Hey Nowwhat, you bring up some very good and interesting points in this post. I do think the crypto market is being manipulated more than usual in this politically charged environment. However, I still think the macro environment effects have more to do with the short to midterm results. By macro, I am referring to two basic components. 1) the bitcoin halving cycle every 4 years since the beginning. This is a pure supply change every 4 years regardless of politics and who says what. 2) the fact the crypto market is truly global and the acceptance has been steadily growing over time.
I think both of these factors outweigh the obvious grift that is going on and political meddling. Ironically, with the trump meme coins grift, this actually dampened the 4-year cycle, IMHO, as it pulled significant sector capital from what should have been going into the leading crypto's at this time. I expect this to be somewhat short lived as it is an obvious grift and will be mostly exploited by foreign players rather than pulled from otherwise invested capital in bitcoin. JMHO