Donald Trump has been admitted to Walter Reed because of COVID–19 and, at the moment of my writing this, most if not all of this nation’s corporate and economic elite have retreated into their bunkers. Sorry, they hate that word. Their “compounds”.
Why? At 3:58 (Eastern time) an “Apex Two” alert went out.
Let me say that I know nothing that is not public about the president’s health. No one can predict the future; I can’t either. There is no major reason, in my view, to believe that the recent A2 represents anything dangerous to the public.
What is “Apex Two”? For historical reasons, I am on a list of technology-industry personalities estimated to be “HNWIs”, which is what pretentious rich people call themselves. “High Net Worth Individual”, which starts at $30 million. I am not a “HNWI”. My actual net worth isn’t even 1% of that figure. I assume there must be some error in the estimation process, for me to be on an alert list where I clearly don’t belong. I don’t even have a bunker.
These people are obsessed with “The Event”, which is a widespread civil breakdown caused by economic inequality, political instability, or some other calamity. Apex 2 instructs the billionaires to go into their bunkers but be ready to profit from opportunities— to, in recently-used words, “stand down and stand by”. Apex 1 means that local unrest is already happening, or that there is cause to believe “The Event” will unfold imminently. Apex 0 means that it’s already happening.
Severity runs from 0 (catastrophic) to 5 (minor). “Apex” means that there is an admitted plan by a wealthy individual or several to cause social instability if conditions are right for it. Most of these guys would rather see the country lurch to the right than the left— this is because right-wing violence and fascism represent no real threat to the wealthy, whereas even moderate leftism is seen as a risk to their pocketbooks, reputations, and standing. “Barrel” is more of a passive observation that something is about to go down. There’s a C and a D and possibly some other letters, but I don’t pay attention to those.
In other words, Barrel means an insider in the political or economic elite (or several) wants others to know, “I’m worried.” Apex means, “I can’t tell you who I am, but I’m about to cause something.”
So, what’s going on? Of course, this coronavirus is unpredictable and there is a chance that the president is incapacitated, temporarily or permanently, by it. I don’t think I’m revealing new information in saying that. It could happen to anyone.
Such an event would actually be good for the crypto-fascists (and plain-out fascists) in Corporate America, because the sudden and unexpected incapacity of someone who’s bad-at-fascism (and whom they believe will lose the election) would give them an opportunity to mobilize behind someone who’s good at fascism. If, say, the president’s illness took the most extreme course, there would likely be right-wing efforts to “honor” him by initiating violence. It is also likely that some of these “HNWIs” have figured this out and see themselves as standing to benefit by causing such violence.
What does “Apex Two” mean? To be honest, not necessarily all that much. It means that at least one person of high wealth and power is alerting his rich buddies to go into hiding, because he’s planning to do something anti-democratic, if the opportunity presents itself. The opportunity may not present itself. I’ve received four “Barrel Two” alerts in the past five years and absolutely nothing has come of them.
Furthermore, while no one can predict the future— I can’t either, and please remember that— I have doubts as to whether they would succeed. The U.S. government is very much aware of the disloyalty (to use a conservative term for it) of several high-profile tech-industry “HNWIs” and I am sure they have contingency plans in place.
The only thing we can be sure of is that, in an uncertain time, the nation’s economic elites have scurried, like cockroaches, into their bunkers. That’s all anyone can know right now for sure.