Steve Bannon appears on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the pros and cons of a partisan impeachment.  Bannon was one of the early political observers who identified the likely entry of Mayor Michael Bloomberg into the 2020 race.
Bannon notes that Bloomberg has enough money to outlast the field; however, I doubt Bloomberg can fill a venue. If there’s no connection to the base party voter, candidate Bloomberg just can’t win the primary.

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I can’t stop laughing…. just too darned funny.  CTH has long outlined how President Trump has taken the decades-long panda-mask game/approach of Beijing and mirrored it right back upon them.  Today Chinese Coucillor Wang Yi, while delivering a strongly worded statement to G20 ministers, is positively verklempt in his open admission therein.
Our President Trump is the only person who could have delivered this wonderful outcome… well done.  Beijing is very angry about how a U.S. President is disrupting a new world economic order that China has so artfully manipulated for the past two decades.

It is simply beyond delicious.

(Reuters) – The United States is the world’s biggest source of instability and its politicians are going around the world baselessly smearing China, the Chinese government’s top diplomat said on Saturday in a stinging attack at a G20 meeting in Japan.
Relations between the world’s two largest economies have nose-dived amid a bitter trade war – which they are trying to resolve – and arguments over human rights, Hong Kong and U.S. support for Chinese-claimed Taiwan.

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White House trade and manufacturing policy advisor Peter Navarro appears on Fox News to discuss two key economic and trade issues: (1) the current status of U.S-China trade discussions “round one”; and (2) the status of USMCA ratification (Pelosi’s delay).
Nothing in the China trade discussion is solid, until everything in the China trade discussion is settled; this is one of the key aspects to President Trump’s directive to USTR Robert Lighthizer.  No deal is a more favorable outcome than the construct of a trade deal that cannot be enforced.
On the USMCA ratification, again it all falls upon the politics of Pelosi.  The agreement would pass tomorrow if it were put up to a vote; there is no controversy.  Speaker Pelosi is holding back the ratification vote for pure political purposes.

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USMCA ratification is the first domino in long-chain of ‘America First’ economic benefits. As soon as USMCA passes a wave of North American investment will surge. The downstream consequences includes leverage for U.S-China, U.S-Europe, U.S-India and U.S-U.K trade agreements.
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Steve Bannon appears on Fox News to discuss the ongoing impeachment issues with Maria Bartiromo.  Within the discussion Bannon highlights the larger position about how Trump’ America-First foreign policy is antithetical to the one-way interventionist model that ultimately provides U.S. politicians with a process to sell their office to the benefit of foreign governments.  The Biden-Ukraine issue is a direct example of that process.
Everything about POTUS Trump’s policy is against the business model that allows DC politicians to trade U.S. foreign policy for their own financial benefit.  Trillions at stake.
Bannon correctly points out that only public pressure is going to force change upon the swamp. President Trump is a vessel for a process to stop DC corruption; but the DC politicians themselves will never vote to diminish their own interests. That’s the issue with the republicans in the Senate during an impeachment trial.

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On the Democrat race I agree with Bannon on 90% of his presentation, except I would replace “centrist” with Wall St (multinationals) and Hollywood. The Dem party is fueled by multinational interests and Hollywood support that is aligned with China and multinationals et al. With Biden falling they are trying Buttigieg; if that doesn’t work, they’ll need someone to hold/protect their interests.
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Speaker Nancy Pelosi has a plan, at least the collective ideology behind her has a plan.  Her recent trip to Jordan and Afghanistan are part of that plan; everything is essentially connected.    Pelosi will do whatever is needed to hamper the U.S. economy in an effort to weaken President Trump’s relection bid.  Blocking the USMCA is part of that aspect.
The visit to Jordan and Afghanistan was purposeful ground work in preparing to seed the narrative that President Trump’s withdrawal from mid-east conflict is evidence of dangerous foreign policy.  Again, just like the USMCA stall, the larger goal is to weaken the President in advance of 2020.  Everything is connected.
National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow appears to be realizing the Democrat’s hatred for ‘America-First’, which weakens their personal financial position, is their driving ideology.

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Hat Tip OverTheMoonbat for making sure we didn’t miss this segment from last week.  This video also explains why Larry Kudlow, Secretary Mnuchin, Secretary Ross and Peter Navarro have tended to spend more time discussing economic policy with CNBC analysts than Fox Business.   However, before watching, it is worth revisiting the background.

For three years CTH has explained the challenge in dealing with, or renegotiating with, the Beijing, China ideology.  Encapsulated thus in 2018:

[…] China has no cultural or political space between peace and war; they are a historic nation based on two points of polarity. They see peace and war as coexisting with each other.
China accepts and believes opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. Flowing between these polar states is a natural dynamic to be used -with serious contemplation- in advancing objectives as needed.
Peace or war. Win or lose. Yin and Yang. Culturally there is no middle position in dealings with China; they are not constitutionally capable of understanding or valuing the western philosophy of mutual benefit where concession of terms gains a larger outcome. If it does not benefit China, it is not done. The outlook is simply, a polarity of peace or war. In politics or economics the same perspective is true. It is a zero-sum outlook.
If it does not benefit China, it is not done !

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Steve Bannon is at his best when he explains how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) use their power in economics -against the capitalist view of profit- to erode the values of western companies and corporations.   Good points made in this interview.

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Here is the video and transcript from the Oval Office press announcement by President Trump and Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He.   USTR Lighthizer and Secretary Mnuchin also provided some insight into “Phase-One” of the U.S-China trade agreement.

[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. We’ve had a lot of very big news and some very good news today. But I’d like to hold this for China. There’s nothing bigger than what we’re doing with China. I think it’s important that these are the questions that are asked. And, as you know, we have the Vice Premier of China, one of the most respected men in all of China, and the world, for that matter. And we have great respect for him, a great friendship with him.
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Lots of dragon-dancing with a very hungry panda.

President Trump, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin gathered with their Chinese counterparts in the Oval Office for a lengthy  announcement of “phase-one” of a U.S-China trade agreement.  Vice-Premier Liu He leads the Chinese delegation.  [No point sheet on USTR website yet]  According to the presser:

Phase One has reached ‘agreement in principle‘, and includes: Intellectual Property issues; Banking and Financial Services to include currency devaluation; and major agricultural purchases ($50 billion +).  There will be several phases, and each phase will have an individually tailored enforcement mechanism. [Note: this approach sounds similar to the ‘six sectors and stages’ USTR Lighthizer discussed in March 2019.]
The Phase One agreement details still have to be put on paper over the next five to six weeks.  The U.S. and China are hopeful to have ‘phase one‘ complete by December. In exchange for current AG purchase commitments, and as an act of good faith while phase-one is finalized, the U.S. will suspend the tariff rate increases scheduled to take effect on October 15th. The tariff increase from 25% to 30% has been ‘suspended‘.
The scheduled U.S. tariff increases for December are still planned; however, they will be assessed as part of the ongoing negotiations.  Meanwhile, touchy issues like tech company Hauwei, 5G, telecom and the Chinese firms on the U.S. blocked “entity list” (ie. trade ‘blacklist’) are not part of the discussions.  Those issues fall under U.S. National Security and will not be part of any ongoing trade negotiations.
[Video Below]
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Earlier today Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin held a press conference at the White House to announce a new executive order constructed by the Trump administration that would deliver economic sanctions due to Turkish activity in Northern Syria.
“These are very powerful sanctions. We hope we don’t have to use them. But we can shut down the Turkish economy if we need to,” Treasury Secretary Mnuchin tells reporters.

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Additionally, Secretary Mnuchin notes there has been “significant progress” in the U.S-China trade discussions over the past two days. Vice-Premier Liu He is schedule to meet President Trump in the oval office at 2:45pm.
[Transcript] SECRETARY MNUCHIN: Hello everybody. So, I just met with President Trump, and he has authorized and will be signing a new executive order giving the Treasury Department, in consultation with himself and Secretary Pompeo, very significant new sanctions authorities that can be targeted at any person associated with the government of Turkey, any portion of the government. This will be both primary sanctions and secondary sanctions that will be applicable.
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