While another phase of the White House remodel is underway, President Trump conducts national business from his residence in Bedminster, New Jersey.

[Transcript] Bedminister, New Jersey – THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much, everybody, for being here in Bedminster. We’ve had a lot of work. We’ve done a lot of work. They’re renovating the White House. It’s a long-term project, and they approved it years ago. And I said, well, I guess this would be a good place to be in the meantime. So they’re doing a lot of work at the White House. I miss it. I would like to be there. But this is a good way of doing it.

We have some very outstanding people with us. And I’ll make a few remarks. This is largely about prison reform — and other subjects — but largely about prison reform.

So I want to thank the governors — Matt Bevin, Phil Bryant, Doug Burgum, Nathan Deal, and John Bel Edwards — for being here today. Been friends of mine. We’ve been, I could say, in wars, but we’ve been on the same side of the wars. That’s always good.

I want to thank you also to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Ken Paxton. And Ken just filed a very interesting lawsuit, which I think is going to be very successful. I hope it’s going to be successful. I also want to recognize Secretary Rick Perry and Secretary Alex Acosta. Thank you both. Rick, thank you very much.

We are doing some great things with healthcare, Alex.

SECRETARY ACOSTA: We are.

THE PRESIDENT: And you’re doing some wonderful things with energy. I hope that project comes along that we’re talking about. It’s going to help a lot of people. A lot of jobs are going to be created.

SECRETARY PERRY: Indeed.

THE PRESIDENT: So I know you’re working on it.

I look forward to hearing from each of you about your experiences with prison reform and the lessons that we’ve learned. I know how Matt, in particular, you have been working so hard. Phil, you’ve been working long and hard on it — harder than anyone would know. But I can tell you, my administration feels very, very strongly about it.

One of the single most important things we’re doing is to help former inmates in creating jobs. We’re creating so many jobs that former inmates, for the first time, are really getting a shot at it, because they’re weren’t sought and now they are being sought because our unemployment rate is so low — historically low — 50 years.

Now, our economy is booming. Businesses are hiring and recruiting workers that were previously overlooked. They’re being hired. It’s a great feeling. It’s a great thing that we’ve all accomplished. We’ve created a lot of jobs in the states. And I guess I’ve helped you a lot on a national basis.

We’ve created 3.9 million more jobs since Election Day — so almost 4 million jobs — which is unthinkable. If I would have said that during the campaign, only a few of the people around this table would have believed me. But they would have. 3.9 million jobs since Election Day. That’s pretty incredible.

We’ve added more than 400,000 manufacturing jobs since the election. Manufacturing employment is now growing faster than at any time than it has in three decades, over 30 years. Through the Pledge of America’s Workers, launched just last month, almost 5 million Americans will receive enhanced career training and opportunities.

And I want to thank Ivanka Trump for having done an incredible job on that. She’s really worked on it. It’s something very important to her.

I’ve really — and I’ve said it to a lot of people: Jared — I want to thank Jared for what’s happening on prison reform, because you’ve really been leading it. It’s something very close to your heart.

And as I’ve said before, we hire Americans. We want to hire and treat our Americans fairly. You know, for many years, jobs have been taken out of our country. We’ve lost our businesses. We’ve lost the hiring abilities that we had. Not anymore. Now those companies are coming back; they’re coming roaring back — to your state, to your state. They’re coming back faster than anyone thought even possible.

Our first duty is to our citizens, including those who have taken the wrong path but are seeking redemption and a new beginning. That’s people that have been in prison, and they come out and they’re having a hard time. They’re not having such a hard time anymore.

We’ve passed the First Step Act through the House, and we’re working very hard in the Senate to refine it and pass it into law. We think we’ll be successful in that regard. The bill expands vocational educational programs to eligible federal inmates so that more of them can learn a trade. And that’s what we’re doing. We’re teaching them trades. We’re teaching them different things that they can put into good use, and put into use to get jobs.

I recently met with Chairman Grassley and other members of Congress to discuss the bill. We also agreed that we must be tough on crime, especially on criminals and trafficking of drugs, and lots of other trafficking. We have a trafficking problem, including human trafficking. We’re very, very tough on that. And that’s going to remain tough, or even tougher.

We must strengthen community bonds with law enforcement, including cities like Chicago that have been an absolute and total disaster. We’ll be talking about Chicago today because that is something that, in terms of our nation, nobody would believe it could be happening. They had 63 incidents last weekend and 12 deaths.

That’s bad stuff happening, and probably, I guess, you have to take from the leadership. That’s called bad leadership. There’s no reason, in a million years, that something like that should be happening in Chicago.

We want every child to grow up in a safe neighborhood surrounded by families that are loving and helpful, and with a path to great education and a lifelong career.

I want to thank everybody for being here. And I think what we’ll do, while the media is here, maybe we’ll just go around the room real quickly and we’ll introduce yourselves. And these are people that have really worked hard on prison reform — and lots of other things, but on prison reform. And that’s largely what this meeting is about.

Governor? Please.

GOVERNOR DEAL: Well, thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate the opportunity to be here. We are very pleased with what’s happening in Georgia. We have seen, since I became Governor, a 10-percent decrease in violent crime in our state, a 20-percent overall decrease in crime. We have seen our African American percentage in our prison system drop significantly. Black American — black males has dropped almost 30 percent.

THE PRESIDENT: That’s great.

GOVERNOR DEAL: Black females dropped about 38.2 percent. Our African American commitments to our prison is at the lowest level it has been since 1987. And in states like ours, we have a disproportionate number of minorities in our prison versus our population as a whole.

We have found that reentry is a vital part of this. We find that — I did have a question I asked; I said, “What’s the most common characteristic of those in our prisons?” The answer was, 70 percent of them never graduated from high school.

So we immediately concentrated on that. We have significantly beefed up our GEDs. We’ve also brought a private charter school into our system to teach them, give them a real high school diploma. We found that if you give them a blue-collar skill, you reduce your recidivism rate by 24 percent. If you give them just the education of getting a high school diploma, it’s reduced by 19 percent.

So we have been very successful. We’re pleased about it. And we’re pleased to share whatever information we have that might be helpful.

THE PRESIDENT: Good. Thank you, again. Thank you very much.

Pam?

BONDI: President, Pam Bondi, Attorney General of Florida. Thank you for doing this. As a career prosecutor, you see people who go to prison and get out of prison, and can’t find a job. And how do we expect people to succeed without being able to get a job? And you were just in Tampa — thank you for that — Tampa Bay Tech, supporting jobs for young people.

And that’s what’s so important, is reentry and being able to get a job, and training people on how to be successful. And something we did in Florida shortly after I got elected was we decoupled — if you were a convicted felon, you couldn’t get an occupational license. So how do we expect you to succeed?

So thank you for everything you’re doing, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Good. Thank you, Pam. Thank you very much.

GOVERNOR EDWARDS: Mr. President, John Bel Edwards. And I will tell you, in Louisiana, we are proud of the work we’ve done. It’s been sentencing reform, prison reform, and a real focus on reentry. And for the first time in 20 years, I can tell you, Louisiana does not have the highest incarceration rate in the nation today.

THE PRESIDENT: Good. Good.

GOVERNOR EDWARDS: And it’s paying dividends for us, and we’re reinvesting the savings —

THE PRESIDENT: Who does?

GOVERNOR EDWARDS: Oklahoma.

THE PRESIDENT: Really?

GOVERNOR EDWARDS: Yes, sir. But we are reinvesting the savings into our reentry program and also into victim services. So we’re excited about what we’re doing, and we’re looking forward to sharing that with you.

THE PRESIDENT: Great. Great. Thank you very much. Thank you, John Bel.

Please, go ahead.

GOVERNOR BURGUM: Mr. President, Doug Burgum, Governor of North Dakota. Thank you for coming to North Dakota last month. Great to have you there.

THE PRESIDENT: Things are looking good, aren’t they?

GOVERNOR BURGUM: Things are looking great thanks to a lot of policies from this administration and the great Cabinet that you have.

As you know, you can’t really separate, today, prison reform and our prison situation from addiction. In North Dakota, 100 percent of the women that are incarcerated in our prison system have a disease of addiction. Eighty-five percent of the men in our prison have disease of addiction. And we can’t solve a healthcare — a chronic healthcare problem with punishment. We’ve got to solve it — treat it like a disease and solve it that way.

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

GOVERNOR BURGUM: And so I want to also thank you for the work that your administration is doing on the addiction front, because it ties directly back into this. And I think we’ve done a number of innovations we’ll be happy to share at this roundtable today. Thanks for inviting us.

THE PRESIDENT: Good. Good.

GOVERNOR BURGUM: But, you know, in the end, we’re trying to create better neighbors, not better prisoners. Ninety-eight-and-a-half percent of the people that go to prison in North Dakota end up coming back out. And so we have to — when they’re there, like the other governors have talked about it, it’s education, it’s career skills, it’s treatment. Those are the things we have to focus on. If we can do that, we can turn people’s lives around and add people to the workforce. We know we need that because we got so many jobs open in this country.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Governor.

PAXTON: Ken Paxton, Texas Attorney General. Thank you, Mr. President. This is obviously an important issue to Texas. I think it’s an important issue to the nation. And, Jared, I appreciate your passion for this issue.

In 2007, under the leadership of, I think, the greatest governor in my lifetime, who’s now the Secretary of Energy — is that the right department? — (laughter) — and the president of our top public policy foundation, Brooke Rollins, we passed legislation similar to what Congress is now looking at that has had a dramatic impact on our own ability to take people from prison and live productive lives.

And, you know, I could cite many statistics, but we were facing — spending $2 billion, and we didn’t spend the money. We put $241 million into treatment and to helping people find jobs. We’ve expanded that since, but it’s made a tremendous difference. We have not built any more new prisons since then. We’ve actually closed eight prisons. So it’s really made a difference, and I think it can make a difference for the nation. So I look forward to continuing the discussion.

THE PRESIDENT: How are you doing with your recently filed case? How’s that looking?

PAXTON: Well, we had a hearing yesterday, and I think it went quite well. Let’s see what the judge says. But we know we’re right on the law and we’re right on the Constitution. And so we’re confident things are going to go in the right way.

THE PRESIDENT: It’s true. Okay. Thank you.

GOVERNOR BRYANT: Thank you, Mr. President. I’m Phil Bryant of Mississippi. In 2014, we began our “Right on Crime” program. We used all the things that Georgia has been successful with, and Texas. I called both of these governors and said, “Tell me how you did it.”

I’m a former law enforcement officer, and I worked undercover narcotics cases. I’ve been out there with the worst of the worst. I put a lot of people in jail, and some of it was difficult, particularly when I was state auditor and over 100 state-wide elected officials and government employees went to jail for white-collar crimes.

So we began a really strong program working with the PEW Institute of putting that workforce training program into effect, making sure we looked at addiction, mental health. Mental health challenges within the correctional facilities are obviously rampant. Also trying to make prisons a drug-free zone and a crime-free zone within that prison, so you can’t — your life can’t be threatened every day; you can’t be attacked in prison; you can’t have access to drugs and be rehabilitated.

And then finally, the faith-based organization. It takes a change of heart. I’ve been around a lot of people who are in jail, and if their hearts aren’t changed, their lives will not be changed. So prison ministries — all of those things that government doesn’t like to admit to that works —

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

GOVERNOR BRYANT: — works. And so, when we bring faith back into the prison system, prisoners have hope again. And that worked better for us than anything we could have done — another reentry program, getting them jobs, getting their driver’s license, keeping them connected with their families so that they have something to work towards when they’re getting out of prison.

And I can tell you, I had to call a lot of my Republicans into the governor’s office and convince them to vote for this bill. And they were worried it was soft on crime. They were hesitant about what they were going to tell their people back home. And I said, “You tell them to call me.” Because crime is down 6 percent. We have 3,000 less inmates. We saved $40 million since 2014. And you can do the same thing. And, Jared, thank you for your leadership.

KUSHNER: Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Phil.

GOVERNOR BRYANT: Thank you, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Secretary?

SECRETARY ACOSTA: Mr. President, I’d like to make two key points. First, as you mentioned, the economy is doing incredibly well for the first time since we’ve been keeping records. We have more open jobs than we have people to fill these jobs.

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

SECRETARY ACOSTA: And so, these reentry programs are needed for the economy. We have jobs ready and waiting for individuals when they leave prison.

Second, I’d like to follow up on what some of you governors have said: These programs work. As you know, and others at the table know, I was U.S. attorney in Miami. And when you talk with the law enforcement communities, what they will tell you is that these programs foster public safety. When someone leaves prison, the best that could happen for them is for them to find a job. The best that can happen for society is for them to find a job and start contributing to society, rather than go back to the old ways of crime.

So this is very much a win-win for the individual, for the safety of the community, and for the economy of the nation. We have individuals that are going from a prison system, where the taxpayer is funding the system, to contributing members of society that are helping this economic growth.

And so we’re working with various governors. We put out a request for a proposal, and we got so many applications from various governors of programs that are very much outside the box, that — this fall, we intend to put out another request for proposals to fund another round of reentry efforts themselves.

I want to thank the governors, and I want to thank all that are working on this issue. It’s very important.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, you’ve been great, and your healthcare plan is going along beautifully. That is really doing something. It’s — are you surprised by the numbers you’re hearing?

SECRETARY ACOSTA: It is. Just this morning, I read an article mentioning a number of associations around the country — I believe one in Wisconsin, certainly one in Nevada — that are already forming these.

And just today, I was talking to some of the governors here about the various activity in their states. And so it’s moving very nicely.

THE PRESIDENT: It’s been great. Thank you, Alex, very much. Thank you.

Rick. Go ahead, Rick.

ROLLINS: Well —

SECRETARY PERRY: Why don’t you go, Brooke?

ROLLINS: I would be — thank you so much, Mr. President. We’re so happy to be here. I tell you, I am overwhelmed and so encouraged. These governors are real innovators, and they’re entrepreneurs.

And what they have done is this idea of the laboratories of democracy that, in the states, we have moved so many issues forward that now, at the federal level — which I’m so honored to become part of your team — but at the federal level, we can now see what happened in the states, what’s working, what is basically lifting people to a better life — the forgotten men and women of this country.

And having lived it, in Texas, beside these two great men for more than a decade, we’ve seen firsthand how this changes lives, how it gives people second chances, how it puts communities back together, and keeps families together. So thank you for the opportunity.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Good job you’re doing.

ROLLINS: I’m glad to be here.

SECRETARY PERRY: Mr. President, thank you for bringing her onboard. I think you’re seeing, on a daily basis, what a talent she is dealing with these issues that are really important.

Two things that I want to share with the table and with you, and with the general public. And one is that it’s because of those tax policies, because of regulatory policies that you pushed through, we got more people working in America than ever before. (Applause.)

And you have to have that, because if these programs are to work when folks get out of prison, or if they don’t go to prison to begin with, then that’s our real goal.

And I want to share with these governors around here, every one of them are courageous. Because I heard it when we were doing this back in Texas, in the early and mid-2000s, that, you know, “Well, Perry, we thought you were tough on crime.” Nobody ever got me confused with being soft on crime. You know, I signed more execution orders than probably any governor in the history of this country. And that’s a sad thing, but it’s a fact.

So I’m not soft on crime. But I like to say we were smart on crime in Texas because we put these programs into place. And young people, whose lives would be destroyed if we sent them on to prison — and that’s where they really become professional criminals. And we never allowed that to happen; we gave them a second chance.

And so, Texans now really understand if we shut down eight prisons, saving some three-plus billion dollars a year in prison costs, and conservatives look at that now and go, “That was smart on crime.”

And, Pam, that’s what — that’s what people will say about you, Mr. President, is, number one, you’ve created this climate where people can have a job and have hope for the future.

And I’ll finish with this, is that you passed that piece of legislation that does — clearly reforms the prison system. And I will suggest to you, from my perspective, that sentencing reform is part of that as well.

And then you have the ability to show this country, and then these laboratories of innovation — you know, when Doug goes back up to North Dakota, and he’s puts in, for his state, the right programs, and it’s not top down, but you’ve sent the right message that, fellas, here’s the way to reform your prison system. We’re not going to be in the way. We’re not going to — we’re not going to be a hurdle for you, and you all figure out how to do it the rest of the way.

And this country can be incredibly proud of what they’re doing for the next generation of people to come along. And these governors are going to be a real key part of that.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you, Rick. Very good. Thank you very much. How’s it going, energy-wise, would you say?

SECRETARY PERRY: I will tell you, I don’t know how it could be much better. (Laughter.) The people around the world, we’re selling LNG now into 30 countries on five continents.

GOVERNOR EDWARDS: A lot of it (inaudible).

SECRETARY PERRY: John, a lot out of Louisiana. Gas is headed to a lot of places.

THE PRESIDENT: That’s right.

SECRETARY PERRY: Doug, number-two oil producer in the world — or, I should say, in the United States, only behind the state of Texas. (Laughter.)

GOVERNOR BURGUM: We’re catching you.

SECRETARY PERRY: Yes, sir. (Laughter.) And we want you to. Come on. Give us your best shot.

But things are going good, sir. I mean, it is a — massive jobs being created. We got an opportunity to — you know, I don’t want to get us off track here, but oil and gas infrastructure, if there’s one thing that we, collectively — and these governors will tell you that as well — that we’ll produce it; getting it out of this country is the challenge right now.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’ve become, as you know, number one in the world over just the last short period of time. So we’ve made it a lot easier, and yet environmentally perfect. Environmentally, really good.

But we’ve become number one in the world, and we’re now a net exporter, which nobody thought they’d ever hear. And we’re doing a lot of good things for a lot of other countries too.

So thank you very much. You’ve done a great job. Thank you.

Matt.

GOVERNOR BEVIN: Mr. President, I just want to thank you again for convening this — not just once, not just twice, but on multiple occasions. I had a chance to meet a number of folks around this table. A comment was made early on, I think by you in your introductory comments, about the fact that this is a war where people can be lined up on the same side.

And the most powerful thing about this, and something I hope those of you in the media appreciate: I look at guys like John Bel Edwards in Louisiana. Represents a different party than I do in Kentucky, in terms of our political affiliation, but this is something that we’re very much of like mind on. And I think this transcends anything political.

And it’s — and again, I tip my hat to you for not only on this issue, but on others, bringing things to the political forefront that aren’t political, that have historically been ignored because they weren’t political and nobody got any points politically by doing them, but that they were the right thing to do.

And as some who have gone around this table have touched on, it isn’t just the fact that it’s smart on crime or that it’s financially prudent — because it is all those things — but it’s the right thing to do. Just the human dignity of giving people — this is a land of second chances and of opportunity to rebuild your life.

And you are giving us, through this conversation and the kind of things you’re pushing from the federal level, the encouragement from the bottom up to give millions and millions of Americans a chance at redemption. And it’s, I think, the greatest gift we can offer people.

And it’s something that, again, for all the economic reasons we’ve just mentioned, we desperately need. These are able-bodied men and women — 95 to 97 percent of the 2 million currently in prison are going to get out. And what are they going to do? Are we going to give them a path to stay out? Or are they going to go right back in?

And some of the things we’ve done in Kentucky is literally start training programs inside of the prison system. Because one of the things we do — I have two twins that are going off to college in the next couple of weeks — and every one of them, from the beginning they get to college, they have a guidance counselor that’s helping them chart their path.

I truly think it’s something we need to do within our prison system, because we’re spending just as much for every person in a prison system as we are for a kid in a college classroom. And why not give them a path for them personally to make sure they don’t come back to this place, but that they go out and become productive, tax-paying citizens who contribute and become good mothers and fathers and community members? These are the kind of things that this will afford us the chance to do.

And I — again, I truly appreciate this. It’s something, personally, that I have a passion for. And for you and your administration — and Jared, really, kudos to you, because you have done such a stellar job of bringing this to the forefront and gathering us together. And I’m grateful to the two of you for making this possible.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you, Matt. And I have to say, we have tremendous political support. It a little bit surprises me. I thought that — when we started this journey about a year ago, I thought we would not have a lot of political support; we would have to convince people. We have great political support. You see what’s happening. People that I would least suspect are behind it 100 percent. So that’s a good thing.

Thank you all for being here. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you very much.

END

Earlier today U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer messaged a warm birthday greeting to Mexican Foreign Secretary Louis Videgaray during ongoing negotiations between the U.S. and Mexican trade teams (video below).

Canada is FUBAR. No-one quite knows how FUBAR Canada is, because no-one has  followed the brilliant Wolverine crew closely enough to spot the strategy.

At the strategic direction of President Trump; and it is a really brilliant workaround strategy; the U.S. and Mexican teams are approaching the current NAFTA negotiations from a position of bilateral trade.   Trade watchers, Wall Street experts, financial pundits and the entire media apparatus are missing what Team USA are doing right in front of their faces…. they’ve obviously never followed or studied Trump’s out of the box problem solving when it comes to complex deals.

I won’t rehash the NAFTA flaws; familiar CTH readers know them well.  However, the bottom line is NAFTA is NOT, repeat N.O.T being renegotiated. I was going to remain silent, but I think it’s safe, Lighthizer is close enough to a deal to explain what’s happening.

The problems with NAFTA are systemic; and there is too much political and multinational lobbyist conniving/scheming; and too many political interests are connected to the current NAFTA.  Everyone thinks Trump is renegotiating NAFTA; that’s just what Team Wolverine want everyone to think… that allows the team maneuvering space.

After the end of Round #6 (January 2018), it was obvious to POTUS Trump a NAFTA renegotiated deal was impossible.  In March, 2018, Team Trump stealthily began moving in a different direction.  In June,2018, Canada accidentally made the admission there were no ongoing talks between the U.S. and Canada.  The reasoning is simple.

Without drawing any attention to the shift, Trump put NAFTA in the corner and began an entirely new bilateral trade discussion with Mexico. [Forgetaboudit… just leave NAFTA over there; but let people think what we are doing is NAFTA]

Instead of following customary sequential steps: (1) waiting for endless NAFTA negotiations that can never be resolved; (2) and then announcing NAFTA withdrawal; (3) and then dealing with the political and financial backlash; (4) and then beginning bilateral trade discussions, etc. etc.  Team Trump brilliantly and quietly strategized an end-around.

Team U.S.A. reversed the sequencing (but didn’t announce it).

1. Negotiate the Mexico bilateral.
2. Announce the Mexican bilateral agreement.
3. Offer Canada a bilateral (slightly different terms).
4. Announce the Canadian bilateral agreement.
5. Dissolve NAFTA.

Instead of beginning new trade deals with NAFTA being ended, they end the new trade deals with NAFTA being ended.

Ergo, no political backlash and no political influence. By the time anyone realizes NAFTA is dead – it’s moot.  No formal exit strategy is needed because new deals are already on the books.

See the play?

Everyone thinks NAFTA is being renegotiated, it isn’t.

(Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that the United States and Mexico were making progress on a trade deal, and warned Canada he would tax their auto exports if an agreement cannot be reached with Ottawa.

“Deal with Mexico is coming along nicely. Autoworkers and farmers must be taken care of or there will be no deal. New President of Mexico has been an absolute gentleman,” Trump said on Twitter.

“Canada must wait. Their Tariffs and Trade Barriers are far too high. Will tax cars if we can’t make a deal!” he said. (read more)

Are you laughing yet?

You should be.

Few can see what he’s doing.

I just keep laughing…. this is what we get when a brilliant businessman is POTUS.

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OK, so now we all know the secret… we can watch and laugh together.

{{{snicker}}}  Best President Ever:

Interestingly, anyone who has followed Turkish geopolitics closely will likely note a confrontation on ideology was bound to happen.  The triggering event has become the Turkish imprisonment of American Pastor Andrew Brunson.

Turkey has always been a tenuous NATO ally.  The totalitarian behavior of Turksih President Recep Erdogan has generally been antithetical to freedom and U.S. interests.  There have been many examples of sketchy Turkish interests in the past decade – SEE HERE – including Erdogan’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood and providing safe-harbor for the exiled Brotherhood leadership.

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey on Friday “implored” U.S. President Donald Trump to return to the negotiating table on tariffs, saying the trade rift between the NATO allies should be resolved through dialogue.

Trump intensified his spat with Ankara by imposing higher tariffs on metal imports, putting unprecedented economic pressure on a NATO ally and deepening turmoil in Turkish financial markets.

The announcement accelerated the sell-off of Turkey’s lira currency, already battered by worries about President Tayyip Erdogan’s influence over the central bank. The lira tumbled as much as 20 percent on Friday, its biggest one-day drop since 2001.

“Repeated efforts to communicate to the U.S. administration that none of the stated criteria driving America’s tariffs are applicable to Turkey have thus far proven fruitless,” Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan said in a statement.

“Nevertheless, we implore President Trump to return to the negotiating table – this can and should be resolved through dialogue and cooperation.”

Trump, outraged by Turkey’s detention of an American evangelical pastor on terrorism charges, said on Twitter he would double duties on Turkish aluminum and steel, to 20 percent and 50 percent respectively.  (read more)

Example Available Here

Everyone with a reasonable amount of common sense knows the claims that Representative Jim Jordan knew of sexual abuse at Ohio State twenty-years-ago was a manufactured political hit-job.  Now one of the accusers recants…

(Via The Daily Caller) A former Ohio State University wrestler is recanting his claims that Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan knew of sexual abuse allegations against a university physician when he coached wrestling at the school over 20 years ago.

“At no time did I ever say or have any direct knowledge that Jim Jordan knew of Dr. Richard Strauss’s inappropriate behavior,” Mark Coleman, a former MMA fighter who wrestled at Ohio State when Jordan coached there, said in a statement.

“I have nothing but respect for Jim Jordan as I have known him for more than 30 years and know him to be of impeccable character.”

Coleman is the first former OSU wrestler to recant his claims that Jordan knew about sexual abuse at the hands of Dr. Richard Strauss, an OSU physician accused of molesting dozens of student-athletes.  (read more)

WASHINGTON — Carla Provost, a 23-year veteran of the U.S. Border Patrol, was officially appointed the agency’s first female chief Thursday, more than a year after she was named acting chief.

Customs and Border Protection commissioner Kevin McAleenan called it a historic announcement. “No one is better suited or better prepared to be chief,” he said. “Carla is an agent’s agent.”

In becoming the Border Patrol’s 18th chief, Provost said, “I don’t know if it’s possible to be both humble and proud, but that’s the emotion I’m feeling today.”

As for the challenges the agency faces, she said, “Border security is more than just what we do on the border every day.” (read more)

GOP ad.

The gaslighting is extreme as the same entities utilize their microphones in a brutal attempt to create a self fulfilling prophecy. In essence, what they are really trying to save is themselves. However, the reality disconnect only solidifies their irrelevance.

.

At this point, the ‘media’ is bananas.  They might want to revisit their proximity to the 2018 election ballpark. Because they’re not just out of the city – they’re also out of the same state the election ballpark is located in….. But then again, they know that.

David Mamet had a famous saying, essentially: …‘in order for genuine democrats to continue their illogical belief systems they have to pretend not to know a lot of things’… By pretending ‘not to know’ there is no guilt, no actual connection to conscience; denial of truth allows easier trespass. The Democrat ideology depends on our willingness to accept their false presentations; and our reconciliation toward their intent.

Do not look away.

“Donald Trump’s supporters are angry“, or “uneducated”, or “unenlightened”, or (Fill_In_The_Blank). This is clear in the latest round of sunlight upon how officials within the United States Department of Justice and FBI feel about a nation of citizens beneath their authority. Now the corporate media narrative controllers are fully engaged.

There’s a level of anger far deeper and more consequential than expressed rage or visible behavior, it’s called Cold Anger.

Cold Anger does not need to go to violence. For those who carry it, no conversation is needed when we meet. You cannot poll or measure it specifically because most who carry it avoid discussion. And that decision has nothing whatsoever to do with any form of correctness.

We watched the passage of Obamacare at 1:38am on the day before Christmas Eve in 2009. We watched the Senate, then the House attempt passing Amnesty in 2014. We know exactly how it passed, and we know exactly why it passed. We don’t need to stand around talking about it….

We know what lies hidden behind “cloture” and the UniParty schemes.

We watch the 2009 $900+ billion Stimulus Bill being spent each year, every year, for seven consecutive years. Omnibus, Porkulous, QE1, QE2, Bailouts, Crony-Capitalism. We know exactly how this works, and we know exactly why this ruse is maintained. We don’t need to stand around talking about it…. We’re beyond talking.

We accept that the entire Senate voted to block President Trump’s ability to use recess appointments in 2017. Every.Single.Democrat.And.Republican.

Cold Anger absorbs betrayal silently, often prudently.

We’ve waited each year, every year, for ten years, to see a federal budget, only to be given another Omnibus spending bill by Speaker Ryan.

We’ve watched the ridiculing of cops, the riots, and the lack of support for laws, or their enforcement. We’ve been absorbing all that. We’ve been exposed to violence upon us by paid operatives of the organized DNC machine. We know; the media trying to hide it doesn’t change our level of information.

Cold Anger is not hatred, it is far more purposeful.

Cold Anger takes notice of the liars, even from a great distance – seemingly invisible to the mob. Cold Anger will still hold open the door for the riot goer. Mannerly.

We’ve watched our borders being intentionally unsecured.

We’ve watched Islamic Terrorists slaughter Americans as our politicians proclaim their uncertainty of motive. We know exactly who they are and why they are doing it. We do not need to stand around discussing it…. we’re clear eyed.

Cold Anger evidenced is more severe because it is more strategic, and more purposeful. Eric Cantor’s defeat, Matt Bevin’s victory, Brexit, Donald Trump’s highest vote tally in the history of presidential primaries or Mark Sanford’s dispatch might aide your understanding.

Cold Anger does not gloat; it absorbs consistent vilification and ridicule as fuel. This sensibility does not want to exist, it is forced to exist in otherwise unwilling hosts – we also refuse to be destabilized by it.

Transgender bathrooms are more important than border security.

Trade deals, employment and the standard of living in Vietnam and Southeast Asia are more important to Wall Street and DC lobbyists, than the financial security of Youngstown Ohio. We get it. We didn’t create that reality, we are simply responding to it.

Deliberate intent and prudence ensures we avoid failure. The course, is thoughtful vigilance; it’s a strategy devoid of emotion. The media can call us anything they want, it really doesn’t matter…. we’re far beyond that.

Foolishness and betrayal of our nation have served to reveal dangers within our present condition. Misplaced corrective action, regardless of intent, is neither safe nor wise. We know exactly who Donald Trump is, and we also know what he’s not. He is exactly what we need at this moment. He is a necessary glorious bastard.

Cold Anger is not driven to act in spite of itself; it drives a reckoning.

When the well attired lady leaves the checkout line carrying steaks and shrimp using an EBT card, the door is still held open for her; yet notations necessarily embed.

When the U.S. flags lay gleefully undefended, they do not lay unnoticed. When the stars and stripes are controversial, yet the Mexican flag is honored – we are paying attention.

When millionaire football players kneel down rather than honor our fallen soldiers and stand proud of our country, we see that. Check the NFL TV ratings – take note.

When a school community cannot openly pray, it does not mean the prayerful were absent.

When a liar seems to win, it is not without observation. Many – more than the minority would like to admit – know the difference between science, clocks and political agendas.

Cold Anger perceives deception the way a long-term battered spouse absorbs the blow in the hours prior to the pre-planned exit; with purpose.

A shield, or cry of micro-aggression will provide no benefit, nor quarter. Delicate sensibilities are dispatched like a feather in a hurricane. Pushed far enough, decisions are reached….. My God, how far we have been pushed.

Remember, this is an insurgency.  You must modify your mindset to think like an insurgent.   Insurgencies have nothing to lose.  If insurgents are not victorious the system, which controls the dynamic, wins.   However, if insurgents do nothing, the same system, which controls the dynamic, also wins.

Do nothing and we lose.  Go to the mattresses, and we might win. The choice is ours.

Right now, every day is Saint Crispins day.

If we are mark’d to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian.’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispian’s day.’
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

President Trump says: “Make America Great Again”! And when Trump says that I hear:

Someone who gives a damn about America, without apology; which is more valuable to me than a perfected highly-rehearsed skill set of 30 second sound bites and white paper policy instructions.

From my perspective any average hard-working American could eat every one of these pinky-ring politicians’ lunches, all of them; and if they want to go down the intellectual superiority path… well, that stuff is useless.

• Florida Power and Light won the prestigious International Edward Demming award for excellence in multi-platform engineering and efficiency superiority. They didn’t blow every PhD intellectual out of the water with slide rules, CAD programs and engineering acumen. They did it with hard hats and dirty fingernails.

Because they lost the award, the Japanese spent 6 months studying FPL and later published a 1,000 page dissertation essentially saying FPL “wasn’t really good, they were just lucky”….. FPL field leadership laughed, took out markers and wrote on the back of their hard hats: “WE’RE NOT GOOD, WE’RE RUCKY”….

• When every single Kuwaiti oil field was blown up by Saddam Hussein, they said it would take 5 years to cap them all off and restart their oil pumping industry. The Kuwaiti’s and Saudi’s called Americans, who had them all capped and back in working order in 10 months.

We are a nation that knows how to get shit done.

• When the Northern Chile mine workers were trapped two miles underground, they said no-one could save them. Who did they call for help? A bunch of hick miners from USA coal country who went down there, worked on the fly, engineered the rescue equipment on site, and saved everyone of them….

That’s our America.

• When a half-breed Islamic whack job, armed with an AK-47 and a goal to meet his seventy virgins, began opening fire on a train in France, the Americans on board didn’t run to the nearest safe room and hide themselves amid baguettes and brie. They said “let’s go”, and beat the stuffing out of that little nut with a death wish.

Legion d’Honneur or not, that’s us.  That’s just how we roll.

Lady Liberty can stroll along the Champs-Elysées with a swagger befitting Mae West because without her arrival they’d be speaking German in the Louvre.  Yet for the better part of the past decade a group of intellectual something-or-others have been pushing an insufferable storyline that it’s better to be sitting around a campfire eating sustainable algae cakes and picking parasites off each other.

Enough.

When I hear Donald Trump say “Let’s Make America Great Again”, I also hear the familiar echo “cowboy up” people.

It’s high time we stop being embarrassed about our exceptional nature, and start being proud of it again.   Because when it matters most, when it really counts, when it’s really needed, there’s a whole bunch of people all around this world of ours that are mighty happy when swagger walks in to solve their problems.

Yeah, “let’s make America great again”.  Swagger on !

The awakened insurgency, led by Donald Trump, is an existential threat to the professional political class and every entity who lives in/around the professional political class.  The entire political industry is threatened by the insurgency.  The entire political industry is threatened by Donald Trump.

Decision time.

You know why the entire apparatus is united against President Trump. You know why the entire Wall Street apparatus is united against President Trump. You know why every institutional department, every lobbyist, every K-Street dweller, every career legislative member, staffer, and the various downstream economic benefactors, including the corporate media, all of it – all the above, are united against Donald Trump.

Donald Trump is an existential threat to the very existence of the UniParty.  Donald Trump is an existential threat to every entity who benefits from the UniParty.

Multi-billion dollar contracts at stake.  Trillion dollar multi-national trade deals at stake.  The fundamental construct of decades of their united efforts to tear away at the very fabric of the U.S.A is at stake.  They too have nothing to lose, and they’re damn sure acting like it.

Who opposes them?

…..US !

In 2017, President Trump established his National Space Council, a body of senior officials charged with developing modern policies for commercial and international space utilization. On March 23, 2018, President Trump announced his National Space Strategy, which recognizes that America’s competitors have turned space into a warfighting domain, and charts a whole-of-government approach to maintaining America’s leadership in space.

On June 18, 2018, President Trump directed the Department of Defense to immediately begin the important process of establishing Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces.  Defense Secretary James Mattis introduces Vice President Mike Pence today:

[Transcript] The Pentagon – Arlington, Virginia, 11:17 A.M. EDT: THE VICE PRESIDENT: Secretary Mattis, Deputy Secretary Shanahan, General Selva, General Goldfein, members of the Armed Forces of the United States of America, and all the men and women of the United States Department of Defense who each and every day oversee the greatest military in the history of the world: Thank you for all you do every day for the American people. (Applause.)

It is my great honor, Mr. Secretary, to join you here today at the Pentagon. And let me begin by bringing greetings from your Commander-in-Chief, who has from the very earliest days of this administration proved himself to be a great champion of the Armed Forces of the United States, committed to strengthening American security here on Earth and in space. I bring greetings from the 45th President of the United States of America, President Donald Trump. (Applause.)

In his Inaugural Address to the nation, President Trump proclaimed that the United States stands, in his words, “at the birth of a new millennium, ready to unlock the mysteries of space.”

And since day one of our administration, this President has kept his promise to restore America’s proud legacy of leadership in space, believing that space is essential to our nation’s security, prosperity, and our very way of life.

Last year, after it had lain dormant for nearly a quarter-century, President Trump revived the National Space Council to reinvigorate and coordinate space activities across our government.

It is my great honor, as Vice President, to serve as the Chairman of the National Space Council. And I’m pleased to report that President Trump has already signed three new space policy directives to reorient our space program toward human exploration, unleash America’s burgeoning commercial space companies, and safeguard our vital space assets with new space traffic management policy.

But as Commander-in-Chief, President Trump’s highest priority is the safety and security of the American people. And while, too often, previous administrations all but neglected the growing security threats emerging in space, President Trump stated clearly and forcefully that space is, in his words, “a warfighting domain, just like…land, [and] air, and sea.”

And just as we’ve done in ages past, the United States of America, under his leadership, will meet the emerging threats on this new battlefield with American ingenuity and strength to defend our nation, protect our people, and carry the cause of liberty and peace into the next great American frontier.

In 1939, at the start of the Second World War, the U.S. Army Air Corps was still a fledgling organization. But as Nazi air forces bombed their way from Warsaw to London, our military commanders took decisive action then to meet that new threat head on.

By 1945, the American military had nearly 30 times the number of planes, and 85 times the number of pilots and support crews compared to just six years earlier.

America and our allies emerged victorious from World War II because of the strength of our armed forces, and because our armed forces adapted to meet the emerging threats of the day. We knew that airpower had forever changed the nature of war, so we marshaled the resources and the will to build the most powerful air force the world had ever seen.

And just two years after that terrible conflict, our nation created a new branch of service to secure American dominance in the skies for generations to come with the creation of the United States Air Force.

Now the time has come to write the next great chapter in the history of our armed forces, to prepare for the next battlefield where America’s best and bravest will be called to deter and defeat a new generation of threats to our people and to our nation. The time has come to establish the United States Space Force.

And that’s what brings us here today. Seven weeks ago, President Trump directed the Department of Defense “to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces.”

The President made it clear that our ultimate objective is to create a new branch of our military that is separate from, and equal to, five other branches.

Today, the Department of Defense will release a report outlining the first stages of our administration’s plan to implement the President’s guidance and turn his vision into a reality.

This report reviews the national security space activities within the Department of Defense, and it identifies concrete steps that our administration will take to lay the foundation for a new Department of the Space Force.

Now, to be clear, the Space Force will not be built from scratch because the men and the women who run and protect our nation’s space programs today are already the best in the world. And since the dawn of the Space Age, America has remained the best in space. (Applause.)

Over the past 60 years, the United States has assembled the largest and most sophisticated constellation of military and intelligence satellites in the world.

We’ve pioneered the technology to leverage American power in space here on Earth, and give our warfighters the intelligence that they need, and give our intelligence community the information they need to maintain a strategic advantage wherever our warfighters are operating.

Across this Department and our intelligence agency, there are literally tens of thousands of military personnel, civilians, and contractors operating and supporting our space systems, and together they’re the eyes and the ears of America’s warfighters around the globe. And they do a remarkable job.

I’ve seen their work firsthand. I’ve traveled across the country to meet with the men and women who are fighting for America’s future in space in my first year and a half on this job, from the airmen of the 50th Space Wing at Schriever Air Force Base, whose fleet of surveillance, navigation, and communication satellites increase the agility, precision, and effectiveness of our armed forces; to the engineers of the Missile Defense Agency at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama who are forging the next generation of rockets to strengthen our missile defense; to the many other bases and facilities across the country where our men and women in uniform work together with our intelligence community and our allies to protect our people, our nation, and our interests around the world.

And over the past 18 months, President Trump and our entire administration have taken decisive action to strengthen American power in space as well.

President Trump recently signed the largest investment in our national defense since the days of Ronald Reagan. (Applause.) And that new Defense budget included new resources for two cutting-edge military communications satellites and nearly $1 billion for our space defense programs. And today, we renew the President’s call on the Congress of the United States to invest an additional $8 billion in our space security systems over the next five years.

The men and women of this Department have also taken historic steps to secure American leadership in space. At the direction of Secretary Mattis, the Department of Defense is fielding a new generation of jam-resistant GPS and communications satellites and new missile-warning satellites that are smaller, tougher, and more maneuverable than ever before.

And while these steps have been vital to our national defense, they’re really only a beginning. They’re only a beginning of meeting the rising security threats our nation faces in space today and in the future. As President Trump has said, in his words, “It is not enough to merely have an American presence in space; we must have American dominance in space.” And so we will. (Applause.)

And that’s precisely why we’re beginning the process of establishing a Space Force as the sixth branch of our armed forces. Just as in the past, when we created the Air Force, establishing the Space Force is an idea whose time has come.

The space environment has fundamentally changed in the last generation. What was once peaceful and uncontested is now crowded and adversarial. Today, other nations are seeking to disrupt our space-based systems and challenge American supremacy in space as never before.

For many years, nations from Russia and China to North Korea and Iran have pursued weapons to jam, blind, and disable our navigation and communications satellites via electronic attacks from the ground.

But recently, our adversaries have been working to bring new weapons of war into space itself. In 2007, China launched a missile that tracked and destroyed one of its own satellites — a highly provocative demonstration of China’s growing capability to militarize space.

Russia has been designing an airborne laser to disrupt our space-based system. And it claims to be developing missiles that can be launched from an aircraft mid-flight to destroy American satellites.

Both China and Russia have been conducting highly sophisticated on-orbit activities that could enable them to maneuver their satellites into close proximity of ours, posing unprecedented new dangers to our space systems.

Both nations are also investing heavily in what are known as hypersonic missiles designed to fly up to five miles per second at such low altitudes that they could potentially evade detection by our missile-defense radars. In fact, China claimed to have made its first successful test of a hypersonic vehicle just last week.

China and Russia are also aggressively working to incorporate anti-satellite attacks into their warfighting doctrines. In 2015, China created a separate military enterprise to oversee and prioritize its warfighting capabilities in space.

As their actions make clear, our adversaries have transformed space into a warfighting domain already. And the United States will not shrink from this challenge. (Applause.) Under President Trump’s leadership, we will meet it head on to defend our nation and build a peaceful future here on Earth and in space.

America will always seek peace in space as on the Earth. But history proves that peace only comes through strength. And in the realm of outer space, the United States Space Force will be that strength in the years ahead. (Applause.)

Now, the report the Department of Defense will release today, that Secretary Mattis just referenced, represents a critical step toward establishing the Space Force as the sixth branch of our armed forces. It actually identifies four actions that we will take to evolve our space capabilities, and they are built on the lessons of the past.

We all remember the hard lesson learned in the early 1980s, as the tragic debacle of Desert One took place. Eight American patriots fell in the line of duty while trying to rescue their fellow Americans who were being held hostage in Iran.

In the wake of that failed mission, America resolved to ensure that our joint warfighters would always have the training, coordination, and leadership they needed to accomplish their missions. And the steps that our nation took in the years that followed paved the way for the creation of the United States Special Operations Command.

Since that time, this vital combatant command has directed our Special Operations Forces to become the most effective and lethal fighting force in the history of the world. (Applause.) Our Special Operations Forces, through this unified command, have been defending our security and advancing interests, as they do to this very hour, in every corner of the globe.

Along those same lines, today’s report calls for the creation of a new unified combatant command for space: The United States Space Command.

This new command structure for the physical domain of space, led by a four-star flag officer, will establish unified command and control for our Space Force operations, ensure integration across the military, and develop the space warfighting doctrine, tactics, techniques, and procedures of the future.

The second step this report calls for is the creation of an elite group of joint warfighters specializing in the domain of space who will form the backbone of the nation’s newest armed service: Space Operations Force.

Just like our Special Operations Forces, a Space Operations Force will draw men and women from across the military and will grow into their own unique and cohesive community. They’ll support the combatant commands by providing space expertise in times of crisis and conflict.

Third, this report calls for the creation of a new joint organization, the Space Development Agency, that will ensure the men and women of the Space Force have the cutting-edge warfighting capabilities that they need and deserve.

While our adversaries have been busy weaponizing space, too often we have bureaucratized it. And over time, our ability to adapt to new and emerging threats has been stifled by needless layers of red tape.

The Space Development Agency will break free from ineffective and duplicative bureaucratic structures to focus on innovation, experimentation, and forging the technologies of the future.

The men and women of the Department of Defense have pioneered some of the most groundbreaking discoveries in our armed forces that literally have revolutionized our national defense in times of need, from General Schriever’s creation of the intercontinental ballistic missile to Admiral Rickover’s development of the Navy’s nuclear enterprise.

And now we must do our part to make bold breakthroughs, strengthen America’s industrial base, and deliver the cutting-edge warfighting capabilities faster than our adversaries could ever imagine. And that’s exactly what Americans will do. (Applause.)

Finally, this report calls for clear lines of responsibility and accountability to manage the process of standing up and scaling up the United States Department of the Space Force.

Creating a new branch of the military is not a simple process. It will require collaboration, diligence, and above all, leadership. As challenges arise, deadlines approach, there must be someone in charge who can execute, hold others accountable, and be responsible for the results.

So we will create a single civilian position, reporting to the Secretary of Defense, to oversee the growth and expansion of this new branch of service. This position will be a new Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space. And this leader will be key to the critical transition to a fully independent Secretary of the Space Force in the years ahead.

President Trump and I are grateful — truly grateful to Secretary Mattis for this Department’s diligence in preparing this report. And our administration will soon take action to implement these recommendations, with the objective of establishing the United States Department of the Space Force by the year 2020.

Ultimately, Congress must act to establish this new Department which will organize, train, and equip the United States Space Force.

Our administration is already working with leaders in the Congress to do just that. We’re building bipartisan support for our plan, working closely with committee counterparts like Congressman Mac Thornberry, and Congressman Adam Smith, and Congressman Mike Rogers, and Congressman Jim Cooper.

Next February, in the President’s budget, we will call on the Congress to marshal the resources we need to stand up the Space Force.

And before the end of next year, our administration will work with the Congress to enact the statutory authority for the Space Force in the National Defense Authorization Act.

Our nation’s armed forces have always been the vanguard of advancing American leadership here on Earth and beyond. And the Space Force is the next and the natural evolution of American military strength.

The first American rockets in space were launched by our military. The first American satellites to orbit the Earth were on reconnaissance missions, peering behind the Iron Curtain. The first Americans to step forward to venture into the unknown were the world’s greatest aviators and test pilots from the Navy, the Air Force, and the Marine Corps.

And the next generation of Americans to confront the emerging threats in the boundless expanse of space will be wearing the uniform of the United States of America as well. (Applause.)

And I’ll promise you, your Commander-in-Chief is going to continue to work tirelessly toward this goal, and we expect you all to do the same.

And to all the men and women of this Department: This is the moment. Now is the time to act quickly, using all the tools at your disposal to lead our nation forward with President Trump’s vision to meet the challenges that lie ahead.

There is much work to do. Success will demand the very best of each of you. So be bold, be creative, unencumbered by the past or the status quo. And remember, when it comes to defending our nation and protecting our way of life, the only thing we can’t afford is inaction. The American people deserve our very best, and they will have it.

As the President will discuss in further detail in the days ahead, the United States Space Force will strengthen our security, it will ensure our prosperity, and it will also carry American ideals into the boundless expanse of space.

While other nations increasingly possess the capability to operate in space, not all of them share our commitment to freedom, to private property, and the rule of law. So as we continue to carry American leadership in space, so also will we carry America’s commitment to freedom into this new frontier. (Applause.)

So this is the moment. Now is the time to do as Americans have always done in ages past, to lead with strength and a pioneering spirit into the future. And under the leadership of President Trump, our Commander-in-Chief, we will take the first bold steps to ensure our security on Earth and in outer space with renewed American strength.

And as we embark, we do so with faith. Faith in all of you who have answered the call to serve in the uniform of the United States of America at such a time as this in the life of our nation. Faith to all the incredible civilian personnel who serve here in the Department of Defense with equal devotion to our nation.

And we do so with that other kind of faith as well. And just as generations of Americans have carried those who have taken to the skies in the defense of freedom borne upon their prayers, I want to assure all of you, who will be called to this enterprise, that you can be confident. You can be confident that you will go with the prayers of millions of Americans who will claim on your behalf, as generations have claimed before, those ancient words, that if you “rise on the wings of the dawn, if [you] settle on the far side of the sea,” even if you go up to the heavens, “even there His hand will guide [you], His right hand will hold [you] fast.” And He will hold fast this great nation in the great beyond.

So thank you for your service to the country for all of you who have been called to serve in our armed forces. With your unwavering commitment, with the courage of our men and women in uniform, with the continued support of the American people, with the vision and leadership of our Commander-in Chief, and with God’s help, I know we will give America the defense she needs here on Earth and in the outer reaches of space.

Thank you. And God bless you. And God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)

END

Space Force Fact Sheet HERE

Defense Department Website HERE