Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appears on Fox and Friends this morning to discuss several topics. One key topic was yesterdays U.S. military strikes in Syria and Iraq.

President Trump has been silent about the controversial strikes.  No White House statement, no press release, no tweets, complete and total silence. Overlay that silence with Secretary Pompeo, Secretary Asper and Joint Chief Milley’s rather odd briefing statements yesterday from Mar-a-Lago; and consider this interview:

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Note: President Trump likely watched this interview as he watched the broadcast.

Oh dear, CBS’s Major Garrett is going to be in trouble now.  During a panel discussion Garrett pointed out President Trump’s accomplishments on behalf of minority communities is a legacy any President “would want to claim”:

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Promises made, promises kept.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SEE Remarkable List HERE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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