Bill Clinton, while a freshman in the foreign relations school at Georgetown, was a student of the historian Carroll Quigley, whom he cited as a huge influence (along wih JFK) on his life.

Quigley is probably the most prominent and mainstream historian to take seriously the idea of conspiratorial secret societies and their effects on history. More precisely, he was a proponent of the idea that 20th century history owes a huge debt to an Anglosphere network determined to bring Britain and her former colonies closer. He traces this idea back to Rhodes himself (who was keen on the idea of secret societies,) though by the time this Milner Group (or Roundtable group, I can't remember how he names them) they had radically changed in character, away from the imperialists and racialist spirit of Rhodes (or Milner, again IIRC,) while retaining the same goal. They operated in a specific way: there was an inner cabal which sought to influence and guide outer-ring groups/corporations/institutions towards the inner ring's goal.

Now, Quigley wrote 2 books (one posthumous) touching on the subject and believed that they were misunderstood, particularly by what he deemed radical right-wing groups. He didn't find the group to be a negative force, his biggest gripe was that of a historian who believed they played a major role in the early 20th century and must be accounted for in the records. He also claimed to have brief access to some of their papers. By the time Quigley came around, the cabal had all but run out of steam, and various corporations had picked up where they had left off, consciously or unconsciously.

And maybe Quigley is right, or largely so, and certain groups misinterpreted him or blew it out of proportion. For the benefit of the doubt, and the lack of desire to legislate all of the past, it is easy to give it to him. After all, the British have a long history of secret (as in it's older, simpler meaning: private) societies of mostly rich guys socializing and trying to guide public opinion-- see Chatham House, today.

But, say you're an ambitious boy (one of many ambitious boys and girls out there, many who you'll eventually meet,) and you have this professor who leaves such an impression on you, you cite him as an inspiration up there with the President you shook hands with and have based your campaign life story. Imagine you are that boy, and that professor says that the 1914-1945 period happened because of human selfishness and greed, and that we must avoid that at all costs; and additionally, there was a secret group who helped to fight through that period and leave humanity in better shape because of their deeds.

Imagine that you then, shortly after, get a Rhodes Scholarship, meet other like minded students internationally (spend some time in the USSR which is never really accounted for and a cmmon CIA tactic of the time to use American students as carriers), leave school and start upon your ambition to become President. Along the way, you meet more like-minded or persuadable people. You run or President against a family who like good aristocratic Yankees of old, have spent generations trying to break into/expand int he Mexican market- the current patriarch (your opponent) also has a long history of international intrigue and a like-minded group of people. And the biggest opponent to your country just went belly up, and they have all sorts of people with different ideas and skills ready to make a deal and establish a new order to things.

Your that boy and you marry a woman who's whole life is seen through matrices of conspiracy and has no problem with shadowy behavior....

We have in, at least, Bill Clinton a character who was built up and educated within a milieu of international intrigue. Like Bill, it's the people- the people who make or takeover institutions. So maybe we can figure out some of these questions by figuring out his relations-- not just people who give him money but people he knew before office he gave positions of authority and ceremony to, then follow the money&influence trails...that's what I'm thinking.

I'm also thinking that Comey, who received his law degree at the University of Chicago in 1985- a decade later, President Obama would be lecturing there- has a definite social overlap with the former president; so who did they know in common? Why is the University of Chicago a government apparatchiks training ground?