Ivanka Trump appears on Face the Nation to discuss the ongoing initiatives around paid family leave.  Ms. Brennan exhibits serious envy as she attempts to position Ms. Trump on the defensive.  However, Ivanka Trump is deeply informed on the nuances, details and challenges of the proposal and easily handles the narrative engineering effort of Brennan.

The family leave topic is a serious policy proposal that crosses into the larger America First economic need for a vibrant U.S. workforce.  Additionally, the topic of balance between family and work is critically important for middle-class and main street workers.  There are currently seven million jobs available and policies that help working families with children have long-term benefits beyond economics.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Miley traveled to Mar-a-Lago today to brief President Trump on issues around the middle-east.  The three leaders also held a press briefing this evening about U.S. military strikes that took place earlier today.

At the beginning of his remarks Secretary Pompeo stated “we came to Florida today to brief the president on activities that have taken place in the Middle East over the course of the last 72 hours.” Additionally Pompeo said he would let Esper discuss “the military aspects but I wanted to put into context our policy with respect to the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Secretary Pompeo: “The attack that took place against the Iraqi facility threatened American forces. This has been going on now for weeks and weeks and weeks. This wasn’t the first set of attacks against this particular Iraqi facility and others where there were American lives at risk. And today what we did is take a decisive response that makes clear what President Trump has said for months and months and months, which is that we will not stand for the Islamic Republic of Iran to take actions that put American men and women in jeopardy.”

“We will always honor that commitment to take decisive actions when that takes place. We continue to demand the Islamic Republic of Iran act in a way that is consistent with what I laid out back in May 2018, for what it is that we expect Iran to do so that it can rejoin the community of nations.”

Secretary Esper: “DoD took offensive actions in defense of our personnel and interests in Iraq by launching F-15 Strike Eagles against five targets associated with Kata’ib Hezbollah, which is an Iranian-sponsored Shiite militia group. The targets we attacked included three targets in Western Iraq and two targets in Eastern Syria, that were either command and control facilities or weapons caches for Kata’ib Hezbollah.”

“The strikes were successful. The pilots and aircraft returned back to base safely. I would add that in our discussion today with the president, we discussed with him other options that are available. And I would note also that we will take additional actions as necessary to ensure that we act in our own self-defense and we deter further bad behavior from militia groups or from Iran. Thank you.”

General Milley, in uniform, did not speak. The men left without taking questions. Hogan Gidley from the WH press office presided.  Reporting by David Martosko.

Personal and cynical note:  The absence of a visible President Trump on the issue is noted; neither is there a tweet or a citation for a comment therein.  Additionally, I wouldn’t trust that trio (Pompeo, Esper and Milley) as far as I could spit.

With strong indications that President Trump is working earnestly to remove U.S. troops from Afghanistan, the tail of the war machine is predisposed to wag the dog.

National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien appeared on ABC This Week with Jonathan Karl to discuss the ongoing issues with North Korea.  Karl attempted the oft familiar approach of pitting O’Brien against former advisor John Bolton, by highlighting Bolton’s always customary and short-sighted war mongering approach against the more pragmatic position of President Trump.   O’Brien did well to swat down that media tactic.

Jonathan Karl quickly shifts tactics by using North Korea’s Kim Jong Chol comments in an effort to undermine President Trump’s strategic policy with Kim Jong-un.  That too failed.

Taking a third swing at the administration Karl shifts narrative construction to the case of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher by using leaked prosecution video in an effort to undermine the intervention of malicious prosecution through a pardon by President Trump.  O’Brien smartly deflects the side-snark by reminding the narrative engineer that President Trump not only has pardon authority but also delivered criminal justice reform which produced a similar outcome for many non-military Americans.  Good interview:

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Note FWIW: O’brien also said he doesn’t think Pompeo is going to run for Senate.

A Twitter account named @RobbyStarbuck  compiled a list of President Trump accomplishments that now extends to 11 pages of bullet-pointed references. SEE HERE

SEE Remarkable List HERE

Peter Navarro discusses the Trump administration’s trade agenda and some predictions for the state of the Main Street U.S. economy heading into 2020.

Navarro highlights the completed agreements with South Korea, Japan, China phase-1, and the U.S., Mexico, Canada USMCA agreement and what they can deliver next year.

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It really is quite remarkable that President Trump and the economic team could simultaneously diminish the interests of multinationals, focus on Main Street USA, and still create a situation where Wall Street stocks are growing.

Several news articles are speculating that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo might run for the U.S. Senate Seat from Kansas [Here and Here].  If accurate, that move would seem to solve a few personnel issues in a rather diplomatic way.

Since the Sept./Oct. impeachment operation started there has been a considerable shift notable in the relationship between President Trump and Secretary Pompeo; especially after officials from within the Dept. of State came out strong against President Trump after CIA whistle-blower Eric Ciaramella lit the fuse…. and Pompeo was, well, essentially mute.

Getting rid of Pompeo for a Senate bid would be a win/win.

Absent the dangerous Siren voice from Nikki Haley :::spit-spit-spit::: moving Treasury Sec. Mnuchin (or similar) to State would be a good transition.  Mnuchin already knows the players and has contacts therein etc.  A Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation should be seamless, well, sans the predictable Mitt Romney grandstanding.

Spitballing CTH could see moving Mick Mulvaney (or similar) to Treasury (Senate Finance Confirmation) and then put Mark Meadows in as chief-of-staff and/or Robert O’Brien with Meadows becoming Nat Sec Advisor.   Or something similar.

Internationally, geopolitically and economically, term two is obviously going to be more EU centric (U.K and EU trade etc.)… while grouchy panda takes a backseat and has to prove his reform promises were genuine.  Panda being tied up in promises leaves room to navigate the hostage release of Little Rocketman.

Meanwhile the strategic, fracturing, pressure on the EU would be a role Mnuchin would seem well adept to deliver….

Regardless, the Senate campaign is a diplomatic way of getting Pompeo out of the picture.

I’d wager President Trump will find a way to encourage Pompeo to run.

A primary race between Mike Pompeo and Kris Kobach would be interesting.

President Trump responded to the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) editing out his appearance in the Christmas movie “Home Alone 2”.

President Trump jokes Justin from Canada likely having a case of the sads after getting called out for not meeting NATO funding obligations and the new trade agreement favorable to American interests.

Too funny.  We will miss this humor in 2025 when Trump leaves office.

It is worth remembering that Canada does not allow competition in their media sector.  The Canadian government considers the news media a protected “cultural industry”; and through a process of subsidizing broadcast all news media is essentially state run media.

Why is this important?  Well, when the expressed priority of the government is controlling broadcast information if you are intellectually honest you should apply that same ideological outlook toward any information from the government in a general sense.

Canada is worried about Trump appearing in Christmas movies?

Think about that for a few minutes…

Now consider:

In combination with leftist economic policies on energy development that strangles economic growth through excessive regulation, the leftist government of Trudeau has dismantled the natural underpinnings of a market-based economy.  The manufacturing base of Canada is compromised, perhaps to the point of no return.

For two decades liberal (left-wing) Canadian policy essentially transformed their economic model from manufacturing to “assembly“.   The goods-based production within the Canadian economy was structured to take advantage of the NAFTA loophole.

Goods production in Canada was reduced from full manufacturing to a process of assembling parts brought in from overseas and then selling them into the U.S. market.   This process exploited the NAFTA loophole allowing foreign companies to ship parts to Canada and then assemble for transport into the U.S. without tariffs.

Over time the Canadian economy became more and more dependent on this system of brokering goods, while Canada simultaneously dismantled their heavy industry at the request of extreme environmentalists.

The Canadian assembly system for durable goods was always at risk of the NAFTA loophole being closed.  When President Trump renegotiated the USMCA, primarily with Mexico, the loophole was closed.  The USMCA rules on origination now require the parts to come from inside the North American manufacturing system.

Importing parts from Asia and simply assembling them in Canada is no longer permitted under the USMCA agreement.  The majority of the parts -which require heavy industry to produce- must originate from North America.  Canada has little capacity to take advantage of this economic opportunity because they dismantled their heavy industry.

As a consequence, if any multinational company wanting to invest in a manufacturing system, that avoids tariffs, to bring their end product to the massive U.S. market… well, Canada is no longer a viable option for that investment.

The multinational banks and investment groups who fund corporate manufacturing investment; and who are now no longer willing to underwrite Asian investment due to the impact of Trump tariffs; are focusing on where that investment can support the economic activity.

As with the November jobs report, when we see: “Canada’s goods-producing industries saw a decline of 26,600 net jobs, largely on manufacturing” leading the headline, this is a direct consequence of the economic dynamic identified above.

Elections have consequences; and those economic consequences are extraordinarily impactful in the era when U.S. President Trump is dismantling global supply chains; focusing on bringing high-wage manufacturing industry back to the U.S; and driving a process of profound consequence through economic nationalism.

“Economic Security is National Security” ~ President Trump

…And Canada is worried about Trump in Christmas movies?

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The Dept. of Labor reveals [DATA HERE] initial claims for unemployment fell again last week, creating the following Reuters headline: “The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits fell last week in a sign of ongoing labor market strength.”   Another strong labor report, followed by another media report outlining how the results beat all economic analyst expectations; a consistent theme throughout 2019.

White House – DRIVING A RECORD-SETTING ECONOMY: The booming economy and strong labor market allow Americans of all backgrounds to find work and succeed.

♦ The current labor market revival is not a continuation of past trends, but instead a direct result of President Trump’s pro-growth policies.

• Since President Trump was elected, more than 7 million jobs have been added to our economy – surpassing the Congressional Budget Office’s predictions by 5 million jobs.
• This year, the unemployment rate has fallen to 3.5%, its lowest level in 50 years.
• Unemployment for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, veterans, individuals with disabilities, and those without a high school diploma have all reached record lows under President Trump.
• The President’s policies are bringing people off the sidelines and into the labor force.
• The prime age labor force has grown by 2.1 million under President Trump.
• The surge in labor demand has resulted in 7 million job openings, which outnumber job seekers by more than 1 million.
• Before President Trump took office, there had never been more recorded job openings than unemployed workers.

♦ LOWERING INEQUALITY: President Trump’s policies are helping forgotten Americans across the country prosper, driving down income inequality.

• Annual nominal wages grew by 3 percent in 2019 for the first time in a decade.
• Nominal wage growth has now been at or above 3 percent for 16 straight months.
• Wage growth for many previously forgotten groups is now higher than wage growth for more advantaged groups.
• This is the case for lower-income workers compared to higher-income workers, workers compared to managers, and African Americans compared to white Americans.
• These income gains mark a fundamental change compared to before President Trump’s inauguration, contributing to reduced income inequality.
• When measured as the share of income earned by the top 20 percent, income inequality fell in 2018 by the largest amount in over a decade.
• The Gini coefficient, an overall measure of inequality in the population, also fell in 2018.

At 3.7 percent, November year-over-year wage growth for production and nonsupervisory workers was near a post-recession high achieved last month and again exceeded overall year-over-year wage growth.

From the start of the current expansion to the end of 2016, average wage growth for production and nonsupervisory workers lagged that of managers, the bottom 10 percent of wage earners lagged that of the top 10 percent, those without a college degree lagged that of college graduates, and African Americans lagged that of white Americans.

However, since President Trump took office, each of these trends has been reversed, contributing to lower income inequality.

♦ LIFTING UP AMERICANS: The booming economy is lifting millions of Americans out of poverty and providing all people with the opportunity for a brighter future.

• In 2018 alone, nearly 1.4 million Americans were lifted out of poverty.
• The poverty rates for African Americans and Hispanic Americans reached historic lows in 2018.
• Over 600,000 children being raised by single mothers were lifted out of poverty in 2018.
• The number of people claiming unemployment insurance as a share of the population is the lowest on record.
• Nearly 7 million fewer people are on food stamps than at the time of the 2016 election.
• 380,000 fewer people are on Social Security Disability insurance than before the 2016 election.

Americans in economically-distressed communities are benefiting from increased investment thanks to the Opportunity Zones included in President Trump’s historic tax reform.

As further evidence of how much the labor market has improved under President Trump, other data released by BLS  show that the number of people who experienced unemployment last year declined by 2.4 million compared to 2016. This number should decline again in 2019 because, under the Trump Administration, the number of people claiming unemployment insurance as a share of the population is the lowest on record since the data began in 1967.