I’ve written five books in the Time Travel Twins series. While the individual books can stand on their own, they are all connected. History is a rearview mirror which can help us navigate through time to the future. Franklin Roosevelt’s activities, triumphs, and tragedies are connected to John Kennedy’s and more recently to Donald Trump’s. What do these men have in common? They were, or appear to have been, members of the elite who succeeded in reaching the highest office in America in spite of the fact that they may not have been the first choice of the power-brokers, controllers, or “deep state.” Chose your name for the puppet-masters, but we all know they exist. These king-makers are interested in controlling the country to serve their interests. They know the best way to assure the continuation of the status quo is to offer political candidates who will follow orders. FDR and JFK believed they could run America according to their own ideas. Trump also appears to think he is in charge.

To date, Roosevelt was the most successful of the three. He was able to manipulate public opinion to flow along the river of history to fit the needs of the power elite. If he went off course, he was redirected by the controllers. He was a masterful improviser, and the elite did not have all the tools of control available to today’s “deep state.” So, FDR’s four-term reign was a tug of war of power and control—sometimes his ideas prevailed, and sometimes the masters prevailed. The process was a learning experience for both sides.

John Kennedy unexpectedly won the presidency in 1960. Richard Nixon was supposed to win. However, JFK was a student of history, and he understood the power of the creation of a cult of followers. Roosevelt had such a cult. FDR was loved by the common man. His people skills were incredible. He mastered the art of controlling public opinion via the new mass communication tool called radio. Decades later, Kennedy created his own make-believe world of “Camelot.” He was a young, handsome, erudite prince backed up by a beautiful and sophisticated wife. His control of the new political medium of television was every bit as powerful as Franklin Roosevelt’s radio rule. However, JFK was not adept at pleasing the “deep state.” He attempted to exert his own control over the country possibly believing he was the beloved king of people. At some point, he crossed the line, and the king-makers decided to make an example of him. In Dallas, Texas in 1963 they would publicly execute him as a warning to all others that followed and to instill a subconscious reminder to the people of America that they did not really have the power to elect the president of their choice. That power was reserved for the “deep state.” In the decades following the Kennedy kingdom, other charismatic leaders who posed a threat to the system, like Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, and Malcolm X, would be eliminated.

Even the insider Richard Nixon had his legs cut out from under him when he suffered from delusions of grandeur. He was forced to resign the office. With Nixon dismissed, the “deep state” went into the full-control mode. At this point in about 1974, the puppeteers were visible to the public. The “deep state” boldly directed the nation’s political players like bad actors in a television soap opera. Gerald Ford was gerrymandered into office. He pardoned Nixon, and then he suffered two assassination attempts just to remind him of his place.  He was replaced by Jimmy Carter, a nice man who could be bounced around like a political pinball without knowing it.

Then in 1980, the stage was set for total control. The first item on the agenda was to kill off the newly elected President Ronald Reagan to be replaced Vice-President George Bush, the man who was the true face of the controllers. Somehow Reagan survived, but he was surrounded by “deep state” troops who would guide the ailing and aging president as required.  Finally, in 1988, the “deep state” had their man in office, George Bush. After that, they controlled the public choices so that they could never lose—Bush vs. Clinton, Clinton vs. Dole, Bush2 vs. Gore, Bush2 vs. Kerry, Obama vs. McCain, and Obama vs. Romney. Every four years, their guy won the Office of President.

All the while over more than fifty years, the consolidation of power solidified into a massive octopus of corruption and control. Like the mobsters of the early twentieth century, the “deep state” was made up of fat-cat warring factions, but with the total control of the media and of the rank and file politicians, the controllers fell into a state of sleepy comfort and over-confidence. They were in charge. They made things happen. The American presidency was less of an issue. By 2016, the “deep state” had drained America almost completely dry. They stole trillions of dollars leaving the country a hollowed-out version of the past. Nobody cared because they really didn’t have any allegiance to anything but their own evil and greedy worldview.

But someone must have been concerned. Someone decided to fight the “deep state.” The election of 2016 was different. For certain Hillary was the “deep state” choice on the Democratic side, but Donald Trump, a total political “black swan” somehow eliminated all the Republican contenders. The “deep state” were faced with the possibility of Trump being elected president. And then it happened, having selected candidate Hillary who was universally hated by a majority of the Americans, the controllers lost control. Trump, a man who was master of the new internet communications system and television, and who, like a bad-guy professional wrestler, followed a different political rulebook, took control of the election, reinvigorated the sleepy electorate and body-slammed Hillary into oblivion.

Since then the “deep state” has battled President Trump and his supporters. Trump is an outsider. He is an outlaw. He has the support of a majority of the American people and of some very powerful people, most likely parts of the military, white-hat CIA rogues, and monied economic realists who foresee the end of the dollar and long for a return to a stable national platform on which to conduct business. It’s also possible that old-fashioned patriotism is a big factor in the battle against the “deep state.”

An honest review of the actual events of history will reveal the connections from FDR to JFK to DJT. Ignorant of the true past, the characters in my novels could only guess what was happening. We have a much better view. We easily follow the trail of the players now. They are all out in the open. It is as if we know the design of the magic trick, and we can see all the deception and slight of hand. It’s all connected and all visible. The magician’s moves appear clumsy now. His attractive assistants, the mainstream media and the captive politicians are showing their age. No longer are they so interesting as to take our eyes off the magician. The end is near. Someone is going to prevail. This bit of history will end when everyone agrees the show is over and the fat lady begins to sing.