely, other branches of government have checked him and found him wanting?  

Why is everyone so quiet?"    

Update 3-25-26:  My wise friend reminded me of the great Patrick McHenry, former Interim Speaker of the House for the Red Team.  McHenry could well have said "Give me post-Congressional employment and I'll be your bitch."  It's not confirmed, but data indicates such.

The Gods of Taking: Trump & Ares

Financial crisis worsen when the big money boys no longer trust one another to make good on their debts.  Private credit is such an area.  Several years ago Apollo's Marc Rowan referred to private credit as investment grade (which is wasn't then and clearly is not now).  Financial advisors pushed private credit and private equity into individual accounts, many of them 401k's and IRAs.  

Take Ares Strategic Income Fund, which recently reported:

Ares has restricted redemptions from the $22.7 billion Ares Strategic Income fund after exit requests reached 11.6% in the first quarter. The firm said the majority of repurchase requests were made by a limited number of family offices and smaller institutions in select geographies who represent less than 1% of our over 20,000 shareholders.

Family offices and likely sovereign wealth funds (SWF) are cousins of private equity underwriters (PEU).  Many PEUs branched into private credit (you finance my junk, and I'll finance yours).   

Family offices are financial behemoths who know what happens when credit goes bad.  Those who wait for the promised lifeboats find out no more exist.

The Trump administration is too busy front running their key strategies to care about retirees losing their annuities, pension benefits or retirement savings.  

Trump II is in that exclusive group that will take theirs and run.  This will happen long before the pain spreads enough for them to actually be held to account for their actions that encouraged fiction and fraud. 

Trump II is the greatest taker in our country's history, fueled by the world's greatest military might.  We've never really seen anything like it.  His savage, dangerous, militarized focus is like the Greek God Ares himself, the God of Excursions.

Professional Market Makers do $TRUMP

$TRUMP, the only official Trump meme by President Donald J. Trump has a new update for his non-investment, non-security meme-coin.  It involves professional market makers who provide liquidity depth via an institutional market structure.  That's a lot for $TRUMP and its associated ideals, beliefs & artwork.  

Trump II holds the cards, including the vast majority of unlocked coins and the government agencies that would review and condemn this obvious shill that sells meal access to the United States President for big holders that churn the non-investment, non-security for fees:

CIC Digital LLC, an affiliate of The Trump Organization, and Fight Fight Fight LLC collectively own 80% of the Trump Cards, subject to a 3-year unlocking schedule. CIC Digital LLC and Celebration Cards LLC, the owner of Fight Fight Fight LLC, will receive trading revenue derived from trading activities of Trump Meme Cards.

Everybody's front running something:

Traders made bets worth half a billion dollars in the oil market about 15 minutes before Donald Trump’s post touting 'productive' talks with Iran sent the price of crude tumbling

And the cops on the beat have been told to look the other way.

SEC Enforcement Director Margaret Ryan clashed with Agency bosses before resigning last week.

Ryan wanted to be more aggressive in pursuing misconduct, including cases with ties to Trump and his family.

Politicians Red & Blue love private equity underwriters (PEU) and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.

White House Japan Summit Dinner Featured TechGods & PEUs

TechGods of Spying (Palantir's Alex Karp & Shyam Sankar) and War (Anduril's Palmer Luckey) joined other insiders at the White House Dinner as part of the U.S. Japan summit.  Financial juggernauts BlackRock, Morgan Stanley, Softbank and Mastercard were represented.  Las Vegas Sands, Open AI, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries executives also attended.  

Most of the private equity underwriters (PEU) who attended did so in their professional role within the Trump Administration, J.D. Vance (Narya Capital), Howard Lutnick (GCM Grosvenor), Doug Burgum (Arthur Ventures) and Scott Bessent (Key Square Capital).  Senator Bill Hagerty (Haggerty Peterson & Co) was also at the White House dinner.

TechGod and PEU Peter Theil is an investor in both companies, Palantir and Anduril.  He met with the Japanese Prime Minister weeks before the White House visit where Trump II compared the U.S./Israeli attack on Iran to Pearl Harbor for its surprise nature.  

There is a different surprise attack going on.  Polticians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and they are taking all the spoils. 

Update 3-22-26:  Alex Karp's Palantir has the corner on domestic surveillance.  Take that, Anthropic!

The company cut its teeth protecting Bilderbergers, where Alex Karp and Peter Thiel served on its steering committee.

Update 3-23-26:  Anthony Scaramucci of SkyBridge Capital wrote a remarkable piece in Fortune about the deterioration of the American Empire due to the themes PEUReport has identified since its beginning in 2007.

CNN: Carlyle Vice Chairman Back, Much Left Unsaid

It's becoming a weekly event for Carlyle Group Vice Chairman Admiral James Stavridis to be interviewed by Michael Smerconish with no disclosure as to the man's day job.  

Stavridis could have provided color on Carlyle co-founder David Rubenstein's decision to sell 500,000 shares of stock for over $23 million.  Surely, the man's tax bill went down like other billionaires in his class.  

Is Rubenstein funding another historical project as part of his "patriotic philanthropy," the political sales pitch for his longtime "carried interest" tax dodge?  

Does he plan to invest the money in his daughter Alexa's new PEU fund based in West Palm Beach, Florida - the New Cracker Wall Street?

Later on Smerconish interviewed the parents of Sam Bankman-Fried about his "innocence."  For a lawyer Smerconish went light on the legal details that contributed to SBF's conviction.  

SBF and David Rubenstein both invested in Paxos, alongside numerous other TechGods and private equity underwriters (PEU).  SBF approach Rubenstein for an investment as FTX neared financial trouble.  Rubenstein passed.

Co-mingling customer funds with company trading accounts is a longtime financial sin that has taken down many executives.  

Back to Admiral Stavridis and his day job, global strategy at Carlyle.  I am sure he is working overtime to assess the impact on Carlyle's portfolio and where/how to put their giant vaults of dry powder to work.  Trump II's country by country takeover has a strong economic motivation as "deal makers earn deal fees" and he needs greater net worth.

Consider this from another PEU, Skybridge Capital's Anthony Scaramucci:

...the U.S. and its allies had developed a “systemic blind spot” after the Berlin Wall fell, treating liberal democracy's victory as inevitable and making economic mistakes that fueled political and cultural fractures. 

He admitted that, as a young Wall Street analyst, he had ignored the concerns of American workers while leaders justified offshoring, trade integration, and China's WTO entry.

It was the PEU boys who bought U.S. companies and shuttered factories, sending jobs overseas.  Politicians provided them tax breaks that helped millionaires become billionaires.  

The factories are "coming back" but they will be automated.  Carlyle's Stavridis may be working on this, but we know Jeff Bezos is as well.  Axios reported:

(Bezos) is in talks to raise $100 billion for a fund that would buy manufacturing companies "and seek to use AI technology to accelerate their path to automation."

TechGods and at least one Trump boy have a stake in factory automation company Hadrian.  Don Jr. is a partner for 1789 Capital which took a stake in Hadrian two months ago.

Stavridis could have talked about:

1.  the Trump's race to expand the American economic pie by raiding other countries or 
2. the PEU race within the race to garner larger and larger chunks of Uncle Sam's budget in the new Red Team's "state capitalism" or 
3. the race to paper over criminal behavior in our new anything goes business environment.  

That I would have found more interesting.

Update 3-28-26:  Smerconish had Admiral James Stavridis on his show again this morning with no mention of his full time job at Carlyle (the fourth week in a row).  The host went on to point out insiders profiting from Polymarket bets but missed his guest's job of profiting from political connections and influencing global governments.