Something is ‘off‘ with Senator Graham’s demeanor in this interview segment; there’s a visible lack of confidence.  Perhaps, and this is only a guess, Graham is wondering if President Trump has out-maneuvered the neocon position toward ultimate mid-east failure by applying the: “be careful what you wish for” approach. Ultimately if the Iraqi government asks the U.S. to leave, I doubt President Trump would be adverse to that request.

In the first half of the video Senator Graham discusses his perspective on the current issues in/around Iraq and Iran vis-a-vis the U.S. killing Iranian terrorist Soleimani.

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In the second half of the interview Senator Graham discusses the status of the impeachment agenda and his plans, or lack thereof, as the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

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This speech was originally delivered in late November 2012 after the presidential election.  Setting aside nuances in the Romney aspect watch this video again… in hindsight… and contrast specifically against current events.

Stay with it… watch it all the way through.  Pay attention to the specific subject matter outlined, the details as encapsulated, and contemplate what Bill Whittle says in this video against VERY CURRENT events: “a president who believes in his message“…

On the day the administration briefs congressional leadership about the details of the strike that killed Iranian terrorist Qasem Soleimani, President Trump warns Iran about consequences for any retaliatory strike against Americans:

You don’t have to agree with some of the more moderate viewpoints of Rep. Elise Stefanik to recognize how dangerous she is to the narrative expressed by Democrats.

A good day for a MAGAnomic pause and reminder…

In 2015 we discussed candidate Trump’s economic positions and how they would impact the economy.  CTH anticipated that MAGAnomics would be reversing three decades of federal reserve monetary policy. After about a year of analysis and discussion, in 2016 CTH presented a theory: “A new Dimension in Modern Economics“.

CTH shared a possibility of what could happen if Trump Economic Policy was shifted to favor Main St. over Wall St.  One aspect we presented was how Federal Reserve monetary policy would be oddly disconnected from its ability to influence inflation… Today:

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve could find itself fighting too-low inflation for years to come, San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly said on Friday, and may need a new policy framework to lift inflation back up to the Fed’s 2% goal.

“We don’t have a really good understanding of why it’s been so difficult to get inflation back up,” Daly said at the annual American Economics Association meeting in San Diego.

But with global growth slowing and the populations of most advanced economies aging, Daly said, “this new ‘fighting inflation from below’ is going to be with us, I would argue, for a longer period of time than just a few years.” (read more)

While the Federal Reserve is perplexed, the underlying reason for monetary policy to be incapable of impacting the rate of inflation is not too complex when you think about the focus of federal economic policy reversing in the era of Trump.

For 30-years +/- U.S. economic policy was geared toward Wall Street.  Corporations looked to maximize profits, manufacturing was shipped overseas, jobs were lost and Main Street suffered.  The Fed monetary policy followed the economic influences of a Wall Street created outcome. U.S. multinationals benefited; U.S. main street companies did not.

A Wall St. economic engine was created. The FED policy followed the new engine. The two entirely different economic engines then detached:

• The Wall Street economy, an engine of sorts, is a “service driven” economy, with manufacturing of cheap imported goods done overseas.
• The Main Street economy, again another engine, is a more balanced “manufacturing” economy; with a balance of imports and finished goods produced in the USA.

Bush, Clinton-Clinton, Bush-Bush and Obama-Obama terms focused on the Wall Street economy.  However, Donald Trump focuses on the Main Street economy.  In 2016, immediately after the election, we wrote about what we might expect to see happen:

2016 […]  Understanding the distance between the real Main Street economic engine and the false Wall Street economic engine will help all of us to understand the scope of an upcoming economic lag; which, rather remarkably I would add, is a very interesting dynamic.

Think about these engines doing a turn about and beginning a rapid reverse.  GDP can, and in my opinion, will, expand quickly.  However, any interest rate hikes (monetary policy) intended to cool down that expansion -fearful of inflation- will take a long time to traverse the divide.

Additionally, inflation on durable goods will be insignificant – even as international trade agreements are renegotiated.  Why?  Simply because the originating nations of those products are going to go through the same type of economic detachment described above.

Those global manufacturing economies will first respond to any increases in export costs (tariffs etc.), by driving their own productivity higher as an initial offset, in the same manner American workers went through in the past two decades.  The manufacturing enterprise and the financial sector remain focused on the pricing.

♦ Inflation on imported durable goods sold in America, while necessary, will ultimately be minimal during this initial period; and expand more significantly as time progresses and off-shored manufacturing finds less and less ways to be productive.   Over time, durable good prices will increase – but it will come much later.

♦ Inflation on domestic consumable goods ‘may‘ indeed rise at a faster pace. However, it can be expected that U.S. wage rates will respond faster, naturally faster, than any monetary policy influence because inflation on fast-turn consumable goods becomes re-coupled to the ability of wage rates to afford them.

The fiscal policy impact lag, caused by the distance between federal fiscal action and the domestic Main Street economy, will now work in our favor.  That is, in favor of the middle-class. (full outline)

What we are seeing in 2019 is precisely this outcome.

Reports of new late-night U.S. airstrikes north of Baghdad are starting to be confirmed.  According to developing reports a convoy of two or three vehicles carrying Iran-back Shia Militia leaders was targeted near Taji in Northern Baghdad. [Convoy pic below]

The strike is reported to have killed Qais Khazali, one of the people the US named as responsible for storming of US Embassy in Baghdad.  Also Shibl al-Zaydi is now confirmed to have been killed. Shibl was the leader of Kata’ib al-Imam Ali or the Imam Ali Battalions.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Air strikes targeting Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces umbrella grouping of Iran-backed Shi’ite militias near camp Taji north of Baghdad have killed six people and critically wounded three, an Iraqi army source said late on Friday.

Two of the three vehicles making up a militia convoy were found burned, the source said, as well as six burned corpses. The strikes took place at 1:12 am local time, he said. (link)

It would appear the U.S. has ongoing excellent intelligence on the movements of key Iranian militia leadership operating in Iraq, and are now working through a list of those targets as they attempt to move around.

Today President Trump is speaking at an “Evangelicals for Trump” coalition kick-off event in Miami, Florida.  Anticipated start time 5:00pm ET

Fox News Livestream – Fox Business Livestream – Alternate Livestream

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This afternoon President Trump delivered a statement on Iran outlining the successful preemptive strike against Iranian terrorist leader Qasem Soleimani.

…“We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war.”…

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[Rough Transcript] Thank you very much, and good afternoon.

As president my highest and most solemn duty is the defense of our nation and its citizens. Last night, at my direction, the United States military successfully executed a flawless precision strike that killed the number one terrorist anywhere in the world, Qassem Soleimani.

Soleimani was plotting imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel, but we caught him in the act and terminated him.

Under my leadership America’s policy is unambiguous to terrorists who harm or intend to harm any American. We will find you. We will eliminate you. We will always protect our diplomats, service members, all Americans and our allies.

For years the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its ruthless Quds Force under Soleimani’s leadership has targeted, injured and murdered hundreds of American civilians and servicemen.

The recent attacks on U.S. targets in Iraq, including rocket strikes that killed an American and injured four American servicemen very badly, as well as a violent assault on our embassy in Baghdad, were carried out at the direction of Soleimani.

Soleimani made the death of innocent people his sick passion, contributing to terrorist plots as far away as New Delhi and London. Today we remember and honor the victims of Soleimani’s many atrocities and we take comfort in knowing that his reign of terror is over. Soleimani has been perpetrating acts of terror to destabilize the Middle East for the last 20 years.

What the United States did yesterday should have been done long ago. A lot of lives would have been saved. Just recently Soleimani led the brutal repression of protesters in Iran, where more than 1,000 innocent civilians were tortured and killed by their own government.

We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war. I have deep respect for the Iranian people. They are a remarkable people with an incredible heritage and unlimited potential.

We do not seek regime change. However, the Iranian regime’s aggression in the region, including the use of proxy fighters to destabilize its neighbors, must end and it must end now. The future belongs to the people of Iran, those who seek peaceful co-existence and cooperation, not the terrorist warlords who plunder their nation to finance bloodshed abroad.

The United States has the best military by far anywhere in the world. We have the best intelligence in the world. If Americans anywhere are threatened, we have all of those targets already fully identified, and I am ready and prepared to take whatever action is necessary. And that in particular refers to Iran.

Under my leadership we have destroyed the ISIS territorial caliphate, and recently American special operations forces killed the terrorist leader known as al-Baghdadi. The world is a safer place without these monsters.

America will always pursue the interests of good people, great people, great souls, while seeking peace, harmony and friendship with all of the nations of the world.

Thank you, God bless you. God bless our great military, and God bless the United States of America.

Thank you very much. Thank you.