A very unusual report from Reuters announces the White House has extended an invitation for the entire U.S. Senate to come to the White House for a policy and security briefing on North Korea.  The briefing is scheduled for 3pm Wednesday:

(Via Reuters) Top Trump administration officials will hold a rare briefing on Wednesday at the White House for the entire U.S. Senate on the situation in North Korea, senior Senate aides said on Monday.

All 100 senators have been asked to the White House for the briefing by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the aides said.

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During a flight to Saudi Arabia Defense Secretary James Mattis answered some current events questions about strategic policy objectives:

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Noting President Trump’s Asian Strategy. [High Profile, but Under-reported] •A firm open hand •leveraging new policy •structured around personal trust •building modern alliances:

♦February 10th – President Trump hosted Japanese Prime Minister Abe at the White House and at Mar-a-Lago, w/both spouses, to discuss regional issues (including N-Korea).

♦February 27th – President Trump and Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi meet in the White House Oval Office to discuss regional issues (including N-Korea).

♦March 15th – Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visits Japan, South Korea and China to follow up on February’s conversations and discuss the forward path (including N-Korea).

♦April 6th and 7th – President Trump hosts Chinese President Xi Jinping in Mar-a-Lago where they discussed all of the critical bilateral and regional issues (including N-Korea).

♦April 15th – Vice President Pence arrives in Asia for a ten day visit; positioned as the steady, stable and reliable administration policy closer (including N-Korea).

The White House (Trump) approach and results so far have been stunningly effective.

There have been more consequential Asia-Pacific/U.S. results (trade, economics and security) in the past two months than in the prior ten years. The stunningly successful and deliberate strategy continues today with Vice President Mike Pence in Japan.

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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.

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Vice-President Mike Pence continues his 10-day trip to Asia with a day-two visit to the DMZ and discussions with interim South Korean President Hwang.  VP Pence delivered remarks during a meeting with President Hwang:

[Transcript] THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Good afternoon. Ahn-young Ha-shim-nika.

To Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn, thank you for the kind words and the hospitality you have shown me and my family in welcoming us to the Republic of Korea, my very first stop in the Asia Pacific as Vice President of the United States.

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National Security Advisor HR McMaster has been selected by conspiracy nuts and alt-reality moonbats as a necessary evil foil to retain their pearl-clutching placement at the table of doomsday drum-beating.

Apparently, when candidate Trump, then president-elect Trump, and now President Trump said: “bomb the s**t out of ISIS“, “rebuild our military” and recreate “peace through strength” – a sketchy handful of fools perceived such statements possible without actually ‘bombing‘, ‘rebuilding‘ or ‘reasserting strength‘.

Yes, cognitive dissonance relies upon use of the Mamet Principle; and yes, it happens on the fringe elements of both sides of the circular political continuum.

In the most recent proclamations of the Moonbats any adviser to the President who would be connected with presenting ‘bombing‘, ‘rebuilding‘ or ‘reasserting‘ options of military use to the President, necessarily becomes a war-mongering pod carrier intent on lulling a 70-year-old President to sleep and exit the room converted to John McCain.

The people selling this narrative are both nuts and gnats.

Please pay attention to HR McMaster in this interview laying out a very reasonable perspective on the various regional issues, his praise for the diplomatic approach by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and his accompanying overview to include (@10:38) the answer to the question: “do you think we need more troops in Syria?“.  McMaster’s response: “I don’t think so“.

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Deputy Asst. to President Donald Trump, Dr. Sebastian Gorka, sat down with Maria Bartiromo for an interview discussing the White House global policy.

…”The President is not an interventionist commander-in-chief. Nothing has changed from November 7th to today.  He’s been explicit, we are not invading other peoples’ countries, we are not occupying them. This is not some neo-conservative Bush era administration.”…

~ Dr. Gorka.

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Representing U.S. Asian interests overall, and specifically the White House expressions of stability toward a region during a time of tenuous action by North Korea, Vice-President Mike Pence arrived in South Korea during Easter Sunday.

Vice President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence placed a wreath at the National Cemetery in South Korea’s capital, shortly after arriving at the start of a 10-day trip to Asia.

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Following the wreath ceremony and accompanying S-Korean services, Mr. and Mrs. Pence deliver remarks to thank US troops at a fellowship meal to celebrate Easter Sunday. Stay with it, the last half of this speech is personal, moving and effective. Believe me.

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The media are full-frontal Trump Derangement Syndrome today, against the backdrop of foreign affairs, exhibiting a rather humorous unwillingness to accept that President Trump has a long-term strategy.

The severity is not necessarily evident in this interview with KT McFarland, but rather in the aggregate of apoplectic punditry. President Trump’s Deputy National Security Advisor, KT McFarland sits down for an exclusive interview with Chris Wallace to discuss if the U.S. can count upon China to leverage North Korea toward non hostile action.

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At approximately the same time Vice-President Mike Pence was in Alaska refueling Air-Force-2 en route to South Korea, the North Korean regime attempted a missile test and failed.

https://t.co/ki6dcVGkdx

— Jamie (@jamieedurann) April 15, 2017

LA TIMES – […]  U.S. Pacific Command said it detected a missile at about 6:20 a.m. Korean time. The device apparently “blew up almost instantly,” Cmdr. Dave Benham, a command spokesman, said in a statement.The type of missile is still unknown, he said. (more)

Defense Sec Mattis said they're "aware of North Korea's most recent unsuccessful missile launch" and "the president has no further comment."

— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) April 16, 2017

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