Let us all hope the good people of New Hampshire spot the insufferable and poorly briefed politicians who want to lead the nation.

In a recent South Carolina GOP debate Jeb Bush talked about trade with China and showed how much he relies on briefings by his team to create his talking points. Bush did not realize Boeing was moving a manufacturing plant to China, and with it American Jobs – SEE HERE

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Similarly, last night in New Hampshire, to bolster his propositions about eminent domain, Governor Jeb Bush made the gobsmacking assertion the Keystone Pipeline project was a “public use” project.

It isn’t.

The Keystone pipeline is entirely a private corporation, a private energy firm, seeking federal permission to build a North American pipeline.  There is nothing about the Keystone Pipeline that is a “public use” project, it is a “private use” project.

The U.S. government has no ownership stake in the project whatsoever.  Watch:

While the project was originally developed as a partnership between TransCanada Corporation and ConocoPhillips; TransCanada is now the sole owner of the Keystone Pipeline System, as TransCanada received regulatory approval on August 12, 2009 to purchase ConocoPhillips’ interest.  Neither of these entities are related to the government of Canada or the United States.   They are private companies.

keystone pipelineDonald Trump is entirely correct, and Jeb Bush is entirely incorrect.

The issue of eminent domain in this instance pertains to the local and municipal landowners in/around the properties in Nebraska, Montana, North and South Dakota as well as Illinois and states beyond.

With regulatory approvals TransCanada would be permitted to enter into negotiations with municipalities and local landowners for purchase permission.

The financial benefactor of the pipeline, if approved, remains a private company.

Donald Trump has previously stated the U.S. should impose a surcharge for use of the pipeline as a form of payment to the U.S. for facilitating the transport of oil through the system.  This approach would provide financial benefit to the U.S. for the use of the geography in question – terms and conditions to financially benefit each of the states, municipalities and local communities to be determined through negotiation with the corporation.

Governor Jeb Bush’s poor understanding of the project, and conflation with the term “public use” shows once again what happens when a politician is relying exclusively on briefings provided for political benefit.  Briefings disconnected from the reality of current events.

♦  In another revealing moment in the debate, the topic of a North Korean missile launch was raised.   The question posed was what should the U.S. do, if anything, about the North Korean government pursuing an intercontinental ballistic missile program.

Here’s where Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush immediately jump into military mode, and begin to stake adversarial positions about preemptive strikes against N-Korean launch sites.   It was a moment when the national audience sees a neo-con militaristic approach on full display.  Again, watch:

John Kasich, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush immediately jump into full military expansion mode.  Ultimately arriving at a determination that bombing North Korea, preemptively, might be needed.

Think about that carefully.

Kasich, Rubio, Bush and Cruz immediate gut reaction is the military, war.

WAR.

Contrast their approach with candidate Donald J Trump who carefully and intelligently states the current economic relationship the U.S. has with China, vis-a-vis a $500,000,000 (billion, per year) trade deficit, can be used as leverage to have China intercede to stop North Korea from action.

China holds immense leverage over North Korea; leverage of a similar comparative scope the U.S. holds over Puerto Rico.  North Korea is financially dependent on China for its very survival.  If China pulls back money from North Korea, N-Korea collapses upon itself.

Rather than go to war or engage the U.S. military in strikes against Korean military facilities, Donald Trump identifies economic leverage as the solution.

The United States have a $17+ trillion dollar market that China is dependent upon.  Candidate Trump says use the principle trade leverage within “most favored nation status” as a bargaining tool to get N-Korea to stop military provocations and expansions.

The economic status of “most favored nation” is a golden ticket to the U.S. market:

In international economic relations and international politics, “most favoured nation” (MFN) is a status or level of treatment accorded by one state to another in international trade.

The term means the country which is the recipient of this treatment must, nominally, receive equal trade advantages as the “most favoured nation” by the country granting such treatment. (Trade advantages include low tariffs or high import quotas.) In effect, a country that has been accorded MFN status may not be treated less advantageously than any other country with MFN status by the promising country.

If China ever lost their golden ticket entry into the U.S. economic market it would cost them hundreds of billions almost immediately – their tenuous economic model collapses without customers.  China lobbies congress with tens of millions to keep their golden ticket in hand.

This is another excellent example of the benefit for a Trump presidency.  Because Trump is not beholden to their financial lobbying efforts, he can make decisions that entirely in the U.S. larger global best interests.   In doing so the direct downstream consequences are as wide ranging as keeping North Korea from military expansion.

I pray today the people of New Hampshire are able to see how their votes can provide a new era in political history.  An era where smart and strategic decisions can position the U.S. to begin winning again.

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