I don’t often indulge in reflection… but when I do, well, y’all are welcome to come along.  Decades of living with one foot in a flip-flop and the other in a wingtip lends itself to a rather odd set of life-skills and friendships.

Tonight I celebrate a series of Trumpian winnamins with a comfy cigar, and hat-tip at sunset to all y’all.  Having lived every.single.line of these two songs, and still planning on sliding in sideways to the pearly gates: ‘wow, whatta ride‘, well, no greater love. True.

Cheers.  All y’all pirates.

Be back later.

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Bathing in the glory of MAGA winning, and being so unbelievably thankful, so thankful, is like:

EU Parliament member Daniel Hannan discusses the background of Prime Minister May’s inept approach toward exiting the EU; her future, and the future of the Brexit process, and President Trump calling out NATO allies.

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Methinks this NATO summit will be very interesting…

Stunningly confrontational remarks today from EU President Donald Tusk as U.S. President Trump and First Lady Melania arrive in Brussels for a NATO summit.

After destroying nationalistic Brexit plans for the U.K. to exit the European Union, the insufferable arrogance of the EU surfaces with pontificating snark.

The EU might feel emboldened right now, but this approach will not end well; believe me.

Brussels – Speaking on the eve of the NATO summit here in Brussels, I would like to address President Trump directly, who for a long time now has been criticising Europe almost daily for, in his view, insufficient contributions to the common defence capabilities, and for living off the US.

Dear President Trump: America does not have, and will not have a better ally than Europe. Today Europeans spend on defence many times more than Russia, and as much as China. And I think you can have no doubt, Mr President, that this is an investment in common American and European defence and security. Which can’t be said with confidence about Russian or Chinese spending.

I would therefore have two remarks here. First of all, dear America, appreciate your allies, after all you don’t have that many. And, dear Europe, spend more on your defence, because everyone respects an ally that is well-prepared and equipped.

Money is important, but genuine solidarity is even more important. Speaking about solidarity, I want to dispel the American President’s argument, which says that the US alone protects Europe against our enemies, and that the US is almost alone in this struggle.

Europe was first to respond on a large scale when the US was attacked, and called for solidarity after 9/11. European soldiers have been fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with American soldiers in Afghanistan. 870 brave European men and women sacrificed their lives, including 40 soldiers from my homeland Poland.

Dear Mr President, please remember about this tomorrow, when we meet at the NATO summit, but above all when you meet president Putin in Helsinki. It is always worth knowing: who is your strategic friend? And who is your strategic problem?  (link)

WATCH:

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Remember: every parasite needs a host. As soon as the host refuses to remain co-dependent to its own abuse or demise, the abusers begin to panic.

It was exactly a month ago, June 10th after the G7 summit in Canada, when EU European Union President Donald Tusk worried about the Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama “new world order” legacy being dismantled:

“What worries me most is the fact that the rules-based international order is being challenged, quite surprisingly, not by the usual suspects, but by its main architect and guarantor: the US.”

(link)

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A condescending European jerk.

President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive at Melsbroek Air Base in Brussels, Belgium ahead of the NATO summit Wednesday and Thursday.  The First Family will be staying at the EU Chief of Mission residence.

Earlier this morning, President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump depart the White House to board Marine-1 for the first leg of their trip to Europe.  President Trump stops to answer brief questions from the White House Press Pool:

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[Transcript] Q (Inaudible) on Brexit?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, it’s going to be an interesting time in the UK, and it’s certainly going to be an interesting time with NATO. NATO has not treated us fairly, but I think we’ll work something out. We pay far too much and they pay far too little. But we will work it out, and all countries will be happy. With the UK, that’s a situation that’s been going on for a long time.

So I have NATO, I have the UK, which is in somewhat turmoil, and I have Putin. Frankly, Putin may be the easiest of them all. Who would think? Who would think? But the UK certainly has a — they have a lot of things going on.

Q Have you talked with Theresa May since Boris (inaudible)?

THE PRESIDENT: I have not. No, I have not. But Boris Johnson is a friend of mine. He’s been very, very nice to me and very supportive. And maybe we’ll speak to him when I get over there. I like Boris Johnson. I’ve always liked him.

Q But should Theresa May remain in power?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, that’s up to the people. I get along with her very well. I have a very good relationship. That’s certainly up to the people, not up to me.

Q On NATO, Donald Tusk, about half an hour ago, said that you should appreciate America’s allies because you don’t have very many. What do you say to —

THE PRESIDENT: Well, we do have a lot of allies, but we cannot be taken advantage of. We’re being taken advantage of by the European Union. We lost $151 billion last year on trade. And on top of that, we spend at least 70 percent for NATO. And, frankly, it helps them a lot more than it helps us. So we’ll see what happens. We have a long, beautiful week.

I will say also, last night was an incredible evening.

Brett Kavanaugh has gotten rave reviews — rave reviews — actually, from both sides. And I think it’s going to be a beautiful thing to watch over the next month. But he has gotten rave reviews.

Q Vladimir Putin (inaudible) friend or foe?

THE PRESIDENT: I really can’t say right now. As far as I’m concerned, a competitor. A competitor. I think that getting along with Russia, getting along with China, getting along with others is a good thing, not a bad thing. I’ve said that many times for many years. So we’ll see. We’re meeting with Vladimir Putin on Monday. We’ll see how that goes.

Q (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT: They didn’t give it. I have it for him. They didn’t give it. But it will be given at a certain period. I actually do — I actually do have a little gift for him, but you’ll find out what that gift is when I give it.

Q (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT: No, I haven’t. I really haven’t. We haven’t discussed it.

Q (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I have a solution: Tell people not to come to our country illegally. That’s the solution. Don’t come to our country illegally. Come like other people do; come legally.

Q (Inaudible.)

THE PRESIDENT: I’m saying this, very simply: We have laws. We have borders. Don’t come to our country illegally. It’s not a good thing. And as far as ICE is concerned, the people that are fighting ICE, it’s a disgrace. These people go into harm’s way. There is nobody under greater danger than the people from ICE. What they do to MS-13 and everything else.

So we ought to support ICE, not do what the Democrats are doing. Democrats want open borders, and they don’t mind crime. We want no crime, and we want borders where borders mean something. And remember this: Without borders, you do not have a country.

Thank you, everybody.

[Transcript END]

Prayers for a safe and secure trip.

You gotta give President Trump credit for controlling the media cycle.  Tonight at 9:00pm President Donald Trump will announce his Supreme Court pick in a prime-time address.

It has been reported that four candidates remain in the running: Amy Coney Barrett, Thomas Hardiman, Brett Kavanaugh, and Raymond Kethledge.

UPDATE: President Trump nominates Brett Kavanaugh !!

Livestream Link – NBC Livestream Link – USA Today Livestream – Alternate Livestream

It is more than likely President Trump and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross knew this was in the making several months ago.  In hindsight it now appears Germany presented a false proposal to U.S. Ambassador Richard Grenell intentionally to poke him in the eye.

Germany has sealed the fate of their auto-industry with a multi-company agreement to manufacture vehicles in China and share all their intellectual processes therein.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German companies signed a series of agreements with Chinese partners at a meeting of Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister Li Keqiang in Berlin on Monday, according to a document seen by Reuters. Following are details of them:

♦BASF signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China’s Guangdong Province to look at building a highly-integrated chemical production site there, BASF said.

♦[…]  BMW and its joint venture partner Brilliance Automotive Group Holdings (1114.HK) have agreed to expand production capacity at BMW Brilliance Automotive’s two sites in China to a total of 520,000 BMW brand vehicles in 2019, BMW said.  In addition, it said the two companies had agreed that the all-electric BMW iX3 would be exported from China to other markets.

♦[…] Bosch and Chinese electric vehicle startup NIO agreed to cooperate on sensor technology, automated driving, electric motor controls and intelligent transport systems.

♦[…] Volkswagen said its Spanish brand SEAT would return to the Chinese market in 2020/21 as part of an agreement with China’s Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group (JAC) (600418.SS) to develop electric vehicles.  VW, SEAT and JAC will jointly set up a new research and development center in China to develop electric cars as well as technologies for connectivity and autonomous driving, it said.  (read more)

On its face this seems like a poor decision on the part of Germany, however within multinational trade constructs the alignments are a heavy blend of the political and the financial.   Germany is aligning their interests ideologically with China and as a consequence they will likely see ZERO benefit in any trade negotiation with the U.S.

Chancellor Merkel is taking a gamble here, because China is aligning with Iran in the energy sector; and as an extended consequence Merkel’s auto industry will likely face 20% import tariffs from the U.S.

Chinese built BMWs will likely not hold much appeal in the U.S; and the structure of this German-China deal has downstream ramifications making the U.S. exit from NAFTA more urgent; thereby cutting off the workaround the EU -specifically BMW- was counting on from the new Mexican auto plant set to begin production next year.

Immediately following the 2016 election (December), President Trump warned BMW (and others) about opening a manufacturing plant in Mexico; Trump suggested such a decision might backfire.  BMW ignored the warning and contracted with Mexico for an auto plant with intentions to use NAFTA to bring the completed cars to market.

The plant is anticipated to be operational in 2019; however, it is now increasingly likely that NAFTA will be dissolved and President Trump is threatening a 20% auto-tariff to any imported cars.

BMW was planning on using the NAFTA loophole to assemble EU auto parts in Mexico for duty-free transport into the U.S.   However, now there’s a likelihood the BMW sedans planned to be built in Mexico could be subject to U.S. tariffs and they cannot gain benefit from the NAFTA loophole.

BMW builds SUVs in Spartanburg, South Carolina.  The reason they build them there is due to a 25% pre-Trump existing tariff on imported SUV’s.   It looks like BMW made a bad decision to build an car plant in Mexico; although their position as expressed within the Reuters article fails to mention this aspect at all.   Obviously they don’t mention the 2016 warning from President-Elect Trump either.

The alliances will not end well for the EU.  This is a perfect opportunity for President Trump to push a bilateral trade deal with the U.K…. but British political leadership is too stupid to see the opportunity.

President Donald Trump used twitter today to begin a process. [BACKSTORY HERE] This is another example of using brutal honesty in digestible doses to change the reference points of most international observers.  Few have any real understanding of the dynamic between the U.S. and North Korea vis-a-vis China.

This tweet is serious business.  It is fired directly into the heart of Beijing.  It is the mother of all truth bombs, and it takes away the ability of Chairman Xi to act in sunlight.

“Subtle” like a brick through a window. [Backstory available here.]  President Trump is removing the Panda mask to reveal the authentic nature of Chairman Xi Jinping.  Simultaneously Trump is trying to rescue Kim Jong-un from the clutches of the Red dragon behind the mask.

Watch Steven Mnuchin to see if enhanced treasury sanctions resurface now.