Manafort and That Ostrich Feather Jacket

The Paul Manafort trial that’s now underway has presented us with some intriguing synchronicities. The kind of synchro I’m about to describe happens fairly frequently in global events, but this is one of the strangest we’ve run across. It involves a $15,000 bomber jacket made of ostrich feathers.

CNN correspondent Kara Scannell tweeted an image of the jacket, which was purchased from Alan Couture in New York City, deemed the most expensive store in the world. It’s  part of the exhibit that illustrates how Manafort, Trumps former campaign (volunteer!) manager funneled funds from Ukraine and laundered money to support his lavish, tax-free lifestyle.

Until now, I’ve never heard of an ostrich jacket. Then again, I live in Florida where the weather eliminates bomber jackets of any kind. But one twitter user, Matthew Dowd, nailed the synchro in this purchase:

I think I figured out why manafort owned an ostrich jacket. It is is something you need in order to work for trump – it allows you to stick your head in the sand.

But first, a bit about how this jacket was made. From HuffPost: In 2016, PETA published a video exposing the slaughter methods used to obtain ostrich skin for luxury fashion use. On Wednesday, the organization also responded to the news of Manafort’s jacket, saying in a statement on Twitter that it “was likely made from numerous juvenile ostriches whose throats were slit and whose feathers were plucked out.”

Nice.

In Egyptian mythology, ostrich feathers were significant in matters of life and death. The Egyptian goddess Ma’at supposedly helped decide if the souls of dead Egyptians were worthy of going to heaven when they died or if their souls should be destroyed. She weighed a person’s heart against the ostrich feather. If the heart weighed more than the feather, then the person’s soul would be destroyed. If the heart weighed the same or less than the feather, then the person’s soul would get to move onto the next world. As a result, the Egyptians believed the ostrich was a symbol for truth and purity.

Ostriches can’t fly and are often thought of as sticking their heads in the sand to avoid danger. But what they actually do is flop down on the ground and play dead. In the investment world, an ostrich is an investor who ignores negative news, hoping that it will just go away.

This description certainly seems to fit Paul Manafort, 69, who is facing a 32-count indictment. If convicted, he could be facing decades in prison. For timing, we look to the ostrich life cycle – their eggs take about 40 days to hatch and an ostrich can live up to 40 years in captivity. So we should know about the Manafort verdict within 40 days.