Category Blogger C0nservative Tree House

Apr 9 2025

NEC Director Hassett Says So Many Nation Phone Calls Requesting Trade Negotiations They are Struggling with Scheduling


Posted originally on CTH on April 8, 2025 | Sundance

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett appeared on Fox News to discuss the first week impact from President Trump’s global trade reset and implementation of reciprocal tariffs.

Director Kevin Hassett notes that so many countries are calling and requesting to renegotiate their trade agreements, the National Economic Council is having difficulty keeping up with appointment scheduling and establishing a prioritization list for President Trump to review.

That said, Hassett notes that Japan and South Korea will likely be the first two nations for U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and President Trump to engage with.  Apparently, Xi Jinping (China) and Ursula von der Leyen (EU) will ride their bicycles in slow circles at the bottom of the White House driveway while angrily staring at the windows.

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It looks like Kevin “Quokka” Hassett is having fun.

Apr 9 2025

U.S. Supreme Court Begins Dismantling Federal Judge “Temporary Restraining Orders” Against Constitutional Executive Branch Action


Posted originally on CTH on April 8, 2025 | Sundance

Many pundits and apoplectic Lawfare leftists are noting a set of four recent Supreme Court rulings favorable to the Trump administration.

The most recent ruling [pdf here] said nonprofit groups lacked legal standing to bring lawsuits challenging the firings of probationary workers at the departments of Defense, Treasury, Energy, Interior, Agriculture and Veterans Affairs.  As a consequence, the accompanying Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) is defeated.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court also ruled -generally favorable- to the Trump administration [pdf here] on the issue of Venezuelans in the United States labeled by President Donald Trump as “alien enemies.”  The justices ruled (5-4) to vacate a lower judge’s order that imposed a block on all deportations under Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act.

However, the court ruled to remove the TRO under auspices of the wrong venue for challenge; saying the deportees must challenge their status in the district court where jurisdiction of detainment takes place.

That split court ruling follows on the heels of Chief Justice John Roberts issuing an administrative order indefinitely lifting a lower court injunction [pdf here] that demanded the return of previously deported Abrego Garcia set by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis.

In short, the Supreme Court, at least a narrow majority therein, appears to be knocking down the process of federal judge shopping to issue nationwide restraining orders against the Trump administration.  Twitter account Unseen1 has a solid and brief outline of what the court appears to be doing:

“The big win for Trump in the scotus today was not the resumption of deportations under the AEA (alien enemies act) (but that was big also). The major win was the court narrowing the federal district judges’ jurisdiction They once again narrowed the ability of the APA (administrative procedure act) which is the main law the vast majority of these unconditional judicial rulings have been made under.

The left is using the APA like Macgyver used bubble gum to get them out of sticky situations. Without the APA, they can’t judge shop as much. They can’t make class action lawsuits that have national injunctions attached.

In short, the scotus with this order, along with the one last week, is narrowing the use of the APA to reign in the lower federal district courts. There are already judicial remedies for almost all of these cases that do not involve a hand-picked federal district court needing to issue a national injunction or TRO.

Grants and contracts should be brought in federal claims court.

Immigration issues should be brought as habeas cases, and most can be held in front of immigration judges.

Government firings should be brought in front of the merit systems protection board.

The left doesn’t want to follow proper procedures for a host of reasons, like added costs, unfriendly judges could set precedent, extra work, time, etc. So, they invented the APA macgyver option. Hence, about 50 TROs/injunctions later, the scotus is smacking this practice down and telling them that this effort will not result in favorable opinions for them.

In short, the scotus is telling the federal district courts not to draw outside the lines regardless of the merits of the case because they will be denied on jurisdiction grounds if they reach the high court.” [link]

However, as noted by The American Thinker: {…} “The real problem is that the Supreme Court emphasized that every person named as an “alien enemy” under the AEA is entitled to judicial review. This is insane because it means that the judiciary will, once again, take unto itself the power to control foreign policy.

While this standard currently applies to the 18-20 million ordinary illegals that Biden let in (something no legislator or judge ever contemplated when immigration laws were passed or reviewed), it cannot possibly apply to the AEA, which is a question of foreign policy solely under the executive’s purview. (Sadly, though, Bondi’s DOJ actually gave the Supremes this opening, so part of the responsibility for this ludicrous holding is on her.) (more)

Apr 9 2025

#75 Attorney General Pam Bondi on Fox


Posted originally on CTH on April 8, 2025 | Sundance

Attorney General Pam Bondi makes her 75th appearance on Fox News this year to discuss the recent Supreme Court ruling generally supporting President Trump’s deportation policy.  WATCH:

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Performative.  Oh, and Boasberg did cancel the 3:00pm hearing.

Apr 9 2025

Commission President von der Leyen Coordinates EU Tariff Response with China


Posted originally on CTH on April 8, 2025 | Sundance

After previously saying her number one concern about President Trump’s tariff program was Beijing dumping all their excess products into the EU at a discount, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announces she is coordinating the tariff response with China.

Apparently, the EU recognizes the ideological alignment of support from Canada just isn’t going to be enough to pressure President Trump and retain leverage into the U.S. market.  This is quite a remarkable admission from von der Leyen all things considered.  [STATEMENT]

President von der Leyen held today a phone call with Premier Li Qiang to discuss the state of EU-China relations, as 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties.

The two leaders held a constructive discussion during which they took stock of bilateral and global issues.

The President underscored the vital importance of stability and predictability for the global economy. In response to the widespread disruption caused by the US tariffs, President von der Leyen stressed the responsibility of Europe and China, as two of world’s largest markets, to support a strong reformed trading system, free, fair and founded on a level playing field.

The President called for a negotiated resolution to the current situation, emphasising the need to avoid further escalation.

President von der Leyen emphasised China’s critical role in addressing possible trade diversion caused by tariffs, especially in sectors already affected by global overcapacity. The leaders discussed setting up a mechanism for tracking possible trade diversion and ensuring any developments are duly addressed. (more)

In the 2017 – 2019 version of the same dynamic, the EU was slow to realize the Trump impact to the Chinese economy would lead to less industrial purchases from Beijing.  This dynamic pushed the EU toward recession. In 2025 von der Leyen is trying to proactively mitigate that outcome.

This coordination of response between Brussels and Beijing is happening simultaneous to the Chinese central bank beginning a rapid devaluation of their currency.  Direct subsidies and currency manipulation are the first two approaches taken by any economy dependent on access to the U.S. market.

The difference this time is the scale of the tariffs President Trump is delivering.  There’s no way to subsidize and lower currency value at a rate significant enough to mitigate a near 50% tariff impact across all sectors.  China and the EU will subsidize and devalue, but they cannot repeat their prior defensive programs to this scale.

The key takeaway from this public admission by the EU President is to note how consequential the tariffs are to their parasitic endeavors.

The EU is directly working with Beijing against American interests.

Let that alignment settle in for a few moments.

Apr 9 2025

President Trump Bestows Great Honor on Nation of Japan


Posted originally on CTH on April 8, 2025 | Sundance

The decades long relationship between former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Donald Trump permeates through a recent announcement that Japan will be the first nation to enter the new era of trade negotiations with the United States.

Shinzo Abe was assassinated in July 2022, as he traveled throughout Japan gaining support for increased national military development.  As businessmen and later politicians Donald Trump and Shinzo Abe (RIP) had a decades long friendship grounded in mutual respect and competition.

[SOURCE]

To understand the dynamic of President Trump giving the nation of Japan the position as the first nation to enter new trade negotiations, a high honor, is to understand the business relationship between the U.S and Japan in the post-World War II (40 yr) period between 1950 and 1990.  The formative years for both Japanese industry and President Trump’s business empire.

Following World War II the United States agreed to help both Europe and Japan rebuild from the devastation of war.  However, two entirely different industrial economic models were used.

For Europe the U.S. gave them money through the Marshall Plan, a process of one-way tariffs which helped them rebuild their nations.  For Japan we gave them W Edwards Demming, an industrial engineer and extraordinarily brilliant mind in the processes of efficiency and industrial production.

In essence, to generate the reindustrialization of both economies, we gave the EU a fish (money), but we taught Japan how to fish; how to be create and build exceptional industry.

In the decades that followed, the EU rebuilt their capitalistic industrial base from the trade and tariff money we permitted them to exploit.  The EU rebuilt from their historic systems, upgrading to newer industrial technology.  Japan, however, learned deeper more technical skills from the Demming process of industrial capacity building, a critically strong excellence in quality manufacturing and attention to specific details in all processes.

It did not take long before the results of quality in design and Japanese manufacturing surfaced in the sector of automobiles, and later consumer electronics.  The U.S. auto industry was slow to adapt to the Japanese quality focus and began losing market share to Toyota, Datsun, Nissan and Honda.

Throughout this period, President Trump and Shinzo Abe were on opposite sides of the industrial competition.  Trump railing about Japan, and later aggregate Asia exploiting our generosity; Abe smiling and joking with his friend that despite Trump’s grievances, tomorrow Eric will be purchasing 1,500 Sony televisions for his next Hotel.

And so it went….

The friendship grew, the competition was intense but incredibly respectful, and both Shinzo Abe and Donald Trump became men of great influence whose partnership in competition was always visible.

Prime Minister Abe knew what President Trump was trying to achieve.  In turn, President Trump knew Abe would remain a fierce Japan-first trade competitor to the America-first program.  Tremendous respect and mutual admiration underpinned their geopolitical efforts.

No single picture better exemplified the nature of Trump and Abe as the G7 summit picture taken in Canada as the ripple effects of Trump’s first-term trade and tariff program against China (mostly) started to hit the global economy.

As China started to feel the pressure from President Trump forming new ASEAN partnerships, China started pulling back from ordering heavy industrial goods from Europe. The EU, specifically the German economy, felt the lessening of Chinese manufacturing via diminished orders.  However, a respectful Japan positioned their trade agreements for benefit, but also for benefit of American workers.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe knew there was nothing to fear from President Trump’s global trade reset.  Unless, that is, you were a nation taking unfair advantage of the generosity provided by America.

It makes total sense in the big picture for President Trump to honor the legacy of Shinzo Abe, and the respectful connections to Japan by granting them the first position in the schedule of the global trade reset.

Total sense.

Apr 8 2025

President Trump Holds a Presser with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu


Posted originally on CTH on April 8, 2025 | Sundance

Timing his visit with a stock market “pump and dump”, executed by his friend Bill Ackman and intended to create domestic political turmoil, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits President Trump in the White House.

Smartly, the strategic team in the White House saw the Ackman ‘pump and dump’ as it was triggered and cancelled the formal bilateral press conference in favor of a sit-down open presser in the Oval Office. Recovering from the failure of the strategic headline narrative effort (irrelevant questions about the fake news 90-day tariff pause), Netanyahu was then forced to retreat and outline his remarks unscripted.

President Trump then sat back (semi-detached) and watched Netanyahu discuss tariffs, “the subject of great interest today.” Netanyahu proclaimed that Israel agrees with President Trump about the exploitative use of tariffs against American interests, and President Trump wondered if the viewing audience noticed that if one-way Israeli tariffs were so bad for the “good friend of Israel” then why were they in place? WATCH:

President Trump noted his administration was having direct talks with Iran about their nuclear ambitions.  Stating “we cannot be the stupid people anymore,” the coded messages of geopolitical gamesmanship were very visible from President Trump.

The media questions come at the 9:00 minute mark.  This is the Big Leagues folks.  This is where the major league geopolitical power moves and counter-moves take place, trillions are at stake and generational change is afoot.  As President Trump rightly says, “we have one shot at this folks,” and I believe he is the great American leader to do it.

Bring the thunder!

Apr 8 2025

President Trump Warns China of “Additional 50 Percent Tariff and No Negotiations” Effective April 9th


Posted originally on CTH on April 7, 2025 | Sundance

President Trump is swinging the BIG UGLY hammer against the panda and the Beijing dragon behind it.

President Trump (Via Truth Social) –  “Yesterday, China issued Retaliatory Tariffs of 34%, on top of their already record setting Tariffs, Non-Monetary Tariffs, Illegal Subsidization of companies, and massive long term Currency Manipulation, despite my warning that any country that Retaliates against the U.S. by issuing additional Tariffs, above and beyond their already existing long term Tariff abuse of our Nation, will be immediately met with new and substantially higher Tariffs, over and above those initially set.

Therefore, if China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th. Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated! Negotiations with other countries, which have also requested meetings, will begin taking place immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”  [LINK]

It must also be noted, this global reset and tariff system is visibly the fracture point between the Tech Bros and MAGA economic nationalists.  Elon Musk and Bill Ackman are now directly in opposition to President Trump and the global trade reset.

You know that ‘cleaving’ I was talking about? The issue of the Tech Bros -vs- MAGA?  Well, tariffs are the trigger.

Tech Bros do not know borders. Their industry and business sector are borderless. Tariffs are bold economic lines around a border.

  • Musk vs Navarro
  • Ackman vs Lutnick
  • Sacks vs Hassett

Tariffs are where the interests of the Tech Bros financially diverge from MAGA. The globalists and multinational corps who know this, specifically the EU team, will exploit this fracture point. They will target U.S. Tech industry in their tariff avoidance strategy to create division.  This is what EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is talking about when she says “countermeasures”.  Watch for it.

Apr 8 2025

Peter Navarro -vs- CNBC


Posted originally on CTH onApril 7, 2025 | Sundance 

White House senior policy advisor for Manufacturing and Trade, Peter Navarro, appears on CNBC television for an almost 20-minute long debate of Wall Street vs Main Street.

Navarro represents MAGAnomic nationalism, the rest of the CNBC panel represent the interests of Wall Street and their friends and neighbors who manage hedge funds and connected financial instruments.  Navarro held his own.  WATCH:

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Apr 7 2025

President Trump Delivers Impromptu Remarks to Media Discussing Tariffs and Trade Reset with Media


Posted originally on CTH on April 7, 2025 | Sundance 

President Trump smartly remained quiet after delivering the economic thunder-shock with his national security tariffs and new global trade expectations.  Now President Trump takes questions from the media about the initial reactions to the seismic event he created.

“China needs to solve the problem of the trade deficit with have with them,” is codespeak for China needs to open their markets to U.S. companies that have already established a footprint, AND China needs to purchase U.S. goods.  Despite the size of China, President Trump knows Beijing will never comply in earnest, so he gives the Panda a few words, but doesn’t give it too much time until the Dragon comes out from behind the mask.

President Trump notes he has “spoken to a lot of leaders from Europe and Asia” this weekend.  However, now is that powerful moment in any negotiation when the principal has clearly outlined his position, then remain silent as the opposition responds.   The “tariffs are instituted, they are not going away,” Trump said.

When questioned about having a “threshold” of “pain he is willing to tolerate,” President Trump notes the “question is stupid.”  We are responding to opposition who are playing a zero-sum game, there is no level of pain too intolerable when ultimately your survival as a nation is at stake.  Either we do, and win – or, we do not and die, that is our current status.

When questioned about having a zero-tariff agreement with Europe, President Trump references the scale of the imbalance.  “There’s no talk possible” with the EU unless they acquiesce.  Every country wants to make a deal, but “this is not sustainable” President Trump repeats.

When questioned about Tik Tok, President Trump notes there was a likely deal with China, but then Beijing responded to the tariffs and said the deal around the social media platform ownership was no longer possible.  Trump doesn’t care, he wants a TikTok deal; but ultimately, the tariffs are more important.

President Trump then weaves through the Russia conflict, bombs are still bad, and the Middle east conflict, Gaza is still full of terrorists, and moves directly into domestic national security.

President Trump then reaffirms he has not agreed to reduce, soften or smooth any tariffs against any nation.  The tariffs are in place, they will remain in place, and the global trade reset will continue until America wins. Period.

The remarks were ‘Full force Big Ugly‘ and the winnamins were flying off the shelves for 15 straight minutes.  I could not be more proud of our president.

HOLD THE LINE !

Apr 7 2025

Attorney General Pam Bondi #73


Posted originally on CTH on April 7, 2025 | Sundance 

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi appears for her 73rd performance on Fox News this year.

As the DOJ embeds continue working diligently against the interest of the Trump administration, the top of the DOJ leadership structure appears for another performance to discuss the outcome of the embed diligence.  Yes, that’s the non-pretending reality currently being faced.

Not all, but many in key positions, are career DOJ lawyers working passively (weak arguments) and with willful blindness (purposeful mistakes) to undermine the agenda of President Trump.  The whac-o-mole General Bondi outlines is both external in the courts and internal in the Main Justice ranks.  Lawfare operatives are like cells within the larger body awaiting their turn to self-detonate.  WATCH:

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