Martin's words left Ivanka deep in thought.
"So, you mean my dad should go win over these people?"
"Actually, your dad is already doing that. His actions to deport immigrants, along with his discriminatory attitudes toward Black people and women, have started earning their approval."
"Of course, that's an unintended effect on your dad's part, but it's still not enough. We need to actually solve some real problems for them."
"So, this environmental destruction incident in that southern Louisiana town is a perfect breakthrough."
"Especially now, when they're begging for help with no doors open to them. If your dad acts, it'll be magnified infinitely, winning the goodwill of countless 'rednecks,' and they'll see him as one of their own."
"They are rednecks, they're right-wing, and they're a massive group of sixty million people."
Ivanka was convinced.
"Okay, I'll talk to my dad about it, but I don't know if he'll go for this approach."
"He will," Martin said with a smile.
In the original timeline, Trump did exactly that, though a year later. Martin was just advancing the timeline a bit.
The oil company responsible for the environmental issue belonged to the Texas oil conglomerate, and there were hundreds of such companies across the U.S. extracting oil through environmentally destructive means—all under the Texas oil conglomerate.
That's right, the Texas oil conglomerate basically dominated all domestic U.S. oil production, except for Alaska.
...
Trump was indeed intrigued by Martin's idea.
After understanding the situation, he immediately ordered the FBI to launch an investigation into the oil company Texas Brine.
Rockefeller was furious.
As an American tycoon who built his fortune on oil, his company controlled nearly all oil fields in the U.S.
All those large and small domestic oil companies were essentially his "shells."
In 1870, the Rockefeller family's Standard Oil Company was officially established.
It was called Standard because Rockefeller saw himself as the benchmark and pillar of the entire oil industry—comply and thrive, defy and perish.
According to relevant data, at its peak, Standard Oil monopolized 95% of U.S. refining capacity, 90% of oil transportation, and nearly half of oil extraction.
The other half was extracted by oil companies that the Rockefeller family controlled or held shares in—those "shells."
It was precisely because of the Rockefeller family's monopoly on the U.S. oil industry that it prompted the enactment of U.S. antitrust laws.
Standard Oil Company was forcibly broken up into several enterprises. This move by the U.S. government made Rockefeller realize that to ensure his industry's eternal prosperity, he must find a way to secure a foothold in politics.
Thus, the Rockefeller family began a new strategy: family members not only engaged in basic business activities but also handled legal, congressional, and other political work.
After the second-generation founder of the Rockefeller family—John D. Rockefeller—passed away, his descendants followed his lifelong philosophy, embarking on a path combining politics and business.
For example, Nelson Rockefeller, John D. Rockefeller's second son, despite severe dyslexia, achieved the remarkable record of serving four consecutive terms as New York governor and later as vice president under Nixon.
Unlike Nelson's direct entry into politics, John D. Rockefeller's third son, David Rockefeller, chose a different path.
As the third-generation spokesperson for the business empire, David's opportunities to interact with the most powerful politicians were no fewer than Nelson's.
According to relevant news sources, during David's tenure managing the family enterprise, the Rockefeller family essentially became the shadow behind successive U.S. governments, the invisible hand steering national politics.
More importantly, by combining politics and business with a series of tactics that brought dozens of times wealth growth to the family, the Rockefeller family also wove a vast network of financial and industrial assets through capital operations, with influence spanning every sector of basic industry.
For instance, the Rockefeller Group owned military-industrial enterprises like McDonnell and Rand.
At the same time, the Rockefeller family, along with other consortiums, controlled North America's largest civilian airline.
Beyond the above fields, investments in healthcare, culture and education, and literature and arts were also key components of the Rockefeller family's asset network.
For example, the renowned University of Chicago and Rockefeller University both bore the family's shadow.
Among them, Rockefeller University held the most Nobel Prizes in biomedical sciences worldwide.
If Koreans couldn't live without Samsung, then Americans similarly couldn't live without the Rockefeller Group.
Through decades of operations and generations of risk-taking, the Rockefeller family amassed vast wealth. Most importantly, the family was incredibly united, with no internal conflicts ever arising.
This was due to John D. Rockefeller's establishment of "trust fund management."
Under this model, the Rockefeller family trust funds automatically passed to beneficiary descendants. Once the settlor placed assets into the trust, they legally lost ownership and control over them.
Beneficiaries received only dividend interest before age 30, and principal only after establishing their own families.
This method both avoided taxes and ensured generational wealth transfer, later emulated by many major U.S. families.
With 553 billion in assets, the Rockefellers, though somewhat behind contemporary top U.S. billionaires, as an "old money" family existing for nearly a century, wielded true influence in politics and business far beyond mere wealth.
In the list of high-level executives controlled by the Rockefeller family's Texas consortium, one could find prominent politicians like the Bushes and the Clintons; renowned figures from the judiciary, like retired U.S. Supreme Court justices...
Targeted by such a behemoth, Trump was truly... unfazed.
This guy, despite his flaws—arrogance, conceit, discrimination, vulgarity—possessed a big heart.
"Am I afraid of them? The Rockefeller family? My Trump family is just a hundred years behind in starting."
Not only did he ignore the Rockefeller family's warnings, but he escalated the investigations into domestic oil companies. Any with issues similar to Texas Brine were all shut down for rectification.
This move indeed won Trump the favor of the southern U.S. rednecks.
Martin couldn't help but admire him. This guy was simply... a devil-may-care bastard. In the original timeline, it was a miracle he didn't die in the presidency.