Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross discusses the ongoing trade initiatives with China ahead of the U.S. delegation departing later tonight. Secretary Ross, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, U.S. Trade Representative/Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow and White House Trade Adviser Peter Navarro are all heading to Beijing to meet with their Chinese counterparts.
Secretary Ross is like the Babe Ruth of trade-baseball. Wilburine has a way of taking complex issues pitched to him, and knocking them out of the ballpark with an extremely fast common sense bat. He makes it look effortless. Watch:
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Two quick thoughts. First, I think this is the first time every member of Team America (Ross, Mnuchin, Lighthizer, Kudlow, Navarro) has unified into one specific set of trade negotiations. That helps understand the scale of importance of the China trade relationship.
Second, there’s no traveling parallel contingent consisting of outside government members/advisers from of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. This is a significant change from the past 30 years of Wall Street policy manipulation by the CoC. Many people may not be aware but until President Trump the U.S. government didn’t actually write the trade agreements.
For all prior administrations the actual negotiations and agreements were willingly sub-contracted out to U.S. Chamber of Commerce delegations. This is how the multinationals took control of trade policy and eventually the U.S. economy. CoC President Tom Donohue must be apoplectic now that he is facing an administration actually writing the trade agreements.
I cannot emphasize enough how much of a paradigm shift the President Trump trade approach is. When you understand what was taking place before, you can see why those interests are frothing-at-the-mouth angry about team Trump.
There are trillions at stake.
Previous administrations allowed BIG LABOR and BIG BUSINESS to write all the agreements and rules. In their backrooms they worked out the details. Policy was willingly handed over to corrupt Wall Street interests and corrupt Labor Union leadership.
A recent point of reference was within the Obama administration. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce wrote the actual verbiage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP agreement. Obviously the beneficiaries were those who the U.S. CoC supported; ie. Wall Street multinational corporations. In return those multinationals give the U.S. CoC hundreds of millions in contributions (payoffs for policy).
In exchange for control over the trade policy, the U.S. CoC pay the politicians. This is why the U.S. CoC is the biggest lobbyist (by far) in Washington DC. In essence, for three decades all prior administrations were allowing Wall Street to write the trade agreements.
Now think about that.
In essence, by giving up control over our nation’s trade agreements, all previous administrations were giving away control over the U.S. economy to multinational corporations.
Understanding this former dynamic, is it a surprise why the middle-class was destroyed and Wall Street benefited?
Remember, there are TRILLIONS at stake.
President Trump took the atomic sledgehammer to this process and said NO MORE!
President Trump put the U.S. trade team together that actually makes the deals now. And those deals are independent of consideration for the corporate needs of any individual players, or groups of players, on Wall Street.
Ross, Mnuchin and Lighthizer et al, are only looking out for the U.S. best interests. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been cut out completely; and as a direct consequence Wall Street -and by extension their multinational corporations- no longer has any influence on U.S. trade agreements.
This is a massive economic paradigm shift that most people don’t comprehend.
Understand this dynamic and you understand the opposition to Trump.
Remember, all U.S. media are multinational corporations.
This is the hidden story that could lead to a criminal probe of Loretta Lynch and James Comey
Tonight on his TV show, Lou Dobbs highlighted the FBI investigation of Hillary Clinton that never took place. WATCH:
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CTH decided to go back through two years of documents, releases, reports, testimony, media interviews; including interviews with fired FBI Director James Comey; question all prior assumptions; re-examine the entire framework within all the known granular DOJ and FBI activity; and finally contrast it all against the full scope of released messaging between FBI Agent Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.
Within this project some breakout discoveries needed to be highlighted. One of those discoveries pertains to the Fox News interview with James Comey and Bret Baier.
Within the interview Mr. Comey is questioned about the announcement of re-opening of the Hillary Clinton email investigation on October 28th, 2016. In his response to why there was a delay between the FBI being notified by New York on September 28th, 2016, and waiting until October 28th, James Comey revealed a very important nugget.
The New York U.S. Attorney (SDNY, Preet Bharara) called Main Justice in DC to ask about a “search warrant”. Previously we knew this call took place on October 21st, 2016 because it’s in the Page/Strzok text messages. Now we know the reason “why”, or at least the reason Comey was told, and who New York called at DOJ HQ.
Listen closely to James Comey at 06:06 to 07:30 of the interview (prompted):
Baier: “Did you know that Andrew McCabe, your deputy, had sat on that revelation about the emails”?
Comey: “Yeah, I don’t know that, I don’t know that to be the case. I do know that New York and FBI headquarters became aware that there may be some connection between Weiner’s laptop and the Clinton investigation, weeks before it was brought to me for decision – and as I write in the book I don’t know whether they could have moved faster and why the delay”
Baier: “Was it the threat that New York Agents were going to leak that it existed really what drove you to the ‘not conceal’ part?
Comey: “I don’t think so. I think what actually drove it was the prosecutors in New York who were working the criminal case against Weiner called down to headquarters and said ‘are we getting a search warrant or not for this’? That caused, I’m sorry, Justice Department Headquarters, to then call across the street to the FBI and poke the organization; and they start to move much more quickly. I don’t know why there was, if there was slow activity, why it was slow for those first couple of weeks.”
There’s some really sketchy stuff going on in that answer. Why would SDNY need to get authorization for a search warrant from DC if this is about Weiner’s laptop?
Yes, you could argue it pertains to a tightly held Clinton investigation run out of DC but the Weiner prosecution issues shouldn’t require approval from DC.
Additionally, the “search warrant” explanation by James Comey doesn’t match the internal communication that was happening inside the FBI (that was unknown to Comey).
But let’s take Comey at face-value…. In his explanation Comey stated it was justice officials within SDNY (Southern District of New York) who called Main Justice (DOJ in DC) and asked about a needed search warrant for “this“, presumably Weiner’s laptop by inference. Now, let’s go look at the Page/Strzok description of what was going on.
Here are the messages from Lisa Page and Peter Strzok surrounding the original date that New York officials originally notified Washington DC FBI. It’s important to note the two different entities: DOJ -vs- FBI.
According to the September 28, 2016, messages from FBI Agent Peter Strzok it was the SDNY in New York telling Andrew McCabe in DC about the issue. Pay close attention to the convo:
Notice: “hundreds of thousands of emails turned over by Weiner’s attorney to SDNY”.
Pay super close attention. This is not framed as an outcome of a New York Police Dept. raid on Anthony Weiner. This is stated as Weiner’s attorney going to the U.S. attorney and voluntarily turning over emails. These emails were not turned over to the FBI field office in New York (they have the laptop), these are actual emails turned over to the U.S. Attorney in the Southern District; that’s Preet Bharara.
Key point here: Weiner’s attorneys turned over “emails”. Actual “emails”.
♦If the U.S. Attorney in New York has the actual physical emails on September 28th, 2016, why would they need a search warrant on October 21st, 2016? (Comey’s call explanation)
♦Additionally, why would Weiner’s attorney be handing over evidence?
Think about this carefully. I’ll get back to the importance of it later; but what I suspect is that Anthony Weiner had physical material, a sub-set of the emails that were on Huma Abedin’s laptop, and those documents/emails were his “insurance policy” against anything done to him by Hillary Clinton. Facing a criminal prosecution Weiner’s lawyer went to the U.S. Attorney and attempted to exploit/leverage that specific content therein on his client’s behalf.
Fast forward three weeks, and we go back to FBI in DC.
On October 21, 2016, this is now the call referenced by James Comey in the Bret Baier interview. Someone from the New York U.S. Attorney’s office called “Main Justice” (the DOJ National Security Division in DC) and notified DOJ-NSD Deputy Asst. Attorney General George Toscas of the Huma Abedin/Hillary Clinton emails via the “Weiner investigation”.
[I would point out again, he’s not being notified of a laptop, Toscas is notified of “emails”]
George Toscas “wanted to ensure information got to Andy“, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe…. so he called FBI Agent Peter Strzok…. who told George Toscas “we know“.
FBI Agent Peter Strzok then tells Bill Priestap (who also previously knew) about Main Justice calling to make inquires about the emails.
Of course, Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe already knew about the emails since September 28th, 2016, more than three weeks earlier.
In his Bret Baier interview FBI Director James Comey says this call is about a search warrant. There is no indication the call is actually about a search warrant. [Nor would there be a need for a search warrant if the call was actually about the emails that Wiener’s attorney dropped off on 9/21].
However, that phone call kicks off an internal debate about the previously closed Clinton email investigation; and Andrew McCabe sitting on the notification from New York for over three weeks – kicks off an internal FBI discussion about McCabe needing to recuse himself.
Now it’s October 27th, 2016, James Comey chief-of-staff Jim Rybicki wants McCabe to recuse himself. But Rybicki is alone on an island. Lisa Page is furious at such a suggestion, partly because she is McCabe’s legal counsel and if McCabe is recused so too is she.
At the same time as they are debating how to handle the Huma Abedin/Hillary Clinton emails, they are leaking to the media to frame a specific narrative.
Important to note here, that at no time is there any conversation -or hint of a conversation- that anyone is reviewing the content of the emails. The discussions don’t mention a single word about content… every scintilla of conversation is about how to handle the issues of the emails themselves. Actually, there’s not a single person mentioned in thousands of text messages that applies to an actual person who is looking at any content.
Quite simply: there is a glaringly transparent lack of an “investigation”.
Within this “tight group” at FBI, as Comey puts it, there is not a single mention of a person who is sitting somewhere looking through the reported “600,000” Clinton emails that was widely reported by media.
There’s absolutely ZERO evidence of anyone looking at emails or scouring through laptop data…. and FBI Agent Peter Strzok has no staff under him who he discusses assigned to such a task…. and Strzok damned sure ain’t doing it. Additionally, again accepting what Comey thinks is happening, sdny is asking for a search warrant – so under that premise the sdny has the laptop.
So what gives?
Remember, it’s now October 27th, 2016. McCabe has been sitting on this information since September 28th; Comey doesn’t know anything about it; and a day earlier McCabe and Loretta Lynch were on a conference call with the New York field office and the conversation was full of drama.
From the OIG report: 4. The Attorney General Expresses Strong Concerns to McCabe and other FBI Officials about Leaks, and McCabe Discusses Recusing Himself from CF Investigation (October 26, 2016)
McCabe told the OIG that during the October 2016 time frame, it was his “perception that there was a lot of information coming out of likely the [FBI’s] New York Field Office” that was ending up in the news. McCabe told the OIG that he “had some heated back-and-forths” with the New York Assistant Director in Charge (“NY-ADIC”) over the issue of media leaks.
On October 26th, 2016, McCabe and NY-ADIC participated in what McCabe described as “a hastily convened conference call with the Attorney General [Loretta Lynch] who delivered the same message to us” about leaks, with specific focus being on leaks regarding the high-profile investigation by FBI’s New York Field Office into the death of Eric Garner. McCabe told us that he “never heard her use more forceful language.” NY-ADIC confirmed that the participants got “ripped by the AG on leaks.”
According to NY-ADIC’s testimony and an e-mail he sent to himself on October 31, McCabe indicated to NY-ADIC and a then-FBI Executive Assistant Director (“EAD”) in a conversation after Attorney General Lynch disconnected from the call that McCabe was recusing himself from the CF Investigation.
Stuff just got seriously elevated. Main Justice is making inquires, Attorney General Loretta Lynch is making inquiries, and now James Comey has to be brought into the loop. How does McCabe explain the call from Main Justice, and Loretta Lynch, to his boss, James Comey?
Moving on – Note to readers. Click the graphics and read the notes on them too:
It’s still October 27th, 2016, the day before James Comey announces his FBI decision to re-open the Clinton investigation. Jim Rybicki still saying McCabe should be recused from input; everyone else, including FBI Legal Counsel James Baker, is disagreeing with Rybicki and siding with Lisa Page.
Meanwhile the conversation has shifted slightly to “PC”, probable cause. Read:
While Lisa Page is leaking stories to Devlin Barrett (Wall Street Journal), the internal discussion amid the “small group” is about probable cause, “PC”.
The FBI team is now saying if there was no probable cause when Comey closed the original email investigation in July 2016 (remember the very tight boundaries of review), then there’s no probable cause in October 2016 to reopen the investigation regardless of what the email content might be.
This appears to be how the “small group” or “tight team” justify doing nothing with the content received from New York. They presumably received the emails September 28th and it’s now October 27th, and they haven’t even looked at them. Heck, they are debating if there’s even a need to look at it…. and General Counsel (Baker), along with Office of Legal Counsel (“Trisha” Beth Anderson), are giving Strzok, Page and McCabe advice about using Probable Cause as an ‘out’.
However, the next day October 28th, 2016, the FBI and Main Justice officials have a conference call about the entire Huma Abedin/Hillary Clinton email issue. Here’s where it gets interesting.
George Toscas and David Laufman from DOJ-NSD articulate a position that something needs to happen – likely because Main Justice is concerned about the issue of FBI (McCabe) sitting on the emails for over three weeks, without telling Director James Comey and without any feedback to SDNY (New York). Additionally, Loretta Lynch has made inquiries about what was going on.
Thanks to Deputy Director McCabe, Main Justice in DC, specifically DOJ National Security Division, now looks like they are facilitating a cover-up operation being conducted by the FBI “small group”. [which is actually true, but they can’t let that be so glaringly obvious]. The FBI New York field office suspects a top level cover-up.
As a result of the Top-Tier DOJ and FBI officials conference call, Peter Strzok is a grumpy agent because his opinion appears to be insignificant. The decision is reached to announce the re-opening of the investigation and take control over the optics.
This decision sends Lisa Page bananas…
…In rapid response mode Lisa Page reaches out to Devlin Barrett, again to quickly shape the media coverage. Now that the world is aware of the need for a Clinton email investigation 2.0 the internal conversation returns to McCabe’s recusal.
Please note that at no time in the FBI is anyone directing an actual investigation of the content of the Clinton emails. Every single second of every effort is devoted to shaping the public perception of the need for the investigation. Every media outlet is being watched; every article is being read; and the entire apparatus of the small group is shaping coverage therein by contacting their leak outlets.
So let’s go back to that Comey interview:
♦What exactly would SDNY need a search warrant for?
♦Anthony Weiner’s lawyer has delivered SDNY actual emails. Why would he do that?
Now lets pause and re-connect those questions to the earlier report.
On page six of the IG report on Andrew McCabe (point number 4) we find a conference call between Loretta Lynch, Andrew McCabe and the FBI field office in New York where the subject of the Weiner/Abedin/Clinton email findings overlap with: the Clinton Foundation (CF) investigation; the Clinton Email investigation; pressure for Asst. Director McCabe to recuse himself, and Washington DC via Loretta Lynch using DOJ Main Justice leverage from the Eric Garner case against the NY FBI office and New York Police Department.
4. The Attorney General Expresses Strong Concerns to McCabe and other FBI Officials about Leaks, and McCabe Discusses Recusing Himself from CF Investigation (October 26, 2016)
McCabe told the OIG that during the October 2016 time frame, it was his “perception that there was a lot of information coming out of likely the [FBI’s] New York Field Office” that was ending up in the news. McCabe told the OIG that he “had some heated back-and-forths” with the New York Assistant Director in Charge (“NY-ADIC”) over the issue of media leaks.
On October 26th, 2016, McCabe and NY-ADIC participated in what McCabe described as “a hastily convened conference call with the Attorney General who delivered the same message to us” about leaks, with specific focus being on leaks regarding the high-profile investigation by FBI’s New York Field Office into the death of Eric Garner. McCabe told us that he “never heard her use more forceful language.” NY-ADIC confirmed that the participants got “ripped by the AG on leaks.”
According to NY-ADIC’s testimony and an e-mail he sent to himself on October 31, McCabe indicated to NY-ADIC and a then-FBI Executive Assistant Director (“EAD”) in a conversation after Attorney General Lynch disconnected from the call that McCabe was recusing himself from the CF Investigation.
What makes this explosive is the timing, and what we now know about what was going on amid the FBI “small group” in DC.
On September 28th, 2016, Andrew McCabe was made aware of emails given to New York U.S. Attorney (SDNY) directly from Anthony Weiner’s lawyer. Again, the information relayed to DC is not about a Weiner laptop, it’s about actual emails delivered by Weiner’s lawyer. The laptop was evidence in the Weiner “sexting” case involving a minor; however, the laptop did, reportedly, also contained thousands of State Department documents from Hillary Clinton and her aide Huma Abedin, Weiner’s wife.
When Weiner’s lawyer walked into SDNY to deliver his leverage emails, Preet Bharara, a Clinton-Lynch ally, was the United States Attorney.
Again, look at the text messages between FBI Agent Peter Strzok (Inbox) and FBI Special Counsel to Andrew McCabe, Lisa Page (Outbox):
[The letter to “Congress” at the end of the text exchange relates to notification of the re-opening of the Clinton investigation – Actual date of notification 10/28/16]
According to the text messages, and Comey’s own statements, FBI Director James Comey was not notified of the emails until after October 21st, 2016.
However, in late October and early November, there were media reports (leaks) from people with contacts in New York police and New York FBI, about Washington DOJ officials interfering with the Weiner investigation.
On the same date (October 26th, 2016) as the Lynch, McCabe and NY FBI phone call, former NY Mayor Rudy Giuilani was telling Fox News that an explosive development was forthcoming. Two days later, October 28th, 2016, Congress was notified of the additional Clinton emails.
However, a few more days later, November 4th, 2016, an even more explosive development as Erik Prince appeared on radio and outlined discoveries within the Huma Abedin/Anthony Weiner/Hillary Clinton email issues that was being blocked by AG Lynch.
Prince claimed he had insider knowledge of the investigation that could help explain why FBI Director James Comey had to announce he was reopening the investigation into Clinton’s email server last week.
“Because of Weinergate and the sexting scandal, the NYPD started investigating it. Through a subpoena, through a warrant, they searched his laptop, and sure enough, found those 650,000 emails. They found way more stuff than just more information pertaining to the inappropriate sexting the guy was doing,” Prince claimed.
“They found State Department emails. They found a lot of other really damning criminal information, including money laundering, including the fact that Hillary went to this sex island with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Bill Clinton went there more than 20 times. Hillary Clinton went there at least six times,” he said.
“The amount of garbage that they found in these emails, of criminal activity by Hillary, by her immediate circle, and even by other Democratic members of Congress was so disgusting they gave it to the FBI, and they said, ‘We’re going to go public with this if you don’t reopen the investigation and you don’t do the right thing with timely indictments,’” Prince explained.
“I believe – I know, and this is from a very well-placed source of mine at 1PP, One Police Plaza in New York – the NYPD wanted to do a press conference announcing the warrants and the additional arrests they were making in this investigation, and they’ve gotten huge pushback, to the point of coercion, from the Justice Department, with the Justice Department threatening to charge someone that had been unrelated in the accidental heart attack death of Eric Garner almost two years ago. That’s the level of pushback the Obama Justice Department is doing against actually seeking justice in the email and other related criminal matters,” Prince said. (Link)
An earlier Grand Jury in New York had refused to return an indictment against the NYPD in the Garner case. As an outcome of that grand jury finding, and as an outcome of their own investigation, the local FBI office and Eastern District of New York DOJ office was not trying to pursue criminal charges against the NYPD officers involved. This created a dispute because federal prosecutors (EDNY) and FBI officials in New York opposed bringing charges, while prosecutors with the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department in Washington argued there was clear evidence to do so.
On October 25th, 2016, Loretta Lynch replaced the EDNY New York prosecutors:
New York Times (Oct. 25) – The Justice Department has replaced the New York team of agents and lawyers investigating the death of Eric Garner, officials said, a highly unusual shake-up that could jump-start the long-stalled case and put the government back on track to seek criminal charges.
With the moves Lynch made prior to the phone call, on Oct. 25th, 2016, AG Lynch was in position to threaten criminal prosecutions against the NYPD, and repercussions against the New York FBI field office and EDNY using the Garner case as leverage, just like Erik Prince outlined in the phone interview above.
Additionally, we see confirmation from the IG report, the Garner case was brought up in the (Oct 26, 2016) phone call to the NY FBI field office; just as Erik Prince outlined. Obviously Prince’s sources were close to the events as they unfolded.
The NY FBI and Eastern District of New York (EDNY) were threatened by Washington DC Main Justice and FBI, via Loretta Lynch and Andrew McCabe to drop the Clinton/Abedin/Weiner email investigation matters, concede the Clinton email investigative approach to DC, or else the Garner DOJ Civil Rights Division would be used as leverage against the NYPD. And Loretta Lynch had SDNY U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara as the enforcer waiting for her call.
There’s a solid case to be made that the emails Anthony Weiner’s lawyer brought to Preet Bharara was Weiner’s leverage to escape prosecution. Likely those specific emails were exactly as Eric Prince sources outlined. However, the SDNY Attorney (Preet Bharara) responding to upper level Main Justice leadership (Loretta Lynch), buried those emails.
In DC the FBI (Comey and McCabe), helped bury the content by creating the appearance of re-opening of the Clinton investigation. This stemmed the NYPD and NY field office from making further public statements; and Comey’s move kept control of the investigation in DC; and ensured the investigative outcomes remained out of the hands of the Eastern District (EDNY) and New York FBI field office. They had no choice.
However, once the FBI reopened the investigation October 28th, they did exactly the same thing they had done from September 28th to October 28th… they did nothing.
A few days later they declared the second investigation closed, and that was that.
Mr. Joe diGenova discusses the ongoing revelations within the former administration’s use of the intelligence apparatus to target their political opposition:
President Trump’s MAGAnomic team have announced a 30-day extension for the Steel (25%) and Aluminum (10%) tariffs for the European Union, Canada and Mexico.
Also, after a prior agreement with South-Korea, the “KORUS” deal, team U.S.A. has also reached an agreement in principle with Australia, Argentina and Brazil which will be finalized in next 30 days.
Via Wall Street Journal – President Donald Trump has decided to postpone decisions about imposing steel and aluminum tariffs on the European Union and other U.S. allies until June 1, a senior administration official said.
In addition to announcing the delay, the White House is expected to say Monday evening that it has finalized a deal to exempt South Korea from the tariffs, mirroring details that have been previously released by the U.S. Trade Representative’s office.
The remaining decisions on tariffs will be decided later, the official said. A White House spokeswoman declined to comment.
Additionally, to showcase the importance previously outlined, the team has added ‘big timber’, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, to the trade delegation heading to China.
So the entire MAGAnomic “killers” team appears to be heading to Beijing. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Chairman of National Economic Council Larry Kudlow, WH Trade Adviser Peter Navarro and U.S. Ambassador to China, Terry Branstad.
NAFTA and the trade tariffs on steel and aluminum (major components of cars) are about credibility against China, Japan and the EU. The bulk of the US trade deficit comes from China, Japan, and the EU. China, Japan and the EU all exploit NAFTA to get around US trade barriers that should have balanced trade among these countries.
Trump has signaled that he wants trade renegotiated but the major trade entities- China, Japan and the EU- didn’t take him seriously until he slapped tariffs globally on steel and aluminum. That was a direct strike at their automobile industries that make up the bulk of the US trade deficit between the EU and Japan. The intellectual property tariffs got the attention of China because not only did Trump place them on China but he mobilized support in the EU and Japan for action on intellectual property theft.
So where does the North Korean (NK) negotiations come into play in all of this?
Aside from the possibility that the US sabotaged the last Korean nuclear tests, I believe this Korean peace initiative is more about Japan and South Korea than China. I believe Japan and South Korea will agree to more favorable terms with the US on trade pending the denuclearization and potential reunification of Korea. I believe Japan and Korea will be very grateful to the US when the prisoners are released and will find ways to buy more product (agricultural, energy, military and aerospace) from the US.
China is simply trying to stay on the good side of the US because the intellectual property tariffs are a significant threat to its future. Xi has imagined China dominating industries that primarily rely on intellectual property.
In addition, Xi is trying to build a major trade corridor to the EU to diversity his exports away from the US so that he’s not so dependent on the US but Trump is threatening to bite into the funds he will have to complete OBOR. So China is cooperating on Korea but Korea is not a chip it can bargain with anymore because Trump has already taken that away with the sabotage of the last Korean nuclear test.
Trump is a genius. He knows his leverage very well. He knows that any reduction in the trade deficit is a major win for the US. He is not looking for the immediate balance of the trade deficits with the EU, China and Japan (and Korea). He’s looking for key concessions that will enhance his legacy such as increasing NATO contributions by EU countries in exchange for smaller reduction of the trade deficit. Chinese ending their assault on US technology industries in exchange for a smaller reduction of trade deficit. Japan buying more US autos or opening more car plants in US for a smaller reduction of trade deficit and so on.
NAFTA is all about credibility. Canada and Mexico will agree to terms. Mexico will pay for the Wall and Trump will win his noble prize!
BTW, don’t think Russia escapes this equation or Iran. Trump has all of them wrapped up in this. For Russia, Trump will make EU buy even more American energy and will get EU to fully fund NATO. As we speak, Pompeo is in the Middle East to rally up an Arab force to replace US troops in Syria and Iraq (and pay!). This is not good for Russia. It guarantees Syria will be split unless Russia agrees to a political settlement that has Assad gone from Syria. A stronger NATO and a EU now buying even more US gas and oil means less money for Putin’s military in Ukraine and Syria. And there’s no outlet to China because Trump is putting the squeeze on Xi. Multidimensional chess?
Iran is now in trouble too. That Arab force plus Israel is ready to strike. Trump has put the squeeze on EU (steel/aluminum), China (intellectual prop), and Russia (energy). The Iran deal will be redone and tougher sanctions will be enacted by US and EU for any violations of new terms. And military actions looms over their heads just as it did over North Korea. And BTW, the end of the NK nuclear program is a major blow for Iran since it essentially was continuing work on nukes through NK (Pakistan needs to be watched but it seems Trump is on top of them too).
That Trump has been able to wield this much power in so short of a time is mind blowing. If he’s able to pull all of this off in two years, he’ll already be a top 5 POTUS! MAGA!!
In an interesting survey of over 16,000 millennial respondents (graphic here) via Reuters-IPSOS the narrative of a midterm ‘blue wave” evaporates.
According to the large-sample polling, support for Democrats has dropped from 55% in 2016 to 46% now. That’s a significant decline over 9% from prior surveys, and could be a strong indication the current favored narrative amid DNC media is entirely false.
(Reuters) MANCHESTER, N.H. (Reuters) – Enthusiasm for the Democratic Party is waning among millennials as its candidates head into the crucial midterm congressional elections, according to the Reuters/Ipsos national opinion poll.
The online survey of more than 16,000 registered voters ages 18 to 34 shows their support for Democrats over Republicans for Congress slipped by about 9 percentage points over the past two years, to 46 percent overall. And they increasingly say the Republican Party is a better steward of the economy.
That presents a potential problem for Democrats who have come to count on millennials as a core constituency – and will need all the loyalty they can get to achieve a net gain of 23 seats to capture control of the U.S. House of Representatives in November.
Young voters represent an opportunity and a risk for both parties, said Donald Green, a political science professor at Columbia University in New York City.
“They’re not as wedded to one party,” Green said. “They’re easier to convince than, say, your 50- or 60-year-olds who don’t really change their minds very often.”
Terry Hood, 34, an African-American who works at a Dollar General store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and took this year’s poll, said he voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.
But he will consider a Republican for Congress because he believes the party is making it easier to find jobs and he applauds the recent Republican-led tax cut.
“It sounds strange to me to say this about the Republicans, but they’re helping with even the small things,” Hood said in a phone interview. “They’re taking less taxes out of my paycheck. I notice that.” (read more)
This is especially bad news for the DNC considering the new era of “Generation Z” is right on the heels of the millennials and Gen-Z is exponentially more in alignment with the MAGA movement as a counter-culture. More winning…
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean President Moon Jae-in said U.S. President Donald Trump deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end the standoff with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program, a South Korean official said on Monday.
“President Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize. What we need is only peace,” Moon told a meeting of senior secretaries, according to a presidential Blue House official who briefed media.
Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday pledged at a summit to end hostilities between their countries and work toward the “complete denuclearization” of the Korean peninsula.
Trump is preparing for his own summit with Kim, which he said would take place in the next three to four weeks.
The Trump administration has led a global effort to impose ever stricter sanctions on North Korea and the U.S. president exchanged bellicose threats with Kim in the past year over North Korea’s development of nuclear missiles capable of reaching the United States.
In January, Moon said Trump “deserves big credit for bringing about the inter-Korean talks. It could be a resulting work of the U.S.-led sanctions and pressure”.
Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize just months into his presidency, an award many thought was premature, given that he had little to show for his peace efforts beyond rhetoric.
Even Obama said he was surprised and by the time he collected the prize in Oslo at the end of that year, he had ordered the tripling of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. (read more)
“Complicated business folks… complicated business”...
He’s a builder at heart. He speaks to people so that they understand. You can’t speak to construction workers like you are in a tea room / meeting room, with platitudes and statements where they are left with a blank look saying and thinking…..Huh….?
And not just construction workers. His business required him to speak to the truck drivers, the cooks, the designers, the maids, taxi cab drivers, golfers…the entire gamut of individuals who were involved in building his empire. He had to understand their problems and their needs in order to “build” quality hotels and golf courses. And he had to talk to them in the way they understood…talk like us…Americans..
And, he was from Queens….where there is a language all it’s own…Queens…and even from where I’m from…where you gave everyone a name…everyone…you wore glasses you were “four eyes”, you were overweight, you were “Wimpy”, you were smart you were Professor” if you were Polish you were Ski….and if you lied your were Lyin, or Crooked, or Lazy, you were Lazy, or whatever….it comes natural to him..it is were he is from.
And he did not only learn from speaking with other people but by doing himself. His father taught him to get down with them, get down with the workers, and do it himself. As he has stated. His father had him counting nails, driving fork lifts, cooking meals.
And then as he grew to be a billionaire, he was in the meetings, the parties, the society of the high minded and powerful. He heard their conversations…their plans for the world…in the back rooms…he heard the names of the powerful who controled everything. all he had to do was listen…
And he did not like what he heard…
So here we are …with a President who is one of us…did you see any of the video today of him speaking with the Olympians who won medals? Just touched your heart…he gave almost everyone one of them a chance to speak and say whatever they wanted. Joked with them like one of the guys and made them all feel special…from Bronze to Gold.
You can truly say he is one of us. The left hates him because he is just one of us…and…
He saved us…..he saved us all…….We should thank God every moment….
And to be quite honest, he is now also saving the world one country at a time….
I was on a rather high-level phone call to Asia. The commentary turned to Trump and CNN. Here the opinion from outside the country was that Trump was doing a very good job. He has started a renegotiation of trade and he is the first president to take a hardline position against North Korea which has brought results for the first time. The comment on CNN, which is the primary news source outside the USA about the USA, was that they were degrading themselves and are no longer regarded as actual newsworthy. They said all CNN does is bashes Trump and they are worthy of the label “FAKE NEWS” and this is coming from non-political sources in Asia who were skeptical about Trump, to begin with.
The CNN slogan has been “Most Watched. Most Trusted” which is now clearly false. Fox News in the USA has more viewers than CNN and internationally it has destroyed its reputation as a “news” channel by turning it into a giant propaganda machine. Yet the most serious damage CNN has ushered in is demonstrating that you have to be out of your mind to dare to want public office going forward. CNN has lowered the standard so far that there is not a human being alive who could withstand some scrutiny of their past and have it distorted for the headlines.
This entire process of any lack of respect that CNN has adopted because they prefer Hillary is destroying politics forever. Who will want to come to an office to help the country if you have to go through their news gauntlet? CNN has really destroyed our future because they are now the greatest deterrent to good people coming in to save the day, which is not a statement that Trump is a good or bad person, but a reflection of the future litmus test for any public leader.
There is a geopolitical strategy happening this week that is essentially under the radar.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, USTR Robert Lighthizer, Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow, and the U.S. trade team are heading to China.
The outcome of their discussions connects the initiatives behind North Korea, China and NAFTA. The steel and aluminum tariffs are part of the toolbox. Only one media personality, our favorite suspicious cat, appears to understand the larger economic play and how it is being deployed.
From the U.S. perspective, NAFTA has a fatal flaw. Mexico and Canada admitted the flaw for the first time a few weeks ago. The flaw is Mexico and Canada’s exploitation of NAFTA as a backdoor into the U.S. market for Asian, mostly Chinese, manufactured products. Multinational corporations who have invested Canada and Mexico are determined to retain the flaw.
President Trump understands that as long as Canada and Mexico can unilaterally make trade agreements with the EU and ASEAN nations, any NAFTA agreement between the U.S., Canada and Mexico is moot. The NAFTA talks are paused.
The U.S. Team now heads to China. There’s no doubt part of the objective is to begin a structural discussion that must happen for the U.S. trade team to approach closing the fatal NAFTA flaw from the source of origin. [*note* on the EU side of this issue, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is leading a similar discussion. Mnuchin and Lighthizer are focused on Asia, Ross has responsibility for Europe]
The North Korean nuclear denuclearization agreement, and substantive peace treaty between North and South Korea, is part of the geopolitical trade negotiation with the U.S. (President Trump) and Beijing (Chairman Xi).
All three issues: •NAFTA, •China Trade Deal, and •North Korea all become part of the larger dynamic. These economic initiatives and Korean strategic peace initiatives are connected by President Trump’s unique use of economic leverage.
I have no idea how Team U.S.A. plans to frame a deal with China that simultaneously solves NAFTA (fatal flaw) and North Korea; however, there’s no doubt -due to the sequencing and timing- that this objective is well underway.
A few minutes ago President Trump tweeted his disappointment at the White House Correspondents Dinner, and speculates that changes might be needed; or potentially to just eliminate it:
Facing strong public criticism throughout the day about the performers’ poor taste in humor, ridicule, belittling and generally inappropriate comments about White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the WHCA released a statement:
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders did not respond to the comedian who was hired by the White House Correspondents Association to belittle her in public.
Just a quick note on the current tone and confrontational content coming from former FBI Director James Comey, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and former CIA Director John Brennan.
There is a great deal of discussion about the combative and hate-riddled language coming from Comey, Clapper and particularly Brennan. Be aware their combative posture as an actual risk avoidance strategy.
Each of the three heavily corrupt officials engaged in the most substantive abuse of their intelligence positions for political purposes. Each of them weaponized their offices against their political opposition. The scope and severity therein is a story yet to surface; and unlike prior examples of weaponizing the DOJ and IRS, there is no administration in place to protect them from investigative sunlight.
Therefore the Comey, Clapper and Brennan defense strategy is to position themselves politically and lean on their like-minded media allies for support. Their adversarial posture is intended to draw the Trump administration into political combat, thereby diminishing any investigative outcomes behind a false shield of political prosecution.
In short this crew needs to frame any element of accountability -based on their prior behavior- as simple political retribution. According to their playbook, the more aggressive, nasty, hate-filled and oppositional they are in their public displays; the greater likelihood they can call any indictments political retaliation. This is a historic approach.
In order for the approach to work, the public must be very well aware of their collective antagonisms and attacks against the current administration. This is why their media allies emphasize each occurrence so much.
If the larger American public see the Comey, Clapper and Brennan attacks as commonplace, the more likely a larger segment of that same public will see any corresponding DOJ legal proceeding as retaliation for those attacks.
Once this defense strategy is deployed, do not expect to see it diminish. Quite the contrary; the strategy is contingent upon ever-increasing and more outlandish attacks.
Historically this approach has a proven track record of success amid Democrats because the media (writ large) generally aligns with it. [See Bob Menendez for a recent example]
I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
I cannot emphasize enough how much of a paradigm shift the President Trump trade approach is. When you understand what was taking place before, you can see why those interests are frothing-at-the-mouth angry about team Trump.
Centinel2012 