President Trump delivered remarks today to the Iowa GOP during a dinner fundraising event in West Des Moines.

(more…)

Yesterday Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held a press conference to answer questions about the U.S-Mexicos migration and border security agreement. After reviewing some info from today, I’m inserting a graphic into Pompeo’s transcribed responses to better understand the “45 days” aspect. [Video and Transcript]

.
[Transcript – (emphasis mine)] SECRETARY POMPEO: A couple things this afternoon. First, I’ll give some remarks later this week that are consistent with what we’ve been working on for my entire time here in the Indo-Pacific.
I’ll be speaking to a group of Indian business leaders in preparation for the trip that I’ll take in a couple weeks where I’ll be visiting India, an important part of President Trump’s strategy in the Indo-Pacific. And I’m looking forward to the opportunity both to give the set of remarks about how it is our relationship is so closely tied economically, but also importantly the things that the United States and India can continue to do to build out what is an incredibly important relationship for both countries.
(more…)

There’s always a larger geopolitical dynamic when you assess the economic alliances that President Trump puts together…. Always and underlying plan…  Sometimes it just takes time to surface.
As we have noted, even going back to 2017, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe always appeared to be the fulcrum for President Trump’s Indo-Pacific strategy.  

Remember the trip to Japan as honored guests of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako at the Imperial Palace?  Remember last month’s (May 25th) unprecedented reception with the titans of Japanese business?  Remember the private reception set up by a very nervous U.S. Ambassador William F. Hagerty?  A reception with the most influential business CEO’s in Japan and Southeast Asia? 
Well…

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Tokyo Electron, the world’s No.3 supplier of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, will not supply to Chinese clients blacklisted by Washington, a senior company executive told Reuters.
The decision shows how Washington’s effort to bar sales of technology to Chinese firms, including Huawei Technologies, is ensnaring non-American firms that are not obliged to follow U.S. law.

(more…)

President Trump travels to Iowa today to deliver a policy speech on renewable energy.  The remarks are taking place at Southwest IA Renewable Energy in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Later this evening President Trump will deliver remarks at the Republican Party of Iowa annual dinner.  Start time for the energy speech approximately 4:20pm EST:
UPDATE: Video Added

(more…)

Chopper pressers are the best pressers.  Departing the White House for an energy policy speech in Iowa, President Trump stops to take questions from the assembled media pool.
UPDATE: Video and Transcript Added

.
[Transcript] – 12:35 P.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. This group gets bigger and bigger. This is a big group by any standard. This is like the Academy Awards used to be before they went political. Now nobody cares.
But a great honor to be with you. We’re doing very well. Mexico is doing a great job at the border, really helping us. We want the Democrats to help us as much as Mexico. And we’ll have absolutely no problem at the border. We’ll clean it up very quickly.
(more…)

Do not overlook the importance of President Donald Trump publicly calling out the largest DC lobbyist group, and epicenter of Big Club corruption earlier today.  During a widely discussed CNBC interview today President Trump landed two torpedoes directly below the waterline on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The U.S. CoC is the largest influence purchaser in Washington DC, and the benefactor of dozens of the highest politicians in both the House and Senate.  The Wall Street funded CoC, and their President Tom Donohue, was already frustrated at their inability to influence President Trump and White House economic/trade policy.  President Trump is now confronting their self-serving politics directly.
The CoC is the lead U.S. member of the multinational ‘Big Club’, and has driven policies directly against Main Street USA for three decades.  Until now no modern U.S. President has ever been willing, or fearless enough, to take them on…. ‘until now’.  A few days ago the U.S. CoC threatened to sue President Trump over countervailing tariffs.
Today, President Trump hit back hard; this is an excellent development.
(more…)

Earlier today President Trump welcomed Indy-500 winning team Penske to the White House, along with winning driver Simon Pagenaud.  [Video and Transcript]

.
[Transcript] THE PRESIDENT: Hi, everybody. (Applause.) Congratulations. (Applause.)
Thank you very much. It’s a great honor to introduce the winner of the Indianapolis 500, Simon Pagenaud. And he is an incredible racer. I happened to be watching that one because my friend is somewhat involved with racing. As you know, Roger Penske is — there’s never been anybody like him, I can really say.
(more…)

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary, aka “JOLTS report“, lags behind monthly employment reports by a month as the ‘hires‘ and ‘quits‘ are contrast against available job openings.
In the latest JOLTS report we find evidence why the May employment numbers were less than expected. The data shows the economy is expanding; businesses are hiring; and the reason for lower new hires has nothing to do with an economic slow-down. In essence, the labor market is tight, very tight, and Main Street businesses are having a hard time finding qualified workers.

According to the BLS stats overall job hiring in April was 5.9 million. That’s the largest number of people hired in the history of the JOLTS record-keeping (started in 2000). There are 7.45 million current job openings and only 5.82 million workers identified as unemployed. That means there are 1.63 million more jobs than available workers.
This is a clear indication expanding economic conditions and a near ‘full-employment‘ position for the overall labor market. Additionally the quits rate is 2.3 percent, reflecting that workers are: (a) being recruited away from current employment to jump to other businesses; and (b) worker are confident about getting a job, and jumping into new jobs for higher wages/benefits. As a result, the strong ‘quits’ rate has historically been a precursor KPI for future wage growth stats.
(more…)

Today the House Judiciary Committee led by Chairman Jerry Nadler officially begins the House Impeachment Hearings.  Yes, these are impeachment hearings; they are just being presented under other names in an effort by Democrats to avoid the political fallout from holding impeachment hearings. They’ll get away with it because: (1) U.S. media are on their team; and (2) Leadership Republicans are idiots (and many also on the ‘D’ team).
The hearings will be broadcast live and -by design- carried on most media outlets. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Chairman Jerry Nadler, having planned the approach for several months, name their impeachment kick-off event:

“Lessons from the Mueller Report: Presidential Obstruction and Other Crimes”

.
[John Dean Testimonial embed below].
(more…)

Earlier this morning President Donald Trump called in to CNBC to discuss a variety of subjects including: the ongoing trade negotiations with China; the threat of tariffs on Mexico over illegal immigration; the federal reserve; the status of the economy; the duplicity of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; collusion by democrats; the upcoming G20 summit in Japan, and much, much, more.
During the interview President Trump directly calls out the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for their anti-American position and self-interested advocacy for Wall Street multinational corporations. Additionally, President Trump pushes back against the claim that tariffs lead to higher U.S. prices, citing examples of China subsidizing their exports and low U.S. inflation.  Must Watch:

.

(LOL… POTUS Trump chomping-at-the-bit to get tariffs on the EU.)

(more…)