Posted originally on Feb 3, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
Another aspect of Trump’s tariffs that he and his advisers fail to understand is clearly related to his concepts of how the world economy functions, which were seriously forged in the Middle Ages. I do not say this out being a Trump hater. My job is to be unbiased and call shots as they are fired purely from an economic and historical perspective.
The dollar’s reserve status has nothing to do with the old world of thinking about backing, fiat, and gold. All currency is fiat, which means the government has decreed its value. From the earliest days of coinage, when it was invented in Lydia, the government established weight and fitness, and when war took place with Persia, the first debasement took place. That was still fiat, even though the coinage was gold and silver.
The next financial capital of the world after Persia became Athens, Greece. There was the Peloponnesian War, where Sparta defeated them in 404 BC. Once again, we can see the cost of war, and they ran out of silver and issued emergency coinage, bronze that was silver plated.
In 1963, President Kennedy issued an executive order to take silver out of the coinage. We, too, issued what became known as clad coinage. Again, a copper core was used, but nickel was placed on both sides to retain the appearance of a white metal like silver. This was the same response to inflation from the Vietnam War and the endless Neocon expenditures to dominate the world.
In the aftermath of World War II, the two countries that rose to the top of the economic food chain were Japan and Germany. They did so without gold; the true power was the productivity of the people. Russia is the wealthiest country in the world from a natural resource perspective. They had the largest gold reserve in history in 1917. Someone hid them so the Communists would not get them, and to this day, they have never been found. Russia had even issued platinum coinage during the 19th century. Yet, despite the resources, Communism suppressed human nature, and that destroyed the productivity of its people, preventing Russia from becoming the financial capital of the world simply because it has the most tangible assets.
What made the dollar the reserve currency was NOT gold – it was our productivity and freedom of the people to invent what they might. That was displayed with Nixon’s famous Kitchen Debate of 1959 with Kruschev. Nixon showed that the American living standard was the best in the world because of the freedom of the people to invent rather than be restrained by government and directed by the government, as took place even in Europe postwar.
The core behind the dollar reserve status has NOTHING to do with fiat nonsense since all currencies are fiat. The people and their productive capacity are the true backing of the currency, precisely as was the case with ancient Rome. India was a significant trading partner with ancient Rome. There was a trade deficit with India since that is where all the spices came from and there was the importation of dyes and silk from China. Chinese records demonstrate that under the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-1980AD), he had even sent an ambassador to China for trade negotiations.
While in Northern India, there was the Kishan Empire issued its own coinage in gold, in the south, they struck gold coinage for over 200 years, imitating Roman coinage. Why? Because of the trade with Rome, the economic dominance of Rome made it the reserve currency, so the gold carried a premium when issued by Rome.
Even before Rome, we see imitations of the coinage of Alexander the Great. These were “imitations” rather than counterfeits because they were struck in silver with generally the same weight. We find imitations of Alexander’s coinage in Eastern Europe right into Switzerland. Once again, this demonstrates that for centuries, a currency’s value carried a premium if it were the dominant economy that others traded with. All the old theories on money are out the window that were based on the people of the Middle Ages when coinage was merely exchanged on pure metal content because Europe was divided and there was no dominant economic power.
This has been misleading ever since the days of Sir Thomas Gresham when debasement took place and currency values declined solely because the exchange rates were entirely confined to the metal content.
It was Napoleon who first created the idea of a single currency. Like Alexander the Great, as he conquered regions, he revised their monetary system by standardizing the weights. Thus, we see that the economic system of Napoleon was all based on the metal content.
The world saw the advantage of a quasi-single currency despite the varying names. They were all established on the standardization of metal weight. The Latin Monetary Union eventually collapsed because the coinage union excluded several forms of monetary issues that were left unregulated and became a loophole when in financial crisis. Italy, Greece, and the Pontifical State all faced financial imbalances linked to the wars of national unification. To cover the costs, as has always been the case since the birth of coinage in the 6th century BC, they all used increased amounts of unregulated forms of monetary issue. This included the issue of banknotes inconvertible in gold and silver, as well as of copper coinage.
The United States $5 gold coin weighed 8.359 grams at 90% pure, so it was overvalued in the Latin Monetary Union. They prepared a pattern of a $4 Stella to join the union. But it was never issued, and the LMU collapsed.
Trump has been anti-BRICS, seeing that as a threat to the reserve state of the dollar yet overlooking the entire reason BRICS has even come about. BRICS was set in motion because our Neocons wanted to destroy the Russian economy so they could invade and conquer Russia – a lifelong dream. Removing Russia from SWIFT sent a red flag to the entire world –
DO AS THE USA COMMANDS, OR YOU, TOO, WILL BE BARRED FROM THE WORLD ECONOMY!
You had the Biden Administration threatening even China to remove them from SWIFT if they helped Russia. They only saw their military power and the quest to conquer Russia while being ignorant of how the world economy functions. China immediately set up its CIPS system – the alternative to SWIFT. The Neocons divided the world economy and this set in motion the beginning of the end of the dollar as the reserve currency, which will evolve over time for post-2032.
What makes the dollar the reserve currency today? Like Rome, we remain the dominant economic power. Germany and Japan rose from the ashes by selling goods to American consumers. This is what Trump DOES NOT understand. Imposing 25% tariffs, thinking he will Make America Great Again by forcing manufacturers to return to the United States, will not just send the rest of the world into economic decline; it will remove the very foundation as to why the US greenback became the reserve currency because everyone could sell to Americans and as such they had to deal in dollars.
Companies left because, thanks to the Supreme Court during the progressive era, rules that the income tax applied to worldwide income. No other country was taxed in that manner. Companies that were competitive worldwide had to leave. If we allocate global trade according to the flag the company flies, the USA had virtually a trade surplus because American companies have always been far more competitive and innovative than foreign competition.
Trump’s ideas, even cryptocurrencies, are all based on antiquated theories that expired long ago. Trump’s advisers have decided to impose drastic tariffs, thinking this will somehow Make America Great Again, but they are just wrong. It will shrink the US economy and send the rest of the world into recession. In the end, America will decline, which is all part of our computer’s forecast for 2032.
Sorry Donald – We are headed into a recession, and unemployment will rise into 2026 – not decline!
Posted originally on Feb 2, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
COMMENT: We are toast !?
Hello Armstrong, I could not resist to make a comment in regards of the freaking Tariffs war that is going to begin on this coming Tuesday between Canada and the USA .
The future looks bleak and as always the working class would see their lives going from bad to worse. I feel the world just need to go kaput !?Now!
Gemma
REPLY: The 2025 Canadian Report will be available after next weekend to everyone after Mike Campbell’s Conference in Vancouver. No doubt, the attendance after these tariffs will be a hot topic in addition to the resignation of Trudeau. Trump posted a message that there may be some pain, but the end will be fantastic. He tells them to build it here with no tariffs. So you will cause unemployment outside the USA to which you will be unable to sell anything to them. Sorry, we are headed into a recession for some places and a depression elsewhere. This was not a smart move.
Trump has just made our model correct once again. The world economy will now shrink and decline going into 2028. By the time this cycle is over, he will be blamed for much, contributing to when the government will collapse, feeding into the end game – 2032.
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The computer seems to have predicted Trump’s antiquated economic theories, for it had a Directional Change on the yearly level in the C$. Trump is acting on the old theories inspired by Karl Marx that he and everyone else are still taught in school to this day. I was just having a discussion with an economic professor in Italy who can see what has been taught is just wrong. This is all wrapped up in the theory of labor and the nonsense that the company will move if someone works for $5 less than someone else. That is just not true.
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There are so many factors involved that I had hoped Trump would have reached out and at least talked to me rather than his cronies who keep preaching the old theories that died with Bretton Woods. I was going to have a World Economic Conference for the next generation, where I go over all of these nonsensical theories that have failed and explain how the real-world economy functions. Trump won’t attend, but he should. He has just initiated what I warned about – he will go down in history not much different from Herbert Hoover. I wrote about the role of tariffs during the Great Depression. I suggest you read it and send your senator and congressman a copy.
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This asinine theory of tariffs and currency manipulation all for trade is beyond being just lamebrain. This dates back to when money was gold and silver coin, and even Sir Thomas Gresham’s law that bad money drives out good money has been so distorted, along with the theory that the quantity of money tied to inflation no longer stands the test of time. This was when foreign exchange was entirely based on the metal content of the coinage, for there was still no dominant financial capital of the world coming out of the Middle Ages.
Then came John Maynard Keynes, a mathematician, not an economist. What he observed was the essence of a recession or depression. As uncertainty arises about the future, people will hoard their money and NOT spend it. This is what Gresham observed: debasing the coinage under Henry VIII, people hoarded the old coinage and spent the debased. The money supply shrinks with the velocity of money. I have been buying hoards of coins over the years, generally from the 3rd century AD when the political situation of the Roman Empire was in chaos. People buried the money in times of uncertainty. This is a fundamental human nature aspect.
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I had sold Athenian Owls, which were also a hoard, during the uncertainty of the Peloponnesian War when Sparta defeated Athens. I had also offered a hoard of Roman Republican victoratii that also was a hoard from the uncertainty of the Punic War. We do not tend to find hoards from the good times. I would love to find a hoard of the Julio-Claudian period, but this was generally a stable period in Roman history. The amount of hoards from that period is limited. But hoards are also a snapshot of what was in circulation at that moment in time. When the eruption of Vesuvius buried Pompei, one of the most common coins discovered was still the Marc Antony legionary denarii from about 100 years prior.
What Trump does NOT understand, nor does any of his economic advisors, is that inflation can also be caused by asset shortages or a speculative boom and currency declines causing inflation. What Trump is going to be slapped in the face with is currency inflation. A number of reasons can cause a decline in a currency. What Hoover did not understand was the 1931 sovereign defaults in Europe sent the dollar higher. This was MISUNDERSTOOD and led to the tariffs because foreign wheat was then cheaper than domestic. What Trump fails to comprehend is that the political turmoil in Canada, mixed with 25% tariffs, can send the C$ down to new lows and test even the 46-50 cents level. That would be a 27.5% decline in the C$, negating his idea of tariffs.
Neither Trump nor RFK will call me in until a crisis.
Once in power, nobody admits a mistake until there is no choice!
This will be just one day dealing with how the world truly works. We won’t have the typical gourmet food or the cocktail party that hotels charge just $100 a head for cocktails. We are trying to reduce costs so the next generation can afford to attend and make like-minded friends perhaps for life. But we will also have live streaming worldwide. They can watch even from China and Russia. It seems we are not blocked around the world. We must speak to the hotel to see when we can get space. I am thinking about between April and May. The cost will be affordable since there will be no forecasting reports, lunches, and dinners.
Posted originally on the CTH on February 2, 2025 | Sundance
In December of 2016 when we discussed the possibility of President Trump’s then new and unique tariff approach, we predicted negligible impact – if any at all. It was a theory at the time, but predicated on the looming possibility that impacted nations would inevitably devalue their currency. It was the currency devaluation, in combination with directed subsidies, that would offset any tariff impact to U.S. consumers.
By the time we got to December 2019, we were no longer discussing theory. Deflation due to currency devaluation, subsidy and a rising dollar actually became reality. The lookback data (2017 through 2019) proved the tariffs did not raise prices. In fact, the opposite happened, we were importing broad-based deflation.
Now it’s 2025 and again China is hit with tariffs, along with Canada and Mexico. With history as a reference, watch the Canadian Dollar and the Mexican Peso. Initial impact shows the same thing repeating again. The U.S. dollar is rising in value, and the Canadian dollar is dropping quickly.
If this trend holds, the 25% tariffs against Canada (and Mexico) will have minimal impact, if any at all. The lowered value Canadian dollar and Mexican peso will work as an offset and imports will be paid with higher value dollars. Depending on the scale of what happens in the next few weeks, there is a strong possibility Canada might have just walked into a trap set by Trump.
Canada doesn’t have anywhere else to go with their oil. They are pipeline dependent into the USA, and we refine their oil and ship it back the same way. The Canadian oil price is dependent on the USA taking it. Trudeau has no leverage on this.
Additionally, if the currency basket of the C-dollar and M-peso drops against the U.S. dollar, then Canada is especially trapped in a no-win scenario. We must watch the price of the C-dollar and M-peso closely to see how the market responds.
Below is a reminder of what happened before. Did Justin Trudeau just walk into a trap?
With the 2025 tariffs triggered, it is worth revisiting the 2017-2019 actual tariff outcome for U.S. consumers in order to dispel the popular myths about tariffs raising prices here at home. This might be the cited data you want to bookmark for later reference.
It was the Fourth Quarter of 2019…..
Right before the pandemic would hit a few months later, despite two years of doomsayer predictions from Wall Street’s professional punditry, all of them saying Trump’s 2017 steel and aluminum tariffs on China, Canada and the EU would create massive inflation – it just wasn’t happening!
Overall, year-over-year inflation was hovering around 1.7 percent [Table-A BLS]; yup, that was our inflation rate. The rate in the latter half of 2019 was firmed up with less month-over-month fluctuation, and the rate basically remained consistent. [See Below] The U.S. economy was on a smooth glide path, strong, stable, and Main Street was growing with MAGAnomics at work.
A couple of important points. First, unleashing the energy sector to drive down overall costs to consumers, and industry outputs was a key part of President Trump’s America First MAGAnomic initiative. Lower energy prices help the worker economy, middle class and average American more than any other sector.
Which brings us to the second important point. Notice how food prices had very low year-over-year inflation – 0.5 percent. That is a combination of two key issues: low energy costs, and the fracturing of Big Ag’s hold on the farm production and the export dynamic:
(BLS) […] The index for food at home declined for the third month in a row, falling 0.2 percent. The index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs decreased 0.7 percent in August as the index for eggs fell 2.6 percent. The index for fruits and vegetables, which rose in July, fell 0.5 percent in August; the index for fresh fruits declined 1.4 percent, but the index for fresh vegetables rose 0.4 percent. The index for cereals and bakery products fell 0.3 percent in August after rising 0.3 percent in July. (link)
For the previous twenty years, food prices had been increasingly controlled by Big Ag, and not by normal supply and demand. The commodity market became a ‘controlled market’. U.S. food outputs (farm production) was controlled and exported to keep the U.S. consumer paying optimal prices.
President Trump’s trade reset was disrupting this process. As farm products were less exported, the cost of the food in our supermarket became reconnected to a ‘more normal’ supply and demand cycle. Food prices dropped, and our pantry costs were lowered.
The Commerce Dept. then announced that retail sales climbed by 0.4 percent in August 2019, twice as high as the 0.2 percent analysts had predicted. The result highlighted retail sales strength of more than 4 percent year-over-year. These excellent results came on the heels of blowout data in July, when households boosted purchases of cars and clothing.
The better-than-expected number stemmed largely from a 1.8 percent jump in spending vehicles. Online sales, meanwhile, also continued to climb, rising 1.6 percent. That’s similar to July 2019, when Amazon held its two-day blowout Prime Day sale. (link)
Despite the efforts to remove and impeach President Trump, it did not look like middle class America was overly concerned about the noise coming from the pundits. Likely that’s because blue collar wages were higher, Main Street inflation was lower, and overall consumer confidence was strong. Yes, MAGAnomics was working.
Additionally, remember all those MSM hours and newspaper column inches where the professional financial pundits were claiming Trump’s tariffs were going to cause massive increases in prices of consumer goods?
Well, exactly the opposite happened [BLS report] Import prices were continuing to drop:
This was a really interesting dynamic that no one in the professional punditry would dare explain.
Donald Trump’s tariffs were targeted to specific sectors of imported products. [Steel, Aluminum, and a host of smaller sectors etc.] However, when the EU and China responded by devaluing their currency, that approach hit all products imported, not just the tariff goods.
Because the EU and China were driving up the value of the dollar, everything we were importing became cheaper. Not just imports from Europe and China but actually imports from everywhere. All imports were entering the U.S. at substantially lower prices.
This meant when we imported products, we were also importing deflation.
This price result is exactly the opposite of what the economic experts and Wall Street pundits predicted back in 2017 and 2018 when they were pushing the rapid price increase narrative.
Because all the export dependent economies were reacting with such urgency to retain their access to the U.S. market, aggregate import prices were actually lower than they were when the Trump tariffs began:
[…] Prices for imports from China edged down 0.1 percent in August following decreases of 0.2 percent in both July and June. Import prices from China have not advanced on a monthly basis since ticking up 0.1 percent in May 2018. The price index for imports from China fell 1.6 percent for the year ended in August.
[…] Import prices from the European Union fell 0.2 percent in August and 0.3 percent over the past 12 months.
So yes, we know President Trump can expand the economy with tariffs and his America-First economic policy. We do not need to guess if it is possible or listen to pundits theorize about his approach being some random ‘catch phrase’ disconnected from reality. Yes folks, we have the receipts.
This was MAGAnomics at work, and this is entirely what created the middle class MAGA coalition. No other Republican candidate had this economic policy in their outlook, because all other candidates are purchased by the Wall Street multinationals.
America First MAGAnomics is unique to President Trump, because he is the only one independent enough to implement them.
That’s just the reality of the situation. They hate him for it…
Posted originally on the CTH on February 2, 2025 | Sundance
Those who do not pretend already know the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is the cover agency for CIA influence operations worldwide. However, technically USAID is supposed to be the charitable side of U.S. government, supporting foreign countries.
If USAID is simply magnanimous and altruistic aid to foreign countries using taxpayer funds, then what exactly is the “classified material” they would need to withhold from DOGE review?
Sometimes all we need are simple questions to destroy the matrix of lies.
WASHINGTON DC – WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has placed two top security chiefs at the U.S. Agency for International Development on leave after they refused to turn over classified material in restricted areas to Elon Musk’s government-inspection teams, a current and a former U.S. official told The Associated Press on Sunday.
Members of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, eventually did gain access Saturday to the aid agency’s classified information, which includes intelligence reports, the former official said.
Musk’s DOGE crew lacked high-enough security clearance to access that information, so the two USAID security officials — John Vorhees and deputy Brian McGill — believed themselves legally obligated to deny access.
The current and former U.S. officials had knowledge of the incident and spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share the information. (more)
What is this “classified material” they speak of?
What "classified info" should a presumed USA charitable enterprise, purposefully using taxpayer funding, consist of? https://t.co/wY7NLLT6Hp
For those who don’t know, USAID is the cover group for CIA intervention in all foreign affairs.
The CIA and State Dept work together. USAID is the sub agency silo that carries out the missions.
The State Dept is the front of house, the dining room. The CIA is the kitchen. USAID are the staff, with DoD as the bussers.
Dissolving USAID into State, removes the cover. The CIA activities become more obvious. Foreign meddling, specifically messing in elections and installing foreign leaders, becomes more difficult.
Posted originally on the CTH on February 2, 2025 | Sundance
During a Fox News interview, Senator Lindsey Graham says he is a yes on RFK Jr, Kash Patel and now Tulsi Gabbard, specifically because the latter has now assured him, she will support FISA-702 warrantless searches of U.S. citizen communication. Senator Graham states falsely the 702 authorities only pertain to foreign nationals. Watch how he says it, PROMPTED:
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Remember what I said about Kash Patel being the firewall selected by the Senate to make the American people drop their pitchforks and torches? Listen to Senator Graham through that protective prism and you can hear exactly that approach.
Saying DNI nominee is disqualified for her prior position on FISA-702 and her previous position on Edward Snowden, SSCI Vice-Chair hopes the republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee do not allow Tulsi Gabbard to come out of SSCI confirmation vote. WATCH:
Lots of professional pearl-clutching here….
[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to Virginia Democratic Senator Mark Warner. He is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and joins us from Palm Beach, Florida. Good morning to you, Senator.
SEN. MARK WARNER: Good morning, Margaret.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you have any sense yet what the cost of these tariffs could be for Virginia, which does have a wine industry, for example?
SEN. WARNER: Yeah. Well, first of all, Margaret, I think we might want to call this the Donald Trump Super Bowl tax, with the big game coming next week. If you- you know, avocados, tomatoes, beer from Mexico, price is going to go up. The question around cars- I’ve read already about $3,000 of additional price on cars, up to 10,000 on trucks, because we’ve actually integrated very well our auto production with Canada and Mexico. I think it’s well about the fact that for years, we’ve been encouraging businesses to leave China and near shore to a place like Mexico. Now that is going to end up costing consumers more. And for industries like ours- like the wine industry, where we are growing rapidly in Virginia, those folks are going to get socked as well. So this is- remember Donald Trump got hired trying to lower grocery- saying he was going to lower grocery prices–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –Right.
SEN. WARNER: Two weeks in, he’s doing something that’s going to do the absolute opposite.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we will track the impact of this trade war. Senator, I want to switch topics. You are, as we said, the Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, we watched that hearing this week for Tulsi Gabbard, she had two particular exchanges with Republican senators, Todd Young and James Lankford, who pressed her to say that Edward Snowden was a traitor. Lankford said it was a softball. But listen to what happened.
SEN. TODD YOUNG: Did he betray a duty? Did he- did he betray the trust of the American people, which is according to Merriam-Webster, that’s the definition of a traitor.
TULSI GABBARD: Edward Snowden broke the law and he released this information in a way that he should not have. He also acknowledged and exposed information that was unconstitutional.
[SEN. JAMES LANKFORD SOT]
SEN. JAMES LANKFORD: Was he a traitor at the time when he took America’s secrets, released him in public and then ran to China and became a Russian citizen?
TULSI GABBARD: Senator, I’m focused on the future and how we can prevent something like this from happening again.
[END SOT]
MARGARET BRENNAN: You’ve worked closely with these senators. I know they’re Republicans and you’re from a different party, but when you speak to them privately, do you think they can get over that- her refusal to call him a traitor and actually vote to confirm her or even move her out of committee?
SEN. WARNER: Listen, Margaret, Edward Snowden released more information- probably did as much damage to our intelligence community as anyone in history. And the fact that Ms. Gabbard- who actually had legislation to pardon Edward Snowden, she called him a brave whistleblower, couldn’t bring herself to call him a traitor, I think is disqualifying just on plain judgment. What would that- what signal if she got in, would that send to the IC workers or contractors? Is she going to suddenly enforce the law if she called Snowden a brave whistleblower? And what I’m particularly concerned about, Margaret, is our sharing of information with our allies, that’s not written into law that’s based on trust. Will they really trust to share their intelligence with us if she can’t call out one of the worst traders in recent American history as- as such, as a traitor.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you think she can even make it out of committee and make it to a full vote on the floor of the Senate?
SEN. WARNER: I know there are a number- our committee is the- historically the most bipartisan. We check our partisan hats at the door. There is enormous MAGA pressure that, as we’ve seen, put on senators who are willing to stand up. We’ll know this coming week, but it’s not just Snowden, it was- America’s most powerful intelligence tool is a law called- something we call Section 702, she left us totally confused on her views on that. And as well, her lack of judgment, whether it’s going to visit Assad when he was head of Syria, whether it was taking trips paid for by sketchy groups or echoing Putin’s comments somehow NATO started the war in Ukraine, that is not the judgment of somebody that would run 18 intelligence communities- agencies
MARGARET BRENNAN: We will watch to see those Republican senators. I want to ask you as well about what’s happening at the FBI and the Justice Department. President Trump- he campaigned on this promise to restructure the government. Seems like he’s implementing that this week. So far between the FBI and Justice Department, we’ve seen at least 20 terminations. Some are calling this a purge. But is it overstating it if we’re seeing 20 people lose their jobs?
SEN. WARNER: Well, if you are suddenly taking out the most experienced folks at justice or at the FBI, how does that make us stronger? And what he’s saying is, every FBI agent that somehow touched the January 6 investigation- that was a comprehensive investigation. I’ve been told there were almost half of all the FBI agents at least had some involvement. Remember, this was a case that was taken up against these rioters all across the country. If you’re suddenly going to get rid of all of those- that could be thousands–
MARGARET BRENN: Yeah–
SEN. WARNER: –what does that mean for our cyber security? What does it mean for our trafficking and stop against fentanyl and other drugs? What does it mean in terms of, you know, serious crime investigations? This would be devastating.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, that’s- our reporting is that the order was for a list to be drawn up of those 1500 or so people who worked on those cases. We’re going to try to get to the bottom of whether they’re actually going to be fired or not–
SEN. WARNER: –But, Margaret. Margaret–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –That’s not clear.
SEN. WARNER: We’ve seen- but we’ve seen you get your name on these lists. It’s like- it’s like, Trump’s potentially illegal offer to buy out all the federal employees, where we have no money in the budget for but we had a great tragedy this week in DC with the air- the crash. We are already short air traffic controllers. If suddenly 2 or 3000 air traffic controllers were to say, hey, I’m going to take this buyout, our airspace couldn’t operate. And yet he’s doing this so recklessly, frankly again, without legal authority–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –Is it being offered to them?
SEN. WARNER: Pardon me?
MARGARET BRENNAN: Is that open to–
SEN. WARNER: –Say again.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Is it being offered to air traffic controllers?
SEN. WARNER: All federal employees- my understanding it went out to two million federal employees. This offer- which, again, OPM does not have that authority to start with. That was who it came from, but it is- I can tell you, with lots of federal employees, we got chaos on steroids going on, and we had heard from Trump’s supporters, the OMB director, for example, that he wanted to traumatize federal workers. Well, that is happening, and these workers are the folks that inspect our- our fruit, our milk, our eggs. You know, what happens if they all quit?
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you- and I know many of those people live in the state of Virginia, they are your constituents. I want to ask you about your former partner on the Intelligence Committee, Marco Rubio, now Secretary of State. He told a podcaster this week, the president made the decision to cancel security protection for Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, who served during the first term, because he looked through a “threat versus cost risk assessment.” I know you’re briefed on intelligence. Did the threat from Iran to assassinate former US officials go away?
SEN. WARNER: No. I’ve seen no intelligence that would indicate that that threat has been diminished. I think this is payback and it’s not just Pompeo–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –But Secretary Rubio endorsed this.
SEN. WARNER: Listen I have not seen any intelligence- and here I agree with my partner Tom Cotton, the now chair of the intel committee- we’ve seen nothing to indicate less threat. And also taking out, for example, down the security detail for former General Chief of Staff, Mark Milley. This is all about retribution. And he’s putting people’s lives in danger, which is just unbelievable, and I wish more people would stand up.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator, thank you for your time this morning.
Posted originally on the CTH on February 2, 2025 | Sundance
A quick review and a little warning of sorts, in a good way.
Two weeks into the second term of President Trump and the activity when combined with the future outlook is excellent.
Apoplexy abounds throughout the DC system as President Trump continues to overwhelm every silo of opposition simultaneously; meanwhile, the media is being bombarded with so much activity they are completely flummoxed like a bunch of one-legged plate spinners in a three-ring circus.
The systems’ outrage machine is bellowing dark smoke, clanking, spluttering and in a state of perpetual tilt. Things are going swimmingly.
With the latest outrage du jour, the elimination of USAID now sucking all the oxygen from the intake manifolds of the Deep State machine, the various NGO’s are blasting the UniParty politicians with too much noise.
Chairs, both people and seats, are everywhere; phones are melting, media editors and transcriptionists for silo narratives are totally overwhelmed, “stop the hammering,” and yet the deafening sound of winning is not at peak climax.
We The People have not smiled this much in decades, as the Big Ugly wrecking ball only gains momentum with each swing. These results are far beyond my personal expectations, and that is entirely the result of my reluctance to trust.
In the deep recesses of the data, there was always a possibility of Trump’s singular intent breaking through the concentric circles of control; but that analysis leaned alarmingly toward ‘hope’, so it was always best to put it into oppositional context. When we contemplated the quiet thoughts that must have been in place, despite our concerns with the guardians of status-quo, there was always the possibility…. But watching it unfold is something very special. Very special indeed.
The singular intent theory always held that President Trump, as a solitary person, had to retain independent thoughts regardless of the snakes in his midst. The singular intent theory can be encapsulated in one example -and there are many- of an issue that highlights it.
EXAMPLE: For four solid years President Trump requested and instructed the declassification of the information used against him in the Russian Collusion conspiracy operation. To wit President Trump went through three chiefs-of-staff with the same request, declassify the documents. Four Directors of National Intelligence; two CIA Directors; two FBI Directors; two deputy FBI Directors; three Attorneys’ General; three Deputy AG’s; four White House counsels and three National Security Advisors, all with the same directive, declassify and release the damned documents. None of them ever did. Instead they formed concentric circles around the President and blocked, with growing, evolving and shape-shifting justifications at every turn… But wait….
…. Not only did all the aforementioned people, lawyers, administrators and IC silo officials block President Trump’s effort to declassify evidence of the activity against him, the DOJ then went to the absurd length of appointing a Special Prosecutor to chase President Trump to his home in Mar-a-Lago and charge him with a crime AFTER they refused to do the thing that was then used as a justification for charging him with a crime, classified documents…. THINK ABOUT IT.
Put yourself into the quiet time of President Trump’s thinking as he sat in an armored SUV going to the courtroom to hear accusations of his illegal conduct, when contemplated against the nature of the opposition that created the legal outcome that was now used to charge him. Seriously, put yourself into his quiet thoughts. That my friends, is one small example of the place where the “singular intent” theory of Trump in term-2 starts.
From that origination position, hope for Trump and the proverbial “lessons learned” always existed. It didn’t matter if the people around him held the same level of purpose or intensity about those matters, for President Trump the man this weaponization bullshit would always be personal.
Now we are bearing witness to the natural outcome of all of it. Instructions, policies, procedures and Executive Orders flowing at a pace that no-one in Washington DC could fathom, despite the ‘dictator Trump‘ protestations they predicted in their proactive position to retain status-quo.
Yes, the results of the past two weeks have been astoundingly awesome. And that is despite the wish-washy efforts of many within the ranks of the office of the presidency. Thus, I step off my soapbox with a joy-filled warning of sorts.
Beware the movement of the walls around you as we enter this dark tunnel place toward Deep State deconstruction.
Many of the allied, dare I say friendly torchbearers, did not anticipate the level of Trumpian ferocity needed to pass through the caverns on the journey to the plug at the bottom of the swamp.
There’s a great deal of Big Ugly stuff to overcome the deeper we get, and as the quest gets more challenging, we will likely discover the ranks of the brave are thinning. However, be of good cheer, for that is a good thing. Because in the final analysis the victory is even sweeter when fewer can pass the challenge.
I think by now many of us know these DC people very well. Their apoplexy, in combination with their growing desperation, makes them exceptionally dangerous right now… But fugit, if not now, then when? Wrath of patient men and all that.
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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
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