President Trump, Man in the Arena


Posted originally on CTH on March 18, 2023 | Sundance | 380 Comments

There is so much to say…. and so much that needs to be said. But for now, we establish the core of the matter…

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

― Theodore Roosevelt

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President Trump Says He Expects to Be Arrested Next Tuesday


In a Truth Social post earlier today [LINK HERE], President Donald Trump announced a leak from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office indicates he will be arrested next Tuesday.

[Source Link]

While there has been some attention to the “protest, take our nation back” element to the statement, in totality that reference point appears to be misinterpreted.  President Trump is not calling for a protest in response to his arrest per se’; to me, he appears to be calling upon “protest” in relation to the totality of the corrupt and manipulative state of our nation as a result of the radical leftists tearing our nation apart.

“THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.” 

~ Thomas Paine, The Crisis No. I (written 19 December 1776, published 23 December 1776)

We are engaged in a battle that is much larger than a modern political conflict.  Behind the lies, manipulations and schemes of the corrupt political class, there is a spiritual battle on a larger dynamic.  There is a spiritual war among all people. A conflict between light and dark, morality and corruption, right and wrong, truth and lies, decency and incivility.

The opposition arguments are weak and based on lies and deceptions.  Steel your resolve to the landscape that surrounds us, but do not let yourself become victim to dark imaginings.  There is protection around Donald John Trump that even he could never explain.

Steadfast in this conflict, we will not fail.

Posted originally on the CTH on March 18, 2023 | Sundance

If You Can’t Beat Him, Indict Him – NBC Testing Water with Anonymous Source Report that New York Is Planning to Indict President Trump


Posted originally on the CTH on March 17, 2023 | Sundance

The pearl-clutching apoplexy is thick in the latest report from NBC claiming the Dept of Homeland Security, FBI and New York City officials are conducting preparation drills in anticipation of President Trump being indicted for…. wait for it – paying porn star Stormy Daniels.  Good grief, I mean they might as well have said the Pentagon is positioning satellites, NORAD is conducting drills and the National Guard has been put on alert… for something.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is investigating Trump for felony falsification of business records because President Trump paid his attorney, Michael Cohen, with business funds identified as ‘legal services’.

(Via NBC) – Local, state and federal law enforcement and security agencies are preparing for the possibility that former President Donald Trump is indicted as early as next week, according to five senior officials familiar with the preparations. 

Law enforcement agencies are conducting preliminary security assessments, the officials said, and are discussing potential security plans in and around the Manhattan Criminal Court, at 100 Centre Street, in case Trump is charged in connection with an alleged hush money payment to Stormy Daniels and travels to New York to face any charges.

The officials stress that the interagency conversations and planning are precautionary in nature because no charges have been filed. 

The agencies involved include the NYPD, New York State Court Officers, the U.S. Secret Service, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the officials said.  NBC News has reached out to all of those agencies for comment, and all have declined to comment.  (read more)

Meanwhile, the real motive of the issue surfaces in the New York Times…

NEW YORK – […]  In surveys taken since the Trump offensive began two months ago, Mr. DeSantis, the Florida governor, has steadily lost ground against Mr. Trump, whose own numbers have increased.

It can be hard to track who’s up and who’s down in the Republican race, since different pollsters have had such wildly divergent takes on Mr. Trump’s strength. In just the last few days, a CNN/SSRS poll showed a tight race, with Mr. DeSantis at 39 percent and Mr. Trump at 37 percent among registered voters, while a Morning Consult poll found Mr. Trump with nearly a two-to-one lead, 52 percent to 28 percent.

Over the last two months, we’ve gotten about a dozen polls from pollsters who had surveyed the Republican race over the previous two months. These polls aren’t necessarily of high quality or representative, so don’t focus on the average across these polls. It’s the trend that’s important, and the trend is unequivocal: Every single one of these polls has shown Mr. DeSantis faring worse than before, and Mr. Trump faring better.

A Widening Gap Between Trump and DeSantis – Every recent poll has shown Mr. DeSantis faring worse than he did two months ago — around the time Mr. Trump began publicly attacking him.

Over the last two months, we’ve gotten about a dozen polls from pollsters who had surveyed the Republican race over the previous two months. These polls aren’t necessarily of high quality or representative, so don’t focus on the average across these polls. It’s the trend that’s important, and the trend is unequivocal: Every single one of these polls has shown Mr. DeSantis faring worse than before, and Mr. Trump faring better. (read more)

The professional political class have done everything they can to promote Ron DeSantis as the MAGA alternative to their arch nemesis Donald Trump.  However, the support for President Trump is only growing, and DeSantis keeps dropping.

The reason is simple.   People are realizing that everything in the Ron DeSantis orbit is managed, manipulated and controlled.  That system around him was constructed in late 2021 and he was always going to run for the 2024 GOP nomination.  That realization has become increasingly clear in the past few weeks and people do not like being lied to.

Ron DeSantis was the fake $100 bill on a fishing line being dragged through the MAGAhood.

That’s the bottom line.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day…


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on March 17, 2023 | Sundance 

Great digital artwork by Joshua Youngbluth.  You can find him on Twitter [SEE HERE].

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Also, a catchy tune below:


Remember, live your best life…. and throw sand in the machine when possible…  both of which, make the Deep State angry!   ~ 
Sundance

President Trump Releases Agenda-47 Policy Statement on Ukraine and America First Foreign Policy


Posted originally on the CTH on March 16, 2023 | Sundance 

In a new Agenda47 video released today {Direct Rumble Link Here}, President Donald J. Trump explains the difference between the globalist establishment class, and those who are truly committed to stopping the Ukraine war and dismantling the entire neo-con nation-building industrial complex in Washington, D.C.  WATCH:

[Transcript] – “We have never been closer to World War III than we are today under Joe Biden. A global conflict between nuclear-armed powers would mean death and destruction on a scale unmatched in human history. It would be nuclear Armageddon. NOTHING is more important than avoiding that nightmare. We will avoid it. But we need new leadership.

Every day this proxy battle in Ukraine continues, we risk global war. We must be absolutely clear that our objective is to IMMEDIATELY have a total cessation of hostilities. All shooting has to stop. This is the central issue. We need PEACE without delay.

In addition, there must also be a complete commitment to dismantling the entire globalist neo-con establishment that is perpetually dragging us into endless wars, pretending to fight for freedom and democracy abroad, while they turn us into a third-world country and a third-world dictatorship right here at home. The State Department, the defense bureaucracy, the intelligence services, and all the rest need to be completely overhauled and reconstituted to fire the Deep Staters and put America First. We have to put America First.

Finally, we have to finish the process we began under my Administration of fundamentally reevaluating NATO’s purpose and NATO’s mission. Our foreign policy establishment keeps trying to pull the world into conflict with a nuclear-armed Russia based on the lie that Russia represents our greatest threat.

But the greatest threat to Western Civilization today is not Russia. It’s probably, more than anything else, ourselves and some of the horrible, U.S.A. hating people that represent us. It’s the abolition of our national borders. It’s the failure to police our own cities. It’s the destruction of the rule of law from within. It’s the collapse of the nuclear family and fertility rates, like nobody can believe is happening. It’s the Marxists who would have us become a Godless nation worshipping at the altar of race, and gender, and environment. And it’s the globalist class that has made us totally dependent on China and other foreign countries that basically hate us.

These globalists want to squander all of America’s strength, blood and treasure, chasing monsters and phantoms overseas—while keeping us distracted from the havoc they’re creating right here at home. These forces are doing more damage to America than Russia and China could ever have dreamed.

Evicting the sick and corrupt establishment is the monumental task for the next president. And I’m the only one who can do it. I’m the only one that can get the job done. I know exactly what has to be done.” [LINK]

President Trump Crushes Ron DeSantis in Head-to-Head Poll, 67% -vs- 20% With Hispanic Voters


Posted originally on the CTH on March 5, 2023 | Sundance

The latest YouGov poll [raw data here] shows why FL Gov Ron DeSantis is about to make the biggest political mistake of his career by launching a challenge against Donald Trump.

If you listen to the professional media pundits who give, and attempt to sway, opinion – and if you listen to the statements from the professional Republican class that wants to remove Donald Trump from the party, you will hear this general talking point:

“The Republican Party needs to appeal to a younger, more ethnically diverse audience to maximize the ‘big tent’ size of the party.”…

There are many current variations of this talking point, but generally speaking this ‘big tent new Republican Party‘ message is what you hear from the Karl Rove, Nikki Haley, Chris Sununu, Mitch McConnell, Ronna McDaniel and the entirety of the cocktail class Republican circuit.  It is a common talking point amid all the professional pundits.

However, to point out the nonsense of their argument, if we take them at their word, what we find in almost every Republican poll demographic Donald Trump’s biggest base of support is younger, less wealthy, working class voters of every ethnicity.  As outlined in the YouGov Poll cited, Donald Trump literally brings to the GOP exactly what they claim to want.  Yet these professional Republican voices use their talking point to frame a narrative against Trump.

Check out the data against the GOPe talking point.  As we have previously discussed, the younger the voter the more support for Donald Trump.  The support for Donald Trump also increases with Hispanic voters.  It is only in the very wealthy white voters where you find support increasing for Ron DeSantis; this is the exact opposite of what the professional pundits claim in print and broadcast media.

As you can see above, Ron DeSantis support increases with older, wealthy, white voters.   Support for Ron DeSantis decreases with younger, less affluent, voters with ethnic diversity.   This is the exact opposite of the professional Republican pundit talking points.  I am highlighting it [DATA HERE] so you can see for yourself and use this reality in your conversations and candidate debates.

Donald J. Trump has larger appeal to younger, diverse, working class voters.   This is the heart of MAGA and why the traditional Republican Party, the party of old white people, is trying to remove him.

Next talking point…. Take out all of the other options for candidates, and just make the contest a head-to-head challenge between Trump and DeSantis.  What you find is exactly the same.  President Donald J. Trump crushes Governor Ron DeSantis.  But look at how the head-to-head matchup turns out with Latino voters:

Donald Trump leads Ron DeSantis by a whopping 47 points (67% to 20%) amid the largest growing demographic group.

President Trump is the future of the Republican Party….

…. and they hate him for it. 

Artwork by Joshua Youngbluth – Follow on Twitter @JYoungbluth

President Trump CPAC 2023 Keynote Address, Livestream Video


Posted originally on the CTH on March 4, 2023 | Sundance 

President Donald Trump will be delivering the keynote address at CPAC 2023 today at 3:30pm ET.  Livestream Links Below:

Trump Campaign Rumble Livestream – RSBN CPAC Livestream – RAV CPAC Livestream

LIVE: President Donald Trump Delivers Remarks at CPAC

LIVE: PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP DELIVERS REMARKS AT CPAC 2023

RAV LIVE FROM CPAC 2023

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Artwork by Joshua Youngbluth – Follow on Twitter @JYoungbluth

Agenda 47 – President Trump Announces Quantum Leap Initiative to Build Modern Communities Across the Nation


Posted originally on the CTH on March 3, 2023 | Sundance 

Earlier today President Trump made a bold policy announcement, to create modern cities throughout the nation with the low cost use of a small portion of federally controlled land.  A massive investment in a new infrastructure initiative that would rebuild and reignite the America First economic engine. {Direct Rumble Link}

“President Trump unveiled his new Quantum Leap plan that will create a new American future and modernize communities across the country. By building new cities, investing in transportation, lowering the cost of living for everyone, and modernizing public spaces across the country, President Trump has laid out a bold strategy to revolutionize the American Standard of Living.” more

While almost every other political candidate debates the best process for dividing up diminishing economic pie, this initiative doesn’t make the pie bigger, it creates new ones.  This is bold leadership pushing the boundaries. WATCH:

[Transcript] – Past generations of Americans pursued big dreams and daring projects that once seemed absolutely impossible. They pushed across an unsettled continent and built new cities in the wild frontier. They transformed American life with the interstate highway system—magnificent it was. And they launched a vast network of satellites into orbit all around the earth.

But today, our country has lost its boldness. Under my leadership, we will get it back in a very big way. If you look at just three years ago, what we were doing was unthinkable, how good it was, how great it was for our country.

Our objective will be a quantum leap in the American Standard of Living. That’s what will happen. Here are just a few of the ways we can do it.

Almost one third of the land-mass of the United States is owned by the federal government. With just a very, very small portion of that land— just a fraction [of] one half of one percent—would you believe that? We should hold a contest to charter up to 10 new cities and award them to the best proposals for development.

In other words, we’ll actually build new cities in our country again. These Freedom Cities will reopen the frontier, reignite American imagination, and give hundreds of thousands of young people and other people, all hardworking families, a new shot at home ownership and in fact, the American Dream.

Another big opportunity is in transportation. Dozens of major companies in the U.S. and China are racing to develop vertical-takeoff-and-landing vehicles for families and individuals. Just as the United States led the automotive revolution in the last century, I want to ensure that America, not China, leads this revolution in air mobility. These breakthroughs can transform commerce, bring a giant infusion of wealth into RURAL America, and connect families and our country in new ways.

Likewise, through our Strategic National Manufacturing Initiative, which is going to be very big and very, very successful, we will turn forgotten communities into hives of industry, producing the goods we will no longer import from China.

We will also have a major initiative on lowering the cost of living, with a special focus on lowering the cost of a new car and lowering the cost to build a single-family home. And they will be beautiful homes.

And I will ask Congress to support “Baby Bonuses” for young parents to help launch a new baby boom.

Finally, I will challenge the governors of all 50 states to join me in a great modernization and beautification campaign—getting rid of ugly buildings, refurbishing our parks and our public spaces, making cities and towns more livable, ensuring a pristine environment, and building towering monuments to our true American heroes.

Very importantly, I will also make sure all of these new places are safe. We love and cherish our police. They will do the job the way they have to.

It is time to start talking about GREATNESS for our country again.

I will dramatically increase living standards and build a future that brings our country together through excitement, opportunity, and success.

Thank you very much.

[Transcript Link]

Digital Artwork by Joshua Youngbluth

From the proposal:

President Trump proposes a national contest to charter up to 10 new cities on a very small portion of federal land and award these charters to the best ideas and proposals for development.

Of the approximately 640 million acres owned by the federal government, 10 charters roughly the size of the District of Columbia would amount to just a few one-hundredths of a percent—about 0.06%.

Freedom Cities will be built on federal land that is undeveloped and not part of any of our country’s magnificent national parks or other natural treasures. These cities will give hundreds of thousands of hardworking American families a new opportunity for home ownership and the American Dream.

Fox News Having Trouble Finding DeSantis Supporters in Florida for 2024 Presidential Run


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on February 28, 2023 | Sundance

Fox News has a big sad today.

CONTEXT – After months of promoting Ron DeSantis to become the 2024 GOP nominee, which includes the efforts of Rupert Murdoch (and family) via a multimillion-dollar Harper Collins book deal for the Florida governor; lengthy friendly interviews with DeSantis on every program; a full feature infomercial running on Fox News to present him to the national audience; attendance by key program pundits at DeSantis donor events and campaign organization meetings; weeks of specific messaging coordinated with board member Paul Ryan – and the consulting efforts of Karl Rove with the DeSantis operation; they are just not able to move the needle.

With the DeSantis book launch officially taking place today, Fox News Corp sends Brian Kilmeade to Florida to assist the DeSantis operation.  Producers used the entire Fox and Friends morning programming to support the intent and Ron DeSantis’s ‘big day’. [See Long Video Here]  However, when Brian Kilmeade broadcasts live from the Metro Diner in Ponte Vedra beach to promote the DeSantis narrative, the diners at the venue did not go along with the anticipated narrative. {Direct Rumble Link}

What follows in the live broadcast becomes a hilarious exhibition in how media-driven astroturf propaganda runs directly into the reality of the situation.  It really is quite funny to see the escalating desperation of Mr. Kilmeade as he asks whether the audience supports Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis for the 2024 GOP nomination and cannot find anyone who puts DeSantis first – even the lady wearing the DeSantis T-shirt supports Trump first. WATCH:

But wait, it gets better….. Even more funny.

Corporate Fox News is not going to give up, they had this whole production scripted.  Karl Rove who is a key consultant in the managing and branding effort, is left retreating to the narrative that DeSantis doesn’t need to do anything yet. {Direct Rumble Link} Watch below:

Rove is facing a big challenge. The Atwater-Rove days of gaslighting, manipulating and ultimately controlling the republican illusion of choice are in the rear-view mirror. The traditional mechanisms have collapsed and are no longer useful as the electorate have become more aware, and simultaneously the grassroots communication platforms have evolved.

Even extremely expensive political Astroturf is much harder now. People can just see through the issues and the fallacies are debunked in almost real time.

Rupert Murdoch has a sad.

Paul Ryan has a sad.

Karl Rove has a sad,….

…..and I’m over here enjoying every moment of it.

The Golden Arrow – President Trump Announces Economic Agenda 47 Which Includes “Universal Baseline Tariffs”


Posted originally on the CTH on February 27, 2023 | Sundance

This is it. This is pure MAGA. President Trump is announcing the big one… “Economic Agenda 47

This is the economic policy blade to drive a stake through the vampire heart of corporatism, globalism and the exploitation of the U.S. economy by multinational corporate interests. This “universal baseline tariff” approach, is the policy that slays the dragons of the World Economic Forum, destroys the Beijing dragon and simultaneously ends the EU Marshal Plan advantage. This is a big deal.

President Trump makes the economic policy announcement today, and it is an incredible structure of trade and economic proposals that would be resoundingly effective at restoring every financial mechanism within the United States as a sovereign country.  The proposal is economic nationalism in policy form.

First, here’s the announcement {Direct Rumble Link} – WATCH:

Agenda47: President Trump Announces America First Trade Platform That Takes Sledgehammer to Globalism

[Transcript] – “Joe Biden claims to support American manufacturing—but in reality, he is pushing the same pro-China globalist agenda that ripped the industrial heart out of our country. It ripped us apart. Biden and the globalists support RAISING taxes on American production. They support MORE crippling regulations killing American jobs. They support skyrocketing domestic energy costs. And they support massive anti-American multinational agreements that send our wealth and factories overseas.

Very simply, the Biden agenda taxes AMERICA to build up CHINA.

China is the big beneficiary. We cannot let that happen. And just a couple of years ago, it wasn’t happening. China paid to the United States hundreds of billions of dollars and no other president got ten cents. Legitimately, ten cents from China.

My agenda will tax CHINA to build up AMERICA.

The heart of my vision is a sweeping pro-American overhaul of our tax and trade policy to move from the Biden system that punishes domestic producers and rewards outsourcers, to a system that REWARDS domestic production and taxes FOREIGN companies and those who export American Jobs. They will be rewarded and rewarded greatly. And our country will benefit.

To achieve this goal, we will phase in a system of universal, baseline tariffs on most foreign products. On top of this, higher tariffs will increase incrementally depending on how much individual foreign countries devalue their currency. They devalue their currency to take advantage of the United States, and they subsidize their industries, or otherwise engage in trade cheating and abuse. And they do it now like never before, and we had it largely stopped and it was going to be stopped completely within less than a year.

As tariffs on foreign producers go up, taxes on American producers will go down and go down very substantially. And that means a lot of jobs coming in.

Not only will this system end our gaping trade deficits—and they are massive right now—and bring back millions of American jobs—it will also bring trillions and trillions of dollars pouring into the U.S. Treasury from foreign countries and allow us to invest that money in American workers, American families, and American communities.

This plan will be the linchpin of a new Strategic National Manufacturing Initiative, that builds on my historic success in ending NAFTA, which was a tremendous thing, a tremendous achievement, nobody thought it could be done, and we did USMCA—US-Mexico-Canada, and it was an incredible thing. But we’re also going to end other unfair trade deals, and we’ll end them quickly.

In addition, as a matter of both economic and national security, I will implement a bold series of reforms to completely eliminate dependence on China in all critical areas.

We will revoke China’s Most Favored Nation trade status, and adopt a 4-year plan to phase out all Chinese imports of essential goods—everything from electronics to steel to pharmaceuticals. This will include strong protections to ensure China cannot circumvent restrictions by passing goods through conduit countries—countries that don’t make a product, but all of a sudden they’re making a lot of the product, it comes right through China, right out of China, and right into our country.

We will also adopt new rules to stop U.S. companies from pouring investments into China, and to stop China from buying up America, allowing all of those investments that clearly serve American interests. We’re not going to allow bad things to happen to our country anymore. And we will eliminate federal contracts for any company that outsources to China.

Biden will never get the job done. He is weak on China because the corrupt Biden family has received millions and millions of dollars from entities tied to the Chinese Communist Party. Everybody knows that. They try and hide it, and the Fake News doesn’t want to talk about it.

Biden’s pro-China economic program puts America LAST, and it’s killing our country—my cutting-edge trade agenda will revitalize our economy by once again putting America FIRST.

And by the way, we’ll get along very well with China. And you know what the reason is? They’ll respect us again, like they did just two years ago.

We will quickly become a manufacturing powerhouse like the world has never seen before.

Thank you very much.”

[Transcript Link]

~ POLICY ~

♦UNIVERSAL BASELINE TARIFFS: President Trump has announced a plan to replace the Biden system of punishing domestic producers and rewarding outsourcers with a new system that rewards domestic production while taxing foreign companies.

Rather than raising taxes on American producers, President Trump will impose tariffs on FOREIGN producers through a system of universal baseline tariffs on most imported goods.

Higher tariffs will increase incrementally if other countries manipulate their currency or otherwise engage in unfair trading practices.

As tariffs on foreign countries go up, taxes on American workers, families, and businesses can come down.

The Biden administration has proposed nearly $2 trillion in tax increases on American citizens and levied draconian tax hikes on Americans’ household energy, 401ks, and pension plans.

The Biden administration’s globalist policies sell out American citizens and result in a windfall for foreign countries.

In 2022, the United States trade deficit reached $948.1 billion, the largest on record, and the agricultural trade deficit exceeded $2 billion.

President Trump’s trade policy is firmly rooted in American history. America used to impose tariffs on over 95% of all imports, and for decades the federal government took in over 80% of its revenue by taxing foreign producers through tariffs—not by taxing American workers and businesses.

♦ENDING RELIANCE ON CHINA: President Trump’s America First trade policy will completely eliminate U.S. dependence on China–the primary beneficiary of Democrats’ globalist agenda.

In addition to universal baseline tariffs on most foreign goods, President Trump’s plan will reclaim our economic independence from China. President Trump will revoke China’s Most Favored Nation trade status and adopt a 4-year plan to phase out all Chinese imports of essential goods—everything from electronics to steel to pharmaceuticals. This will include strong protections to ensure China cannot circumvent restrictions by passing goods through conduit countries.

President Trump will establish new rules to stop U.S. companies from investing in China and stop China from buying up America, allowing only those investments that serve American interests.

President Trump will ban federal contracts for any company that outsources to China.

Under Biden and the Democrats, American wealth and jobs are being exported to China.

The U.S. trade deficit with China has risen almost 10% under Biden to $382.9 billion last year alone.

♦A BETTER DEAL FOR AMERICAN WORKERS, FAMILIES, AND COMMUNITIES: President Trump’s plans will bring back millions of American jobs and generate trillions of dollars of new wealth to strengthen American society.

President Trump’s tariff plans will be the linchpin of a new Strategic National Manufacturing Initiative that will rebalance the global trading system and dramatically strengthen America.

Raising tariffs on foreign producers while lowering taxes for domestic producers will help keep jobs and wealth in the United States.

Higher tariffs create millions of new jobs, increase real household income, boost GDP, increase domestic manufacturing output, and generate hundreds of billions of dollars in new government revenue.

President Trump’s universal baseline tariffs will restore a level playing field for American businesses worldwide.

U.S. exports have historically faced higher tariffs from foreign countries than nearly all of America’s trade competitors.

President Trump will build on his historic success in abolishing NAFTA, which Joe Biden voted for, after which 60,000 factories closed and 4.5 million manufacturing jobs were lost. President Trump replaced NAFTA with the USMCA, a historic breakthrough in leveling the playing field for American workers, famers, and manufacturers.

Fortunately, we do not have to guess if President Trump is correct. We have his actual economic policy results to look at and see how the expansion of the economy was creating the type of growth that would sustain Social Security and Medicare.  This was/is MAGAnomics at work.

…. Make America Great Again!

We know it works, because we have the results to cite.

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 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:

[Table 1 – BLS report link]

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 respond 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.

[Page #4 – BLS Report, pdf] – BLS press release.

So yes, we know President Trump can save Social Security and Medicare by expanding the economy with 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 has 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… 

Author’s note as said in 2016: “If I absolutely did not believe this economic model was doable, I would never expand the concept and place advocacy upon it. I am an absolute believer that we can, as a nation, reignite a solid manufacturing base and generate an expanding middle class.”  Yes, I bet on Trump, and he was right.