The Bannon-Badolato Bust w/ Daniel Hopsicker

On this edition of Parallax Views, former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon was recently charged with fraud, specifically conspiracy to commit money laundering alongside Andrew Badolato in relation to a private fundraiser to build a border wall. The Bannon and the other organizers of the "We Build the Wall" campaign are accused of ripping off their donors. The controversial Bannon is set to go on trial in May 2021.

Enter Daniel Hopsicker of Mad Cow Morning News. As a journalist Hopsicker has been exploring dark, murky territory ever since investigating the commercial airline pilot, DEA (and many speculate CIA-connected) informant, and Medellin Cartel drug trafficker Barry Seal. Ever since then Hopsicker has been on the beat of transnational organized crime, specifically as it relates to drug trafficking and money laundering. According to Hopsicker, transnational organized crime's grip on power and politics effectively means we're living on a "Gangster Planet". Although his thesis may be controversial, some would say conspiratorial, Hopsicker often manages to hit a mark better than most other covering the murky depths where drugs, white-collar crime, and corrupt politics intersect with each other. Case in point with the Bannon-Badolato Bust. Through Mad Cow Morning News, Hopsicker has been tracking Badolato for the past 3 years. And he believes that Badolato is much more than the entrepreneurial "businessman" portrayed in recent news articles. Given recent events, I asked Daniel to return to the show to discuss his recent article "Bannon-Badolato Bust Exposes The Abyss" and further elaborate on his "Gangster Planet" thesis. Although he was admittedly a bit burned out from work on his new book when we conducted the interview, I think we had an interesting conversation that we'll have to follow up on in the future.

This Episode Brought to You By:

The War State:
The Cold War Origins of the Military-Industrial Complex and the Power Elite, 1945-1963
by
Michael Swanson
of
The Wall Street Window