During a February interview which broadcast just before the Superbowl, President Trump recalled riding with former President Barack Obama to the Inauguration on Jan. 20 when he asked Obama to list the three greatest issues America was facing.

[…] “I asked him what you think our biggest problem is and he told me,” Trump said, recalling the limousine ride to the U.S. Capitol with Obama.

“I can’t tell you,” Trump said after O’Reilly interrupted to ask about specifics. “But it’s a problem, its a military problem with a certain place. No, it’s not China. But it is – he did mention, cause I did ask him what would you say our number one, two, three problems are and the number one problem that he felt – I was a little bit surprised, but I fully understand.” (link)

Almost every mainstream political pundit and political observer believes the concerning country within that conversation was North Korea. Indeed, if you were to evaluate the comment in isolation, against the backdrop of world media headlines, N-Korea seemingly becomes a natural conclusion.

However, CTH does not believe North Korea was the country of concern. President Obama viewed and acted upon all foreign affairs through the prism of ideological belief. Every action taken by the Obama administration was in furtherance of an ideological world-view that was personal to the small circle of like-minded fellow travelers.

Outgoing President Obama would not respond to such a question from an abject detachment to the same ideological road-map that drove his foreign policy positions.

No, if it was a country of concern to Obama it would have a personal element to it; North Korea just doesn’t fit.

President Trump went on to say he did not believe Obama would mind if he had shared his answer, but said he did not want that country to know it is viewed as the number one concern to the U.S.

Businessman Trump is President Trump and in both roles Trump has shown through action a keen forward approach. Trump games-out long term objectives and strategies.

Often by the time you see a visible Trump action there has been months of pre-planning.

The President Xi Jinping visit with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago is one example that people are only just now beginning to understand. Trump seeded the objectives of the meeting with President Xi months before their April 6th and 7th meeting (emphasis mine):

[…]  “You gotta work on North Korea,” Trump told a Chinese official on February 27, the senior administration official said, apparently pointing to a brief meeting at the White House between Trump and Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi, the highest-ranking Chinese official Trump has met with since taking office. (link)

In the events surrounding Syria and Russia President Trump also had mapped out a long-term strategy.  Instructions that did not come from Trump’s team, but rather from President Trump personally.

Back in January, before taking office, President Trump told his National Security landing team to approach the intelligence communities and request “outside the box” solutions to Syria (Via Russia/Iran), as one regional issue; and North Korea (using China) as another.

The responsibility for assembling the information fell upon the administration’s IC liaison Deputy NSA Advisor  KT McFarland.

The media do not talk about President Trump having the acumen to approach global issues with specific personally generated strategy.  The MSM obviously prefer to sell Trump’s approach as reactionary or emotional; however, as we have seen from the results so far, nothing could be further from the truth than the media’s false narrative.

So where does that bring us?

Well, considering everything outlined above; and considering the location of the MOAB as utilized; and considering the location where President Trump directed his National Security Advisor to go…

Well, I would make an argument the Obama-Trump conversation was about a tenuous nuclear country who hid Osama Bin Laden for ten years, Pakistan.

National security advisor H.R. McMaster, left, with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad on April 17. /Reuters

(Via World Tribune) […] McMaster visited Islamabad on April 17, a day after holding talks with Afghan leaders in Kabul.

He delivered a public message to leaders in Pakistan, whom Afghan officials accuse of permitting Taliban jihadists to establish sanctuaries and conduct attacks into Afghanistan with the help of Pakistan’s intelligence agency, Voice of America reported.

“As all of us have hoped for many many years … that Pakistani leaders will understand that it is in their interest to go after these groups less selectively than they have in the past and the best way to pursue their interests in Afghanistan and elsewhere is through diplomacy not through the use of proxies that engage in violence,” McMaster said.

The Pakistani government said in a statement that the U.S. delegation included Lisa Curtis, a researcher with the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington, who McMaster has hired to oversee South Asia affairs.

In February, Curtis co-authored an article calling for Washington to “levy heavy costs on Pakistan for policies that help perpetuate terrorism in the region.”

In his first trip to the region since being named national security adviser, McMaster met with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his top foreign policy aides before holding talks with the country’s powerful military chief, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa.  (link)

Syria (via Russia), North Korea (via China) are, in large measure, diplomatic matters with clear White House objectives and political goals.  Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been intensely successful so far in handling all of these regional issues with exceptional diplomacy and international support.

President Trump, T-Rex and to a lesser extent Nikki Haley, have aptly navigated through the issues surrounding Syria and China; and with ongoing diplomatic endeavors continuing Vice-President Pence is dispatched as a sincere, stable and trustworthy closer.

However, Pakistan is an entirely different kettle-of-fish.  Pakistan policy currently involves higher priority intelligence community and military efforts; ergo, McMasters doing the advanced recon, and a rather noisy knock at the door just prior to arrival.

[…]  This is the majors now. Trump has to outwit world-class adversaries and “frenemies” by defining the deals that they will agree to. One minute they will think Trump is their friend – the next minute, a cunning, bitter foe.

And he has to do this with evil cheerleaders like Warhead, Linderace, Dipsy Dowd, Maggie Haterman, and Fake Yapper trashing him or praising him alternately, no matter which way he goes. They can’t keep up, either.

Neither can many around him. I think that half of the problem with advisers crashing into each other is they don’t realize what Trump is doing.

And people will trash you, and they will trash me. Get used to it. I’ve already caught plenty of people mocking me. Well, just wait a week in Trump time. Look stupid and conned by Trump one minute, and you look like a sage three days later.

Trump will not find perfect solutions. He will find OPTIMAL solutions. We cannot ask for more. Trump has stood by and watched Perfect murder Good for 8 years – maybe longer. He’s not gonna do it. He’s going to deliver the best outcome possible, and he’s not waiting for us to feel relaxed about it.

[…]  Trump is Jupiter moving through the asteroid belt. He is going to pull people into his orbit. A few will get slung off into space, but most will come along for the ride of their lives.  (more)

Maybe it’s because the complexity is difficult to distill; maybe it’s because some just can’t give President Trump any credit; or maybe it’s because the scope is too challenging to comprehend against the constant belittlement meme du jour; regardless of reason, President Trump is fundamentally realigning international geo-political alliances and almost no-one is connecting the dots.

President Trump obviously held a long-ball strategy with the Chinese; he’s described the approach in his books and lived the approach in his business life:

At the outset, position yourself at the furthest oppositional point when it costs you nothing; then leverage inward toward your opponent as they expend their resources to meet your stance.

Almost no-one is noting the scope of what President Trump has accomplished simply by positioning himself at the furthest extreme from the best interests of China, and then working his leverage back toward dual-interests as the Chinese expend capital to meet the point of mutual benefit.

President Trump has expended nothing other than his sheer will, and yet he has leveraged gains that are jaw-droppingly consequential.

♦ What’s the goal of identifying China as a currency manipulator?  To stop China from manipulating currency, right?  Well, arm-chair opposition says President Trump has reversed his position simply by ‘not doing something’.   However, that opposition doesn’t seem to acknowledge the end-goal of the labeling has been achieved without expending an effort.   The doing is unnecessary when merely the threat of the doing changes the behavior of the doer.

In two days, April 6th and April 7th, President Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.  What actions has President Trump taken, other than ‘not’ doing something, and what actions has President Xi Jinping taken?

At the outset, position yourself at the furthest oppositional point when it costs you nothing, and leverage inward toward your opponent as they expend their resources to meet your stance.

Think about this when considering the consequences:

♦  China agrees to the framework of a 100 day outline to assemble the trade way-points for renegotiated bi-lateral trade deals.

What did that action cost Trump?

♦ For the first time ever, China did not support Russia in a U.N. Security Council veto vote surrounding Syria.   China abstained.

What did that action cost Trump?

♦ China turned around 12 fully loaded cargo ships laden with imported coal from North Korea.  400,000 metric tonnes refused unloading.   China begins an embargo against North Korean coal.  China begins importing coking coal for steel-making from the U.S. coal mines.

What did that action cost Trump?

♦ Additionally, in furtherance of economic sanctions – China halts oil exports to North Korea.

What did that action cost Trump?

♦ Additionally, in furtherance of political isolation – China halts direct flights between Beijing, China and Pyongyang, North Korea.

What did that action cost Trump?

♦ And in the most stunning seismic shift of geo-political alliances, China says it is now open to discussions of a denuclearized North Korea, meaning getting rid of N-Korean nukes, WITHOUT N-Korea being included in the talks. Hello?  China, the United States, Japan, Russia and South Korea discussing how to de-nuke North Korea.  (A new Marshal Plan of sorts)

What did that action cost Trump?

See how this works?  What affirmative action did President Trump have to take in order to get China to move toward the position of mutual benefit?

Answer: None!

Foolish people think President Trump doesn’t know what he’s doing.  Again:

…Position yourself at the furthest oppositional point when it costs you nothing, and leverage inward toward your opponent as they expend their resources to meet the position of mutual benefit… 

To gain all of the aforementioned action, massive benefits in U.S. interests, President Trump has done what?

“Not” labeling China as a currency manipulator is not affirmative action.  It is actually the absence of action; POTUS Trump is not doing something.  President Trump positioned himself at the furthest oppositional point during the election, and immediately thereafter.

He staked out this position with an intention to leverage action toward his needs.

The affirmative action President Trump is doing, very publicly, is complimenting the friendship he has begun with Xi Jinping; and praising President Xi for his character, warmth and leadership.

To build upon that mutually beneficial friendship – President Trump seeded the background by appointing Ambassador Terry Branstad, a 30-year personal friend of President Xi Jinping.

To enhance and amplify the friendship and personal respect – U.S. President Trump used Mar-a-Lago as the venue for their visit, not the White House.  And President Trump’s beautiful granddaughter, Arabella, sweetly serenaded the Chinese First Family in Mandarin Chinese song showing the utmost respect for the honored guests.

Unfortunately most people are unfamiliar with the severity of Chinese tradition as it relates to family and respect.  However, these gestures are intensely well received.  Russia’s Vladimir Putin can deliver nothing even remotely comparable to the charm of the granddaughter of the U.S. President singing for President Xi and his wife in their native tongue.

Do not underestimate the value of these gestures and how it was perceived by the recipients as personal respect – far above the level of traditional political respect which would be customary during such encounters.   President Trump made this visit personal, and his words after the meeting were all personal, not positional.

Whether or not people want to give President Trump credit for the approach, no-one should be able to challenge the outcomes all listed above.

Grandfather President Trump has highlighted Grandfather President Xi as a person, not a political figure.  Trump sets the relationship as personal, and with mutual human benefit.

One thing is certain, North Korea will NOT make any hostile action toward the U.S. because President Trump has elevated President Xi to a role beyond politics in the words highlighted within Chinese media.  The panda fur has not only been stroked perfectly, it has been elevated in its own magnanimity without even so much as a bow.

As a consequence it would now be a matter of personal disrespect for North Korea’s Kim Jung-un to take hostile action toward the U.S. President who has exhibited such personal respect to the regional Goliath.

Three things appear odd:  #1) How no-one amid almost all media can see how effective this approach by President Trump has been; and #2) Nothing has been expended in order to achieve these remarkable results; and #3) Accepting all of the above, Donald Trump has planned this out for a long, long time.