President Trump is the first U.S. President to confront Beijing directly -head on- and the Chinese respect him immensely for it. It is an inherently adversarial relationship; but it is also a conflict where opponents respect their enemy because the outcome is victory or death. Ultimately, this, from the perspective of China, is a zero-sum contest.
President Trump is also the first U.S. President to: (1) understand how the red dragon hides behind the panda mask; and (2) be willing to directly confront that dynamic. That’s where U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer comes in.

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Ambassador Lighthizer is willing to go to the mattresses because he knows that ultimately his kids future, and his bosses’ grand-kids future, are entirely dependent on victory.  Freedom or serfdom, those are the alternatives.  Yes, this is that big a deal.  The biggest of all big deals (pun intended) in the last century.
There is also no doubt in my mind that President Trump has a very well thought out long-term strategy regarding China.
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Yikes, and a simultaneous ‘Wow’.  French President Emmanuel Macron has officially shut down Paris this weekend in his attempt to stop the “Yellow Vest” populist uprising against current political policies.
The primary tourist venues are all closed; shops ordered to close; windows boarded up; 8,000 police units dispatched to Paris and 89,000 deployed throughout the country.

PARIS (Reuters) – Paris was in lockdown early on Saturday with thousands of French security forces braced to meet renewed rioting by “yellow vest” protesters in the capital and other cities in a fourth weekend of confrontation over living costs.
The Eiffel Tower and other tourist landmarks were shut, shops were boarded up to avoid looting and street furniture removed to avoid metal bars from being used as projectiles. About 89,000 police were deployed across the country.

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One of the less discussed aspects to President Trump’s economic cabinet is the careful selection of specific members who operate above the financial influence of ‘The Big Club’. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are two key positions able to focus on economic nationalism without worrying about undue influence from the globalist lobbying pressure of Tom Donohue and the U.S. CoC.
The baseline of financial independence, and disconnect from self-interest, is unique in our lifetime; and allows the resulting execution of economic policy to focus, very deliberately, on America First objectives.  Secretary Mnuchin discusses the China confrontation:

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Statement from the White House Press Secretary Regarding The President’s Working Dinner With China:

“The President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, and President Xi Jinping of China, have just concluded what both have said was a “highly successful meeting” between themselves and their most senior representatives in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Very importantly, President Xi, in a wonderful humanitarian gesture, has agreed to designate Fentanyl as a Controlled Substance, meaning that people selling Fentanyl to the United States will be subject to China’s maximum penalty under the law.
On Trade, President Trump has agreed that on January 1, 2019, he will leave the tariffs on $200 billion worth of product at the 10% rate, and not raise it to 25% at this time. China will agree to purchase a not yet agreed upon, but very substantial, amount of agricultural, energy, industrial, and other product from the United States to reduce the trade imbalance between our two countries. China has agreed to start purchasing agricultural product from our farmers immediately.
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Success in the midterm election secured power for House Democrats.  The discussion then moves to how are the democrats going to use that power?  Representative David Cicilline, co-chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, indicates their intended set of priorities in a series of Sunday talking points.
Democrats in the House intend to raise taxes on individuals and corporations; roll back the MAGAnomic policy for corporate tax incentives (investment, jobs, and manufacturing) and create a bigger gap between low and top income earners through their spending controls.  In essence, Democrats take control over income earnings (via tax policy) and distribute it to their constituents based on need. [Historic Fabian approach]
Simultaneously, the House committees (Oversight, Judiciary, Intel, Finance) will begin immediate investigations of the Trump administration, writ large, and -using those investigations- secure the pathway to the 2020 election cycle.

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Cecilline admits OUR CTH PROJECTION is entirely accurate.

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CTH has received multiple requests for a review of predictable consequences as a result of the midterm election.  Thankfully, and perhaps unfortunately, we have solid references to base these predictions on – because there’s a solid frame of reference from the 2006 midterm and the subsequent consequences we saw in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010.
If we take the empirical 2006 example as the starting point and overlay the 2018 landscape to modernize the predictive model, what results is a most likely scenario.

First, any intellectually honest review must overlay the current political environment.  In 2018 the scale of unchecked lawless behavior is a significant influence toward the differences we can expect from the last time Democrat/Marxists held congressional power. The term “Democrat-socialism”, in essence a Marxist approach, is now the dominant fuel within the professional DNC  political operations.
When the Democrats last held power in 2006, their actionable objective was toward a far-left, Saul Alinsky-type aggressive tone and influence; however, there was a need to couch that intention as they positioned Senator Barack Obama for the 2008 presidential election.
In 2006 the radicals, needed to downplay their radicalism.  In 2018 the severity and aggression of the left, as assisted by the dropping of all media pretense, no longer needs to hide the intention.  When Democrat-Marxists take control in January of 2019 they no longer need to couch the extremism, the American electorate have been prepped.
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Buried underneath mountains of domestic distractions this week is the story of Brazilian populist Jair Bolsonaro winning the presidential election.  Brazil has been heavily corrupted by communist ideologues for decades; Bolsonaro’s victory is a rebuke to government constraints over liberty, and an actual  thunder-shock to the political system.
The current Brazilian Ambassador to the United States, Sergio Amaral, discusses his perspectives on what President-elect Jair Bolsonaro means to the future of the region.

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President Bolsonaro will likely be a key ally in the geopolitical battle against Xi Jinping.
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Thankfully, NEC Chairman Larry Kudlow knows the dance with the dragon is well beyond his advanced skill-set.  Kudlow is too earnest to enter the cunning matrix of deception as it pertains to Beijing’s geopolitical strategies, Chairman Xi Jinping and President Trump.
As such Kudlow speaks in distant terms while allowing the ‘killers’, specifically U.S.T.R. Lighthizer, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and President Trump, to engage as planned.

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Nuance and subtlety is everything in China. Culturally harsh tones are seen as a sign of weakness and considered intensely impolite in public displays between officials; especially amid adversaries. Respect is earned through strength and cunning.
There is no doubt in my mind that President Trump has a very well thought out long-term strategy regarding China. President Trump takes strategic messaging toward the people of china very importantly. President Trump has, very publicly, complimented the friendship he feels toward President Xi Jinping; and praises Chairman Xi for his character, strength and purposeful leadership.  Trump knows how to play their panda/dragon games.
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Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen appears on Fox Sunday Gaslighting to discuss current headline security issues.  When the topic turns to immigration and the approaching migrant caravan Swamp-gatekeeper Chris Wallace goes all-in with the vulnerable toddlers angle… central American babies crawling on their hands and knees over thousands of miles to reach the United States.  Ridiculous.

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Thankfully Secretary Nielsen didn’t take the gaslighting swamp-bait.
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Well, there it is.  Quietly within the deliberate words from Vice-President Mike Pence a revelation that explains the origination of the Central American invasion force.  For those who are not deep in the geopolitical weeds, the subtlety can pass unnoticed; for those who travel within the deepest international conflicts, Pence’s words here are as subtle as a brick through a window:

[…] “Financed by Venezuela; and sent North to challenge our sovereignty and our border”…

[wpvideo tXWLlFMs]
Announcing the migrant caravan is “financed by Venezuela” is a direct notification the Central American invasion force is being funded by Russia and China.  Venezuela doesn’t have any money to sustain its own operational government – let alone a 10,000 person convoy.  Venezuela is entirely reliant upon massive investment from Russia and China.
In fact China owns 49% of Venezuela’s state run PDVSA energy production. A collateral system where Beijing takes oil as payment for prior loans the Maduro regime cannot pay back.  With the crippling treasury department sanctions President Trump put on Venezuela last year, Trump has punched Maduro and Xi-Jinping hard.
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