Senate Majority Whip John Thune Positions to Support National Mail-In Ballots…


One of the more challenging facets to awakening the general public on the scale of corruption within Washington DC is the need for people to drop party designations. This is never more true than within the U.S. Senate where the “us -vs- them” mentality reigns supreme.

The system is created to self-sustain regardless of party affiliation. The Senate is one club with one perspective. Within that club rule #1 dominates: none of the members will ever expose another member. So when there is corrupt activity within the Senate no-one from within the institution with expose another. This is the way of the Senate and how it operates.

(L-R) Barrasso, Blunt, McConnell, Thune and Ernst.

Current Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has a leadership group who carry out the institutional objectives of the upper chamber as a body, they include: Senator John Thune (whip); Senator John Barrasso (conference chair); Roy Blunt (committee chair); Todd Young (NRSC chair); Jodi Ernst (conference vice-chair); and Chuck Grassley (president pro tempore). None of these senators make a move publicly without approval from Leader McConnell.

Today Senate Whip John Thune rebuked the mail-in ballot concerns expressed by President Trump. Thune does this because ultimately the objectives of the upper chamber are more favorably aligned if President Trump is removed.

WASHINGTON DC – […] Asked if he agreed with the president’s repeated charges that mailed-in balloting will lead to a “rigged election” and “massive voter fraud,” the Senate majority whip told reporters, “I don’t.”

“Mailed-in voting has been used in a lot of places for a long time and, honestly, we’ve got a lot of folks that, as you know, they’re investing heavily in trying … to win that war. It’s always a war too for mail-in ballots. Both sides compete, and it’s always an area where I think our side, at least in my experience, has done pretty well,” Thune answered, adding: “I think we want to assure people it’s going to work, it’s secure and if they vote that way it’s going to count.” (read more)

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Foreign Press is Seriously Questioning Biden’s Cognitive Ability


 

Is Joe Biden’s Lack of Cognitive Skills a Democrat Diversionary Tactic?


Only God Almighty and in-person voting will stop that from ever happening

Judi McLeod image

Re-posted from the Canada Free Press By  —— Bio and ArchivesAugust 3, 2020

Is Joe Biden’s Lack of Cognitive Skills a Democrat Diversionary Tactic?

During much of the 2016 presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton fell up and down stairs, including losing a shoe when she was tossed into a waiting van when she was purportedly overcome by heat while attending a Sept. 11, 2016, 9/11 Memorial event.

Hillary Clinton wobbling outside a van

“During the presidential campaign, cameras caught Clinton leaving the 9/11 memorial in Manhattan and collapsing into the arms of Secret Service agents as she got into a waiting van. She later announced she’d been diagnosed with dehydration and pneumonia.” (RealClearPolitics, Sept. 11, 2016)

“Raw video from the scene in New York showed Hillary Clinton wobbling outside a van before she falls and is assisted into the vehicle. Clinton abruptly left a 9/11 memorial event due to the heat, according to her campaign.

“MORE ON #HILLARY per witness: “unexpected early departure”; she stumbled off curb, “knees buckled”, lost a shoe as she was helped into van
— RickLeventhalFoxNews (@RickLeventhal) September 11, 2016

“Alternate angle shows a close-up of Clinton falling down:

NEW VIDEO HILLARY COLLAPSES SEIZURE FALLS SEPT 11 MEMORIAL

“A closeup shows a piece of metal falling out from her right pant leg”.

In the 2020 Election campaign, media attention focuses on presumptive Democrat Joe Biden’s apparent lack cognitive skills

“Perhaps most infamously, Clinton fell inside her home in 2013 on the eve of testimony before a Senate committee investigating Benghazi. She got a mild concussion and was treated for a blood clot near her brain. (Daily Mail, March 13, 2018)

“When she appeared in Congress to testify, she was wearing special prism eyeglass lenses, which are used to assist people experiencing double vision.”

Much ado was made by the media over Clinton’s seemingly unstoppable stumbling—which curiously ended with the beginning of the televised 2016 presidential debates.

In the 2020 Election campaign, media attention focuses on presumptive Democrat Joe Biden’s apparent lack cognitive skills.

Scads of online videos show Biden struggling to finish sentence he began, rhyming off incorrect states he’s visited and even seeming not to know what day it is.

Biden’s verbal misspeaks have called for his cognitive testing.

“Not a joke and not hyperbole – I’m hearing from people close to the situation that Biden’s cognitive decline is rapidly worsening and is becoming increasingly difficult to mask. The Democrats are going to have to make a decision soon.” (@dbongino, Aug. 2, 2020)

Cunning Democrats will do anything to replace Donald Trump with Joe Biden as president.

Maybe the Dems have already filled out their mail-in vote election ballots, Mr. B.

But what if both Clinton’s falls and Biden’s confusion are part of a Democrat political tactic called diverting the attention of the public?

Back in 2016 when Clinton was falling, millions were speculating about the state of her health. No one was talking about her Benghazi and email scandals anymore.

Cunning Democrats will do anything to replace Donald Trump with Joe Biden as president.

Taking advantage of the public’s fear of the pandemic, they are calling for a universal mail-in vote,  and at last count, were well on their way to achieving it.

They have other dangerous games at play.

You can’t make this stuff up:

“Democrats are contemplating secession and potential civil war as they game out possible scenarios for a closely contested election, according to a report by Ben Smith in a New York Times column Sunday. (Breitbart, Aug. 2, 2020)

“The bulk of Smith’s column is devoted to the question of how the media will handle Election Night coverage, given that the result may not be known for weeks. Vote-by-mail, which many states have only recently adopted — ostensibly, to prevent the spread of coronavirus in polling places — could lead to an uncertain result.

“However, buried near the end of Smith’s column is a report that Democrats have participated in a “war game” in which they considered several possible outcomes of the election.

The result: the threat of secession by the entire West Coast, followed by the possible intervention of the U.S. armed forces

“In one scenario, John Podesta — the former chair of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, and a leading figure in party circles — played former Vice President Joe Biden, and refused to concede the election.

“The result: the threat of secession by the entire West Coast, followed by the possible intervention of the U.S. armed forces:

“But conveniently, a group of former top government officials called the Transition Integrity Project actually gamed four possible scenarios, including one that doesn’t look that different from 2016: a big popular win for Mr. Biden, and a narrow electoral defeat, presumably reached after weeks of counting the votes in Pennsylvania. For their war game, they cast John Podesta, who was Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, in the role of Mr. Biden. They expected him, when the votes came in, to concede, just as Mrs. Clinton had.

“But Mr. Podesta, playing Mr. Biden, shocked the organizers by saying he felt his party wouldn’t let him concede. Alleging voter suppression, he persuaded the governors of Wisconsin and Michigan to send pro-Biden electors to the Electoral College.

In that scenario, California, Oregon, and Washington then threatened to secede from the United States if Mr. Trump took office as planned

“In that scenario, California, Oregon, and Washington then threatened to secede from the United States if Mr. Trump took office as planned.

“The House named Mr. Biden president; the Senate and White House stuck with Mr. Trump. At that point in the scenario, the nation stopped looking to the media for cues, and waited to see what the military would do.

“Notably, on Election Night in 2016, Podesta publicly refused to concede the election to President Donald Trump.”

Meanwhile, it suits the power-crazed Democrats if Joe Biden has serious cognitive problems—because if elected it won’t be Joe Biden but his vice president, Barack Obama and other Democrats running the White House.

Only God Almighty and in-person voting will stop that from ever happening.

Have New Epstein Docs Ended Hillary’s Dream?


The word behind the curtain is that these charges against Maxwell, and the unsealing of previously sealed documents, have put an end to any hope that the Democrats could draft Hillary to replace Biden. In a recently unsealed court document involving Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, Virginia Giuffre said that former Democratic President Bill Clinton was on Epstein’s island with “two young girls” from New York.

Guiffre was questioned by a lawyer named Jack Scarola who asked: “Do you have any recollection of Jeffrey Epstein’s specifically telling you that ‘Bill Clinton owes me favors?’” To which she answered: “Yes, I do.” Guiffre further answered. “It was a laugh though. He would laugh it off. You know, I remember asking Jeffrey what’s Bill Clinton doing here kind of thing, and he laughed it off and said well he owes me favors.”

Hillary said as a child she did not dream of being president of the United States. She has stated: “It never crossed my mind.” Yet her marriage to Bill has been a political one and her ’60s women-lib dogma indeed made her dream of becoming the first woman president. Perhaps that was her problem. It was all about being a woman rather than what she could do for the nation. I have known many women politicians. Never in a single moment did I ever think about Margaret Thatcher as being a woman and neither did she. It was always about policy and the nation. It was not some quest to prove a woman could be the head of state. Hillary could never make that distinction, for it was all about just being the first woman president.

The famous interview of  Gennifer Flowers was published in London but barred in the United States because it revealed that Bill had told her that Hillary was bisexual. That was always the word behind the curtain, which began within the first month after they were in the White House.

It appears that Hillary’s dream is turning into a nightmare. She picked Bill and drove him into politics. She was the real mastermind. Now, she will not be able to get past Bill’s reputation.

 

SKY News on American Politics (Biden’s mental condition) from Australia


 

The View of American From Overseas


 

Hockey Scores A Goal For America


If this unpatriotic conduct continues, millions of Americans will not support such “great disrespect for our Country and our Flag” and these “woke” leagues will get their just deserts

Jeff Crouere image

Re-Posted from the Canada Free Press By  —— Bio and ArchivesAugust 1, 2020

Hockey Scores A Goal For America

It might be time for patriotic Americans to discover a new favorite sport, professional hockey. Unlike other professional athletes, hockey players have refused to show disrespect toward the National Anthem. At exhibition games this week, all players with the New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers stood for the National Anthem.

Likewise, for Thursday night’s start of the season, all the players with the Dallas Stars and the Nashville Predators stood for the National Anthem. After the game, a few of the Dallas players displayed their clothing featuring the slogan, #WeSkateforEquality.

The NHL is allowing players to support whatever cause they want for the upcoming season

The NHL is allowing players to support whatever cause they want for the upcoming season. Such advocacy is fine, part of our 1st Amendment rights of free speech. However, it is respectful for NHL players to advocate their causes on their own time and not during the playing of the National Anthem.

Unfortunately, such a message is anathema to the National Basketball Association. This league has won the title for being the most “woke.” In their Orlando “bubble,” the NBA painted “Black Lives Matter” next to the basketball court.

At Thursday night’s opening game between the Utah Jazz and the New Orleans Pelicans, every single player, coach, and referee knelt during the National Anthem. For good measure, all the players wore a “Black Lives Matter” shirt. Some raised their fist in a “Black Power” salute. Almost all the players wore social justice messages on their jerseys.

The NBA is fully onboard with the organization Black Lives Matter, despite the well-known Marxist training of the group’s founders. The leaders of the organization have also expressed support for policies which are both anti-family and anti-Semitic. Clearly, it does not matter to the NBA.

In the first three games of the NBA’s renewed season, only one player, Jonathan Isaac of the Orlando Magic, refused to kneel during the playing of the National Anthem. In addition, he did not wear a “Black Lives Matter” shirt. According to Isaac, “I felt like I wanted to take a stand. I feel like we all make mistakes but I think that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is grace for us and that Jesus came and died for our sins…and that when we understand this, we can get past skin color.”

The NBA considers itself to be an international league and is not concerned if it affiliates with the country posing the greatest threat to the national security and health of the United States

Isaac should be commended for his courageous stand. Unfortunately, he plays basketball for a league that is complicit with human rights abuses occurring in communist China. Why would the NBA care about the radical ideology of Black Lives Matter when it refuses to condemn the brutal communist regime in China?

A new ESPN report asserts that players as young as 13 are being physically abused and denied adequate education by coaches at NBA training academies in China. The anonymous coaches who were interviewed for the report claim that the NBA told them to cover-up the abusive behavior.

This communist dictatorship is very influential within the NBA, which profits handsomely from the relationship. Thus, no criticism of communist China is allowed. In October, when Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey tweeted a message of support to the young people fighting oppression in Hong Kong, the NBA forced him to apologize.

The leading star of the NBA, LeBron James, stated that Morey was “misinformed or not really educated on the situation.” Of course, Morey knows much more about “the situation” than James, who has never issued one negative comment toward China, a country that represses ethnic and religious minorities and is engaged in outright hostile and belligerent behavior toward the United States.

The NBA considers itself to be an international league and is not concerned if it affiliates with the country posing the greatest threat to the national security and health of the United States. It is well known that communist China lied about the origins and spread of Covid-19, which has become a worldwide pandemic.

While other professional sports leagues do not share the NBA’s disgusting position toward communist China, they do share a commitment to showcasing their social justice credentials

While other professional sports leagues do not share the NBA’s disgusting position toward communist China, they do share a commitment to showcasing their social justice credentials. In the opening games of the new Major League Baseball season, players knelt before and during the playing of the National Anthem. In addition, when the NFL starts their season in September, fans can expect almost all the players to kneel during the National Anthem as well.

This type of behavior certainly upsets traditional Americans. In a recent CBS News poll, a majority of Americans over the age of 65 opposed kneeling during the National Anthem. Nonetheless, in other age groups, there was more approval of the controversial gesture. Overall, 58% of Americans supported the right of athletes to kneel during the National Anthem.

This behavior is not acceptable to President Trump. Last week, he tweeted, “Looking forward to live sports, but any time I witness a player kneeling during the National Anthem, a sign of great disrespect for our Country and our Flag, the game is over for me!” This view was also expressed by Mike Ditka, former NFL broadcaster, coach, and Hall of Fame player with the Chicago Bears. He said that players who kneel during the National Anthem should “get the hell out of the country.”

Trump and Ditka might not speak for a majority of Americans, but if the 42% who are disgusted by kneeling decide to no longer watch the NFL and other professional sports with such protests, it will negatively impact ratings, which will ultimately devastate the financial bottom line for the leagues. If this unpatriotic conduct continues, millions of Americans will not support such “great disrespect for our Country and our Flag” and these “woke” leagues will get their just deserts.

The Delusional Demorats formerly the Democrats


Who You gonna believe? Your  lyin’ eyes or the Democrats?

Democrat Jerry Nadler recently claimed that Antifa violence was just a “myth”.  Is Nadless Nadler so out of touch with reality that fire bombs, statue toppling and entire downtowns engulfed in violence and riots don’t even register with him?

Maybe. But maybe, it is because the Democrat party agrees with their frothing at the mouth radical base, that America is racist and bad and the whole country should be burned to the ground.

Our Dumb Donkey friend just keeps repeating the talking points and will not hear the truth, his fingers are firmly planted in his ears.

Hillary won in 2016.

Barr is a Russian Agent of Evil.

Everything is racist.

Biden is firmly in the lead in all polls.

Orange Man Bad!

Would you give the control of the country to delusional Democrats? With Biden as President- Every city will be Portland or Seattle.

The silent majority is no longer silent.

Trump 2020 landslide.

Tina 

Jim Jordan Opening Statement on Big Tech Censorship…


At today’s assembly of Big Tech oligarchs; and contrast against a backdrop where Google Inc. could possibly be soon facing a DOJ antitrust case; Representative Jim Jordan delivers opening remarks that cut right to the heart of the matter.  WATCH:

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Even though the level of content manipulation that Google, Facebook and Twitter are pouring into the 2020 election cycle was anticipated, it is still incredible to watch them carryout the scheme so openly.

President Trump Impromptu Remarks Departing The White House – Video and Transcript…


Chopper pressers are the best pressers.  On his way to Texas, President Trump stopped for a brief press conference with the media prior to departure.  [Video and Transcript]

[Transcript] THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. We have a lot of things going on. As you know, we’re heading out to Texas right now.

But Portland — I’ll give you a little report on Portland: We have the courthouse very well secured. Our people have done a fantastic job. You hear all sorts of reports about us leaving. We’re not leaving until they’ve secured their city. We told the governor, we told the mayor: “Secure your city.” If they don’t secure their city soon, we have no choice — we’re going to have to go in and clean it out. We’ll do it very easily. We’re all prepared to do it.

So, in Portland, they either clean out their city and do the job and get rid of the anarchists and agitators, which is what they are. They’re not protesters; they’re anarchists and agitators. We have many in jail. Many of them have been put in jail. It’s going to be a long sentence. They either clean out their city and do it right, or we’re going to have to do it for them.

On CARES, I think — maybe, Steve, would you like to say something on that?

SECRETARY MNUCHIN: Well, as of now, we’re very far apart. And because of that, the President and we have discussed a short-term extension to UI and the evictions so that we have some period to negotiate before this runs out. And the President is very (inaudible).

THE PRESIDENT: We want to work on the evictions so that people don’t get evicted. We’ll work on the payments for the people. And the rest of it, we’re so far apart, we don’t care. We really don’t care. We want to take care of the people. The Democrats aren’t taking care of the people. The payments aren’t enough. The payments aren’t enough. You understand that. They’re not making the payments; they’re not making them high enough. The Democrats are not taking care of the people. Nancy Pelosi takes care of herself, but she doesn’t take care of anyone else.

If you look at what’s going on with Schumer: So when Schumer and Pelosi can get together and take care of the people, we’ll do something. In the meantime, we ought to stop evictions because that expires very soon. So we want to stop the evictions.

Q How do you rate Kamala Harris as a VP? There’s a rumor it’s going to be her.

THE PRESIDENT: I think she’d be a fine choice, Kamala Harris. She’d be a fine choice.

Q Sir, you said you want to pass a short-term bill? A short-term bill. Are you saying you want to pass a short-term bill?

THE PRESIDENT: I don’t hear a word you’re saying.

Q Mr. President, are you saying you want to pass a short-term bill?

SECRETARY MNUCHIN: Well, we’re looking at a deadline, obviously, of this Friday. The President is very focused on evictions and unemployment. And if we can’t reach an agreement by then, the President wants to look at giving us more time to negotiate this.

THE PRESIDENT: We’re focused on those two things. We want to take care of them now. The rest, we can discuss later. They want big bailout money for Democrats that ran cities terribly. Their cities are going down the tubes. If you look at Portland, if you look at what’s going in Seattle — Democrat-run cities, whether you like it or not, they’re terribly run, and they’re always over-taxed. So they’ve taxed them too much and they run them poorly. And we don’t like that.

And what the Democrats want are bailout funds, and what we want is we want to take care of people. And we should reward most of this country that’s well run. You know, most of the country is very well run. You’re watching a Portland and you’re watching Seattle. You’re watching New York, where they had a 400 percent increase in crime. Four hundred percent. My city that I love, that I left to do this job, and they had a 400 percent increase, and it’s unacceptable.

But most of the country is very well run, and Republican cities are very well run. And it’s a shame to reward badly run, radical-left Democrats, with all of this money that they’re looking for, for cities — to throw it away on cities that are poorly run.

Q Are you confident that Russia did not place bounties on U.S. troops?

THE PRESIDENT: I don’t — I told you, I certainly read about it, and since then, I’ve talked about it. Colin Powell says it’s not true. Colin Powell is not exactly somebody that I’m a big fan of. Colin Powell says it’s not true. Other people say it’s not true.

If it were true, I’d be very angry about it. But if you look at Russia, Russia became Russia from the Soviet Union because of Afghanistan. They lost a fortune and a lot of people — a lot of people.

So I don’t know why they’d be doing it. But if you tell me they’re doing it, I will certainly take that under consideration.

Q How would you respond if Russia did turn out to have done that? How would you respond? Would you do sanctions?

THE PRESIDENT: I would respond appropriately. Nobody has been tougher on Russia. Nobody has been tougher on China. Nobody has been tougher on Iran than me, and it’s not even close. And everybody knows this. Nobody has been tougher on Russia, China, or anybody else than me, including our allies — NATO, who I got to pay $140 billion more money — $140 billion. You know what that is?

Q A lot of money.

THE PRESIDENT: And you know why? That’s to hold Russia in check, all right? I did Russia no favor. Nobody has been tougher on Russia than I am.

Q Mr. President, on NATO, you just gave the order to remove U.S. troops from Germany. How does that keep Russia in check?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, Germany is delinquent. They haven’t paid their fees. They haven’t paid their NATO fees. And they’re way off, and they’ve been off for years, and they have no intention of paying it. And the United States has been taken advantage of on trade and on military and on everything else for many years, and I’m here and I’ve been straightening it out.

But Germany owes billions and billions of dollars to NATO. And why would we keep all of those troops there? And now Germany is saying it’s bad for their economy. Well, it’s good for our economy. Germany is delinquent. They’re at 1 percent. They should be at 2 percent. And actually, everybody should be at 4 percent, not 2 percent, because 2 percent is too low. But they’re at 1 percent, and they’ve take advantage of us for many years.

And you think that’s bad? They take worse advantage on trade. And I was all set to fix that, and then we got hit with the China plague. But we’ll be fixing it.

And a guy like Biden — this country wouldn’t have a chance. With Biden, our country wouldn’t have a chance.

Go ahead.

Q In terms of China, they closed our consulate in Chengdu. Are you planning a response for that move by China?

THE PRESIDENT: No, we’ll see what happens. That’s all right. We’ll see what happens.

Q Are you dropping the demand for FBI money — the FBI building?

THE PRESIDENT: So the FBI building — they’ve been trying to build a new building for many years — many, many years. They were thinking about going very far away, but you have to be near the Justice Department. You don’t want to be too far away, where they have to drive for an hour, hour and a half — because they had a site way out in Virginia, way out in Maryland. And I said, “The best place is right where it is. It’s the best piece of property in Washington.” I’m very good at real estate.

So I said, “We’ll build a new FBI building.” Let’s build a new FBI building — either a renovation of the existing, or even better would be a new building. So we have that in the bill. It should stay. People have wanted a new FBI building now for 15 or 20 years.

Q But Republicans don’t want it in the bill.

THE PRESIDENT: Then Republicans should go back to school and learn. They need a new building. It’s a bad building. It’s a dangerous building. You have slabs falling off. It’s not a good building from the inside, and it’s a very expensive building. They need a new building, and we can do it very easily. To me, it would be very — super (inaudible). I would make sure you build a great building at a fraction of the cost, and they can have it done quickly. So the FBI building is not new; this is something they’ve been talking about for many, many years, for decades.

Q Mr. President, on TikTok, how close are you to making a decision about banning TikTok?

THE PRESIDENT: We’re looking at TikTok. We’re thinking about making a decision. We’re going to be watching the hearings today very closely, because there is no question that what the big tech companies are doing is very bad.

SECRETARY MNUCHIN: Let me just also add on that: CFIUS — TikTok is under CFIUS review, and we’ll be making a recommendation to the President on it this week. So we have lots of alternatives.

Q Do you regret tweeting about that doctor, Mr. President? Do you regret tweeting about that doctor yesterday?

THE PRESIDENT: Regret what?

Q Stella Immanuel, the doctor — do you wish you had not retweeted that?

THE PRESIDENT: I was very impressed with her and other doctors that stood with her. I think she made sense, but I know nothing about her. I just saw her on — you know, making a statement with very respected doctors. She was not alone. She was making a statement about hydroxychloroquine with other doctors that swear by it. They think it’s great. So she was not alone.

Fake news CNN made it like, “Oh, I said this, I said that.” She was with a whole group of people. And you ought to tell your network the reason their ratings are so bad is because the coverage is so false. If CNN would be honest — and that goes for MSDNC also. But your network is so dishonest in its coverage on just about everything, and there’s an example.

I was very impressed by her. Know nothing about her; I had never seen her before. But certainly you can put her up and let her have a voice. So what they did is they took down their voice. Now, they seem to never take down the other side. They only take down conservative voices. It’s a shame.

And with hydroxy, all I want to do is save lives. I don’t care if it’s hydroxy or anything else. All I want to do is save lives. If we can save lives, that’s great.

Now, one thing: We’re doing very well on vaccines and very well on therapeutics. So that’s very important. But I happen to be a believer in hydroxy. I used it. I had no problem. I happen to be a believer. Many, many people agree with me. A great test just came out from the Ford clinic in Michigan — very respected. We’ll see how it is.

Q Mr. President, have you decided how you’re going to give your convention acceptance speech yet?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I’m thinking about it, but we’re picking a location. Fairly soon we’ll let you know.

Q It won’t be here at the White House? It’ll be somewhere in —

THE PRESIDENT: Might be. It’s something we’re thinking about.

Q Back to Germany: Are those troops — what signal does it send to Russia? Those troops were always there to defend Europe against Russia.

THE PRESIDENT: You’re right. They’re there to protect Europe; they’re there to protect Germany. Right? And Germany is supposed to pay for it. Germany is not paying for it. So why should we leave them if they were not — we don’t want to be the suckers anymore.

The United States has been taken advantage of for 25 years, both on trade and on the military. We are protecting Germany. So we’re reducing the force because they’re not paying their bill. It’s very simple: They’re delinquent. Very simple. And there are other NATO countries also.

Right now, you have 8 out of the 28 countries that have paid up. I got them to pay $130 billion a year more, going up to $400 [billion]. Most of them will be up to date. It wasn’t easy. But most of them will be up to date. The one that won’t be up to date is Germany. And we spend a lot of money on Germany. They take advantage of us on trade, and they take advantage on the military, so we’re reducing the force. Now, if they start paying their bills, I could rethink about — I would think about it.

Yeah.

Q Did you talk to Russia about a coronavirus vaccine?

THE PRESIDENT: We talked to Putin about a lot of different things, mostly —

Q About a vaccine?

THE PRESIDENT: — arms control. We’re working on a vaccine. I think we’ll have one. Oxford is doing very well. Pfizer is doing very well. We have a lot of good options.

Q They said Russia was trying to steal information about a vaccine from researchers. Did you talk to them about that?

THE PRESIDENT: You’re going to have to talk up. I can hear everybody but you.

Q Can you come right here?

THE PRESIDENT: I can hear everybody but you.

Q Can you come right here?

Q On arms control, did you make progress? Are there going to be formal negotiations?

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. There already are. We’re — we’re in formal negotiations with Russia on arms control — meaning, on nuclear arms control.

Q What about bringing China in?

THE PRESIDENT: We’ll talk about that later. We’re going to work this first and we’ll see. China right now is a much lesser nuclear power — you understand that — than Russia. Right now, we are the great nuclear power. We’ve upgraded our nuclear tremendously since. We have the most power. Russia is second and China is third. China is surging; they’ll be there at some point. And, yeah, we would want to talk to China eventually. Yes. Okay?

Q Why not as part of a trilateral negotiation? Does China not want to be involved?

THE PRESIDENT: We thought that we would do it first. I don’t know if it’s going to work out. But we would do it first and then we go to China together. Okay? Which, I think, works out probably better.

Q Did you talk to O’Brien? Did you talk to Robert O’Brien?

THE PRESIDENT: I did. I wished him well. I haven’t seen him in a while —

Q Why not?

THE PRESIDENT: — but he went on vacation. He came back, he wasn’t well. He tested positive. He’s doing very, very well.

Q Why haven’t you seen him lately?

THE PRESIDENT: He said he’s doing very well. I spoke to him yesterday.

Q Mr. President, are you concerned about reports that a lot of Americans wouldn’t accept a vaccine? And what could the administration do —

THE PRESIDENT: No, I’m not — I’m not concerned. Well, I’m a therapeutic person, too, you know, to be honest. I love the idea of therapeutics, where you go in, you give somebody a transfusion or a shot, and they get better. I am a big therapeutic person. But we’re doing very well on vaccines and therapeutics. Okay?

And as far as Portland is concerned, we’ve taken a very strong stand. They are anarchists. They’re radical, crazy people. And they’re either going to straighten it out for themselves — Portland, the police — and maybe if the state gets involved; that means the governor and the mayor. But they’re very weak people. They’re very weak people. These radicals, these anarchists are controlling the governor and this mayor.

The mayor went into a rally — it wasn’t accurately reported by CNN, by NBC. The mayor went into a rally. He thought he’d be their buddy. They excoriated him. They excor- — what they did to him was incredible. Lucky he had five bodyguards. But they excoriated him.

NBC — I didn’t see CNN because I don’t watch CNN. NBC absolutely covered it like he was their big buddy. No, he was in great danger of dying. He would have been dead if he didn’t have his bodyguards.

These are bad people. These are anarchists. They’re agitators. And either they do something or we’re going to do it.

In the meantime, our purpose there is only to protect our federal buildings, which we’re doing with no problem. I mean, they’re nasty and they’re vicious people, but our people are very powerful people. Very powerful.

And either they’re going to clean up Portland soon or the federal government is going up and we’re going to do it for them. So either they clean out Portland — the governor and the mayor, who are weak — either they clean out Portland or we’re going in to do it for them.

Okay, thank you very much.

END 9:31 A.M. EDT