Hegseth: Frontunner in Greed as well as Death?

FT reported that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's broker sought a multimillion dollar investment in defense weapons makers weeks before Trump II started his war of choice on Iran.

The Pentagon is denying this and it has considerable tools at its disposal to reframe stories it does not like.

As Trump II and Hegseth like movie references, the defense investment story will be reframed by Caddyshack.  Trump II is the golfer, Hegseth the groundskeeper and the Iranians are gophers.

"Superior intelligence and superior firepower.  That's all she wrote..."

"You know, someone should invest in that."  

But that statement was not offered by Pete Hegseth.  Hegseth has had one thing on his mind, getting those Iranian gophers.  He is so singularly focused that Pete does not see front-running done by Trump's kids, Jared Kushner, Howard Lutnick's kids, Steve Witkoff's kids, Corey Lewandowski, Tom Homan.....

So clearly Pete Hegseth's wanting to profit from his job, like other Trump appointees, is "entirely false and fabricated."  Spoken like a psyop.  Are you buying?

Carlyle Returning to Its PEU Roots: "Defense/War"

Bloomberg reported on a Carlyle Group leak:

Carlyle Group Inc. plans to launch a fund focused on the defense sector amid growing demand by governments to upgrade their military forces, according to people with knowledge of the matter. 

The Washington, DC-based firm has reached out to investors to discuss the fund, pitching it as a way to invest in so-called reindustrialization, the people said, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. 

This entails expanding the US’s industrial base and manufacturing. US President Donald Trump has prioritized weapons development, seeking a 50% boost in the annual defense budget next year to $1.5 trillion. 

Carlyle has its roots in the defense industry, having recruited former Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci in its early days. He brokered acquisitions of defense firms at low prices as the US Department of Defense cut spending in the 1990s, scoring big profits for the alternative asset manager. 

Carlyle was granted exclusivity to negotiate with the US Army to construct a data center across 1,384 acres at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. Carlyle invests in the data center ecosystem and has more than 20 gigawatts of data center capacity under development across the portfolio, including Copia Power.

The Army is seeking public, private partnerships for energy, industrials, supply chains, manufacturing and critical materials.   Everybody wants in, the Trump boys, private equity underwriters (PEU), TechGods, etc.

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, a former PEU with Flex Capital,  has been meeting with private equity firms to fund a $150 billion infrastructure investment.

The Red Team wants to cut healthcare funding to pay for massive increases in defense spending for wars the little people (voters) do not want as Trump II continues his country acquisition spree.  

  

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren,  Increasingly, more are one.  How many will invest in Carlyle's new retro defense/re-industrialization fund?  Surely, Bloomberg's article tickled some interest amongst insiders.

Trump's Iran War: March Good to Two Generals

Face the Nation interviewed General Frank MacKenzie regarding Trump II's war of choice on Iran.  I searched for any private equity ties.  General MacKenzie added two new jobs since Trump II attacked Iran on Saturday, February 28th (other than his recent naming as President of The Citadel).

WestExec Advisors added MacKenzie as Principal on March 12th, while Teneo announced MacKenzie's Senior Advisor role on March 27th.  Another general, James Hecker, was added to the same two firms in the same roles as MacKenzie.

Teneo was founded by Doug Band, Declan Kelly and Paul Keary.  Two of the three left the firm after uncomfortable news broke.

Doug Band left in December 2020 to focus on his family office (generational wealth created in part from PEU consulting).  He broke the Larry Summers "insiders don't say bad things about insiders" rule.

Teneo's connected consultants help private equity underwriters (PEU) who lever political relationships as well as equity.  

Declan Kelly left Teneo in 2021 after behaving boorishly at a fundraiser.

Kelly started his own advisory firm complete with a captive PEU, Consello Capital.   Founder Keary managed to avoid a nasty exit and is currently Teneo's CEO.

The other firm employing the two Generals is WestExec Advisors.  This firm supplied a number of Biden cabinet members, as did Pine Island Capital, another PEU.  WestExec has two former Red Team Congressmen on board.

 Teneo has bipartisan stripes, long a PEU staple in their employment stable.  

Bill Clinton and Tony Blair once acted as paid advisors to Teneo.  

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  The whole sodden lot wants to remake the world in their favor, not yours.  That's the nation we face.

Update:  The Carlyle Group is returning to its roots and offering a new defense fund (Bloomberg)

Trump II's Loser Meme-coin

Trump II closed the FII Institute conference in Miami with a keynote speech.  He opened his talk by noting that everyone in the audience is rich from the front to the middle to the back of the room.  

The moderator asked Trump about the one leadership quality that is missing in the world today.  Trump said "winning."  He then divided leaders into winners and losers and commented he likes to hang out with losers because it makes him feel better.  

An April 25th dinner with Trump II at Mar-a-Lago is the prize for 297 winners of the his $TRUMP meme-coin holder contest with the top 29 getting exclusive access to the President and his "superstar hosts."

Will Trump feel bad about himself at the dinner because he is around so many winners or will he look at these people as losers for ponying up valuable money for a Walmart steak and no personal time with the President (one attendees take on the winning the first $TRUMP dinner contest)?  

This is the third Saudi investment conference since Trump II was sworn back into office in January 2025.  The two prior events coincided with rising $TRUMP prices.  That pattern held until day 3 of the conference when Trump offered his fireside chat.  Below are three March 2026 screenshots of $TRUMP.  It shows a price of $2.89 on March 9, $3.18 on March 22 and $2.85 on March 29.  

The Dinner Contest boost got $TRUMP as high as $4.25.  Since then its been doing a lot of losing.

Other than its initial blow off pop $TRUMP's short lifetime has been one of decline.  Does that meas Trump II can hang out with himself as a loser and feel better about his winning side (the fees generated by trading)?  Absolutely.

Also, David Sacks and his fellow TechGods think Trump is a winner.  Trump told the FII  crowd that AI is the place for investment money but cautioned.  "You better hope that it works."

Spoken like a real winner....

"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"

Frankly, I am tired of all the winning private equity underwriters (PEU) and TechGods/CryptoBros have had at the expense of the common person.  

I'd offer up a number of "something else's" missing in leadership today, balance, virtue, sharing, relationship, vision, listening, knowledge, empathy, beauty and harmony.

Update 3-30-26:  Trump shifted from slamming losers to stupid people.  RFK Jr. tried to usurp the word empathy and apply it to Trump II.  It did not stick.

More than One Trump Speaks at Saudi FII Miami

Trump II provided a Presidential Address to close the three day FII Priority "Capital in Motion" conference in Miami.  This was the fourth time for this annual event after it was established by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and its Future Investment Initiative (FII).  

Another Trump was on the speaking agenda.  Don Jr. shared his profitable front running of Dad's government strategies.  

Zach Witkoff spoke twice at the FII conference, as did his father Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner (each having their own dedicated sessions).  The three spoke alongside a number of other private equity underwriters (PEU)

The elder Witkoff spoke on how power and capital flow, while the younger addressed digital assets and stablecoins.  Jared Kushner is currently raising an additional $5 billion from Middle East countries so it was nice of the Saudis to give him a platform to sell.

Kushner tackled the U.S.-Gulf investment relationship under Trump II's war of choice on Iran, conducted in conjunction with Israel, our 51st state.

Miami is a key city in the Trump economy and former Mayor Frances Suarez had the opportunity to sell it as an investment destination.  Suarez recently changed PEU teams from DaGrosa Capital Partners to Alpha Wave Global.  He celebrated a big Abu Dhabi commitment to Alpha Wave as their new President.

 

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/Cryptobro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  It's a tidal wave of alpha's.

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!

Update:  The Carlyle Group is returning to its roots and offering a new defense fund (Bloomberg)

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.