This week, Stormy came to the EXIT group call for a little Q&A on venture capital — what his fund looks for in a founder, what they look for in a project, and how to work the network to get your pitch in the right hands.

He also presented an interesting model of the various players in the global financial system — that the DNC is (for Epstein reasons) in thrall to the European banks, who need the US to join them in a central-bank digital currency regime in order to stave off the collapse of the European economy.

American banks don’t want this, so they’re peeling off for Trump, along with certain constituencies in the Pentagon.

A few days after Stormy’s presentation, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon went to Davos and all but endorsed Trump; CNBC reports this as “U.S. executives in Davos see a Trump victory in 2024, and no cause for concern”.

So I had Stormy on the podcast to talk more about his theory, and how we ought to prepare ourselves if it holds. Episode also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc.

Trump wins Iowa Caucus

Vivek and DeSantis are already out, and Trump has a double-digit lead over Haley in New Hampshire. It doesn’t look like the old GOP has any way to prevent a Trump/Biden race, and the fact that the DNC is burning so much political capital to disqualify Trump in court suggests that his lead is above the margin of fraud.

The covert, “soft” instruments of political control are failing, and even if they were inclined to let him back in, Trump has signaled that he’s on a war footing against the managerial class. So it’s going to be an existential struggle, and all that’s left are the hard, coercive instruments of power.

Texas Military Department seizes sections of border

The Texas National Guard expelled Border Patrol from Shelby Pass, where federal agents have been breaking down barriers and openly abetting the traffic of illegal immigrants.

They tried a media coup first, alleging that Texas had prevented them from rendering aid to a drowning woman. (Turns out they were lying about that, surprise.)

So now it goes to the courts — but again it’s a case where the media and institutional power that would normally settle such questions has collapsed, and it’s unclear what comes next.

Houthis blockade the Red Sea on the cheap

Houthi rebels have choked off the sea artery between Europe and Asia with speedboats and cheap drones. They can’t stop all traffic, but they don’t have to — the insurance companies are doing it for them.

The captain of the USS Eisenhower has steamed confidently on the scene, posting videos of tiny zoomer girls ceremonially taking the helm, and young sailors enjoying caramel macchiato and cookies.

The message here is that America’s authority over the sea lanes is utterly uncontested — this barely even qualifies as a police action, and nobody should be concerned. But while the US Navy is indeed very capable of bombing the Houthis, Biden admits that the bombings aren’t actually securing the shipping lane.

It’s just too cheap to inflict multibillion-dollar losses on the Empire, even without a direct military confrontation of any kind. This blockade will probably be cleared eventually, but it’s hard to see how it doesn’t spawn imitators.

EXIT News

* Charles Haywood will be taking questions about how he built his shampoo empire on this week’s full-group call. The call will take place Wednesday, at 8PM ET/5PM PT

* One of the guys found a major investor for his startup in the group. Congrats!

* We welcomed the owner/founder of a B2B business intelligence platform, a corporate lawyer specializing in on-side startups and investment funds, and a crypto expert who debugs smart contracts

* The Utah boys are putting together some mini-hackathons for locals interested in tech projects.

* The DFW guys got together for a quick lunch meetup.

* One of our veterans did a Q&A on life in the military, how to make the most of the benefits, and who he would still encourage to sign up.

* DC meetup is on February 2nd (one week from Friday).

* Utah Valley meetup is on March 1st.

* Seattle meetup is on March 29th.

* This week’s working group calendar below the fold. In our working groups we set aside two-hour blocks to work on our personal exit, keep each other on task, and take accountability for our progress.

If you want an invite to any of these events, sign up below — or check us out at exitgroup.us.

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This week: Jamie Dimon; Trump routs the GOP; Texas defies the feds; Houthis blockade Suez

EXIT Podcast (private feed for joe@hootman.org)