Donald Trump and Henry VIII

Steve Bannon in the House of Tudor?

I’ve consistently written about the world being on the cusp of major revolution that will bring about change that will be unimaginable to most. In fact, I was relatively sure that because of this cycle turn, we would see Donald Trump win the election.

My work researching cycles often focuses on the writings and extensive data left by Dr. Raymond Wheeler, who concentrated most of his life of drawing parallels between world events and climate change He had a PhD in psychology and the traits that he attributed to the top of this cycle strongly suggested that Trump would win.

There’s a “war” going on behind the scenes between the globalists (the international banking elites) and everyman – the serfs of the twenty-first century. Today’s serfs are the middle class primarily, who have lost the standard of living they have spent most of their lives building up. They are living off credit cards, are losing their jobs, and certainly losing hope. Once again, it’s the people against the elitists, the establishment, the money lenders. This has happened over and over again in history.

“It has been well known and documented for decades that the push for globalism is a deliberate and focused effort on the part of a select “elite;” international financiers, central bankers, political leaders and the numerous members of exclusive think tanks. They often openly admit their goals for total globalization in their own publications, perhaps believing that the uneducated commoners would never read them anyway.” – Carroll Quigley, Tragedy And Hope

This revolution is a financial revolution, just like all the other major five hundred year revolutions were. In fact, you can go back to Bible for the story of Jesus and the moneylenders to get a sense of how this underlying theme re-introduces itself about every 500 years.

History doesn’t repeat exactly, but it rhymes. What we’re seeing today, with the “populist” vote gaining power around the world has happened before, but in perhaps a different manner, often with bloodshed. With Brexit, with the rise of Le Pen in France, the financial subjugation of Greece, the election of Donald Trump, the riots beginning again in cities across the US, the financial problems coming to a head in Italy—all of these events are warnings of an international financial upheaval ahead.

In many of my posts, I’ve talked about the 515 year cycle. As Steve Puetz writes in “The Unified Cycle Theory,”

“This cycle greatly impacts social organization. New civilizations generally form 200 to 300* years before its theoretical peaks. Conversely, Dominant civilizations tend to decline, then collapse, in the 100 to 300 years following its peaks.”

* It’s interesting to note that the United States was 231 years old at the current top (Wheeler’s climate top).

I differ with Steve slightly on the specific dates of the 515 year cycle  tops (we differ by one 172 sub-cycle). I tend to align the 515 year cycle with Dr. Wheeler’s climate cycle tops, while Steve places them one 172 year cycle later. In the big scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter all that much, but in the table below, I’ve listed the two dates for each major 515 year cycle top.

What prompted me to take a closer look at this cycle top was the recent interview with Steve Bannon, who’s touted as the brains behind the Trump presidency.

Steve Bannon (1953 – )

Bannon’s position in the new administration is apparently, “chief strategist and senior counselor.” He’s been considered the mastermind behind the recent campaign and Trump’s messaging.

But, he’s also been criticized as a result of his association with the Breitbart News Network, described as an “alt-right” leaning organization. The media has labelled him as a “white nationalist and racist.”

In his recent interview, Bannon said, “I’m not a white nationalist, I’m a nationalist. I’m an economic nationalist. The globalists gutted the American working class and created a middle class in Asia. The issue now is about Americans looking to not get f*cked over.”

He also said, “I am Thomas Cromwell in the court of the Tudors.”

Now, that last line instantly grabbed my attention. Why? Well, you know I like to talk about this current cycle top as a major revolution. In fact, going back 515 years, there was a similar revolution, The Renaissance and The Reformation.

Note that with Bannon taking office in 2017, it’s exactly 477 after Thomas Cromwell took office. So Bannon is just at about the same spot chronologically in this revolution as Cromwell was in the revolution of the 16th century.

None of this might mean very much unless you know a little bit about British history of that time. Let’s take a look at the role of Thomas Cromwell in the politics and economics of that era.

Above is a climate chart produced by Dr. Raymond Wheeler (in the 1940s) of the climate cycle turn at about 1600 AD. I’ve placed a purple line spanning the two cycle top dates of 1492 – 1664 (a total span of 172 years).

Notice that this top had an unusual warm-wet peak, but then turned dramatically colder at about 1630 AD. Warm-wet periods are “golden ages,” and you can see that the renaissance dominated this period, with the work of both da Vinci and Michelangelo playing major roles. The Reformation, which was also in full swing, made the period volatile from a social and political perspective. The Reformation was ushered in at the time of Martin Luther (1517) and Henry the VIII’s reign was a turning point for Great Britain in this respect.

When climate turns colder, however, it leads to civil war and in this case, that’s exactly what happened, with the English Civil War and many years of social unrest following.

Britain until this time has been Roman Catholic, but it was under the rule of Henry VIII that the Protestant religion began to take hold and it was Thomas Cromwell who was at the center of this dramatic change.

Thomas Cromwell (1485 – 1540)

Thomas Cromwell was in office from 1533 – 1540 under King Henry VIII and has been described as perhaps the greatest statesman Britain has ever had. But, while he rose to power quickly and became the king’s most trusted confidant, he met a sudden and untimely death in the Tower of London in 1540.

He began as a secretary for Cardinal Wolsey, but quickly rose to become the king’s most valuable advisor. He was known as “methodical, detached, and calculating,” not letting his emotions get in the way of this decisions. However, he was despised by the nobility, who were used to having the ear of the king. After all Cromwell was a lowly lawyer and his father had been a brewer and blacksmith, well known for his drunkenness.

At a time when the Roman Catholic church has been all-supreme, Henry VIII expelled them from England in favour of the Protestant church. That didn’t mean Henry was a Protestant; in fact, he wasn’t. He was an opportunist, who didn’t want the Pope controlling the people or his government and was more interested in the extreme wealth the church in England has amassed. It was Cromwell’s job to follow through on a mission to seize the lands of the church and sell them to the highest bidder, while at the same time, filling the government’s coffers.

The trigger for Henry that led him against the Roman Catholic church was a need for a marriage annulment from his first wife, Catharine of Aragon. However, the Pope would not grant his wish, and so he declared himself head of the English church.

This was fine with Cromwell, who realized that the Roman Catholic church was more interested in wealth and influence. It was also generally recognized as corrupt (a slight parallel with the recent financial clean of today’s church in Rome). So he was happy to work for the people and reform the church in England. Part of that reform was to legislate that taxes that were previously paid to Rome were paid directly to the government in England instead.

As he rose in government, though, he made lots of enemies, particularly among the nobles. He reformed both the government and church and built a bureaucracy of professionals outside the royal household. He helped usher in the first parliamentary controls but in the process, disregarded many of the wishes of age-old friends of the king.

Henry, during his reign, had six wives. And it was one of these wives that ended up being Cromwell’s undoing. He had been tasked with finding a worth candidate abroad and because the king was so picky, he contracted a well-known painter to produce portraits of each of the potential mates. A decision was made and Princess Anne (of German descent) arrived in England for the marriage.

However, their first meeting was a disaster, and the relationship didn’t get any better, In fact, it got much worse. But at this point, Henry had no easy way out. He told Cromwell to “make it happen,” however, which was an impossible task.

It didn’t take long for Cromwell’s enemies to make him the scapegoat. Misleading the king in those days was considered treason. He was arrested and very quickly ended up at the Tower of London. But there is a lot of confusion as to what happened next and how poor Cromwell ended up losing his head, but he did.

False letters alleged to be to Lutherans were found in his home and before Henry could get involved, Cromwell was executed, something Henry regretted for the rest of his life. Thomas was a victim of nobles and clerics—those who were out to get him because his was a commoner and fought all his life against the elite—the establishment of the day.

Bannon and Trump

This is the role that Bannon has cast himself in. He is working for King Trump suggesting that they are in an attempt to overthrow the establishment. The establishment are the elite of Washington and the international banking community. They are the globalists who have been getting richer at the expense of the middle classes all over the world. In the case of the US, these people would also include the Federal Reserve.

I have written about the key problem of the G7 countries today—the fact that, for the most part, their governments have contracts with the International Bank of Settlements who loan them money at compound interest. The vast amounts of debts that these western countries have amassed consists mostly of interest, which is paid directly to these European bankers. The money to pay this interest comes directly from taxation of the people. The money leaving each of these countries leads to deflation, and is what is going to collapse the stock market.

If this is the fight that Steve Bannon is alluding to, it’s the right fight, but it’s also a very dangerous one. Many have tried before and have failed. However, it’s the only way out of the current dilemma. Winning won’t be easy and we’re still going to get a financial collapse, no matter what. But the length and depth of the resulting very dark period ahead, ushered in by the coming depression, will be dependent on how quickly all these nations get control of their country’s purse.

And this is what caught my attention—when Bannon described himself as, “Cromwell in the House of Tudor.”

Thomas Cromwell – a more complete history here