Alexandra Chalupa: Trump's next move is getting states to secede

Alexandra Chalupa, the woman who warned the DNC about Paul Manafort’s presence in Trump’s 2016 campaign, has a new warning: the Trumps want states to secede from the country, and Manafort is in on it.

Trump’s “army” already invaded the Capitol building, but we know there’s more to come. The FBI has warned that local, state, and federal buildings are being targeted up through January 20.

And Manafort is already involved.

Four days after Trump announced the march that became an attack on the Capitol, Trump pardoned Paul Manafort. He was serving time for witness tampering, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and tax fraud, among other charges. The pardon came right on time for Manafort to help plan the “Save America March.”

The primary vendor for the events of January 6 was Event Strategies, a company co-owned by Manafort, Tim Unes, and Bobby Peede. The company also worked on Donald Trump’s campaign events and Inauguration ceremony, which is under investigation for money laundering and fraud.

Publicly available data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics shows that Manafort’s company received over $1 million from Trump’s campaign and other pro-Trump groups leading up to the election.

The company’s history with massive political conflicts dates back to Ukraine, where Manafort and his buddies were paid by the Kremlin to help elect Vladimir Putin’s candidate Viktor Yanukovych. Part of the job involved creating agitation among Yanukovych’s supporters and organizing them to act on their agitation. Manafort and friends directed entire campaign events from start to finish to create the desired effect, down to details as small as how Yanukovych would move during a speech. The result was a presidency that led to total chaos between police and civilians. Ukraine was on the brink of civil war until Yanukovych fled to Russia.

Before his work in Ukraine, Manafort worked as a political operative through a firm he co-owned with Roger Stone and friends: Black, Manafort, Stone, & Kelly. The firm was branded as a public relations company but was sometimes called “the torturer’s lobby” because it worked for a revolving door of brutal international dictators. Stone just so happened to speak at an event for Trump supporters in DC the night before the Capitol attack.

Alexandra Chalupa has been right for five years. If she says the next move is the Trump team attempting to make states secede, she’s probably right. Trump visits Texas on Tuesday.

Follow Alexandra Chalupa on Twitter.

Note: I am not an expert on Ukraine or Manafort. Please email me or tweet me if I’ve misrepresented any part of Manafort’s history in the country.