I’ll be heading out in less than an hour, but it’s worth contemplating the implications of what’s going on with oil prices. Recall what Maggie Haberman told Mario yesterday:

Senior cabinet officials responsible for dealing with the economic fallout weren’t even present for some of the key discussions before the strikes on Iran.

How crazy is that? Or is there a reason behind that, like, their input was considered irrelevant, undesirable, whatever. So now … follow the link to the 6 minute Tucker video:

Philip Pilkington @philippilk

2h

Hoo boy. @TuckerCarlson just mainstreamed my theory that the Trump admin are manipulating oil prices by hack text-recognition AI trading algorithms. I first shared this theory with I Fucking Love Australia

It’s a safe bet that Tucker ran this past some knowledgeable people before running with it.

Philip Pilkington @philippilk

2h

Well, it looks like Tucker’s source is an @UnzReview article that cites my two interviews with @MarioNawfal . The internet sure is a crazy way to get difficult-to-understand theories mainstreamed!

Philip Pilkington @philippilk

6m

Looks like markets are starting to crack. Not clear if the Whale of Hormuz can prevent people seeing reality for much longer…

Philip Pilkington @philippilk

1h

Yikes!

zerohedge @zerohedge

2h

Here we go again:

Murban futures surged to as much as $112.56 a barrel, a rise of 26% from Wednesday. The rise was much more than other benchmarks including Brent and WTI.

Philip Pilkington @philippilk

I truly wonder will we ever find out who is on the short side of this trade. 

Quote

HFI Research @HFI_Research

5h

Close to all time high Brent short positioning and we have 11 million b/d of shut-in. What did you expect?

The fucking twilight zone to continue?

I guess the question is, What happens on the other side of this? It probably won’t look good:

Here’s where I disagree with Maggie Haberman. True enough, Trump 2.0 is “a presidency unlike any other”—certainly in degree. The degree of corruption is, if not unprecedented, certainly pretty much off the charts, as the WSJ is now pointing out. But whereas Haberman terms Trump 2.0 an “imperial presidency”—as if one 80 year old man were responsible for everything that we see going on, including all the above—that characterization shows, at best, a bit of mental laziness. At worst, it shows, well, you know what.

Trump Says U.S.-Saudi Nuclear Deal ‘Subject to’ Normalizing Relations With Israel

President Trump’s statement followed concerns in Israel over the deal, and could create a major roadblock to the agreement.

It seems totally obvious that what we’re seeing is an oligarchic presidency. Doesn’t mean that Trump’s not an important player, but there are people who could pull the plug on him.