I’ve said this before, and it really does deserve some emphasis today.  The professional republican political class, the entire industry that is financially dependent on the mechanics of republican politics, really do think the average American is dumb.   Don’t forget that.

Suffice to say we have people, contractors and vendors, who funnel information to us from behind enemy lines.  Nothing has made them angrier in the past several months that the article I wrote last night outlining the mindset in their conference room and specifically the brand image consultants around this recent exhibition.

…”Let’s put Mama Grizzlies, Duck Dynasty and Melania’s stilettos into the brand”…  Brilliant! 😂

I’m sorry, it’s not very polite of me to laugh uncontrollably thinking of a big mad Casey yelling at Ken Cuccinelli while Ron feels awkward – but I just cannot stop laughing.  “Curse you villain,” lol – life is too short not to keep snickering all day.

On a more serious note, the point of this article is to remind everyone the “professionals” in the GOPe consultant class really do think we are stupid.  That’s not a disposable generic line, it is really how they feel, and it exhibits in everything they do.  The modern republican consultancy has become a caricature of itself, and everything they do only makes the issue more transparent.

Dear Lord, please forgive my horrible trespasses, but it’s like Donald Trump threw them a bag of Chinese finger-traps and stupidly their team started to play with them just moments before the volleyball game broke out.  Team DeSantis is on the court with their hands stuck together, and the audience is in hysterics, me included.  Gawd, my ribs hurt.

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There’s a lot of background discussion about this latest issue created by Elon Musk signing a pledge to support the socialist (communist) economic enterprise systems under the control of the Chinese Communist Party.

Most of the current discussion is focused on the weak ideological ‘free-market and democratic’ commitment exhibited by Musk’s adherence to the rules and dictates of the Chinese state.  However, I’m staying far outside the esoteric and nuanced implication of this.  The reality is much simpler.

Elon Musk is in a dire financial situation; he cannot afford to be high-minded and ideologically connected to free-speech and free-enterprise right now (if he ever was).

The Musk empire is in a very weak financial position; these decisions made, while China is holding such financial leverage over him, are made without option.  Ironically, Twitter is banned in China. lolol

(Via Daily Mail) – […]  Elon Musk’s Tesla was the only foreign company in the lineup of 15 other automakers to sign the letter.  Part of Musk’s pledge was a promise to support China’s ‘core socialist values’ and bear ‘the heavy responsibility of maintaining steady growth.’ 

The automakers also agreed not to ‘exaggerate or use false publicity and disrupt fair competition with abnormal pricing,’ according to Bloomberg. 

China accounts for one third of Tesla’s annual sales, reports the FT. The communist country is Tesla’s second-largest market after the U.S. and the Shanghai plant is the electric car maker’s largest production hub. 

Yaqiu Wang, senior China researcher with Human Rights Watch, criticized Musk’s moves, telling the FT: ‘Failing to comply with ‘core socialist values’ has been frequently used by authorities to punish speeches that are critical of the Chinese government.’  (read more)

Once you strap onto the ride with the dragon, you don’t get off until the ride’s over.

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The Netherlanders are a rather dramatic sort, organizing their system of governance on coalitions of various shades that agree to high-minded pleasantries as a way to remain above the fray of pesky conflict.  Alas, once a moment of core and consequential disagreement reaches an impasse, the entire Dutch government is said to “collapse.”

The Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte traveled to Tunisa earlier this year, together with EU leaders, pledging €1 billion in assistance if the North African gatekeepers could just stop the flow.  The effort didn’t work, and his small country of 18 million, already dealing with major internal conflict driven by farmers and climate change, could not cope with the toxic political challenge of increased unlawful migration.

Associated Press – The ruling Dutch coalition collapsed Friday after tense talks among the four parties in Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s ruling bloc failed to broker a deal over ways to rein in migration, a senior politician said. 

Henk Kamp, a senior member of Rutte’s People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy told Dutch television: “It is a great shame that the government has now fallen.” The failure of months of talks on the thorny issue could now force a general election. 

Rutte’s Cabinet gathered late Friday in a hastily scheduled meeting. “We talked for a long time, we are coming here tonight because we did not succeed,” Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren told reporters as she walked into the Cabinet meeting.

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Earlier today President Trump kicked off a new coalition of Farmers for Trump in Council Bluffs, Iowa {Direct Rumble Link}.

While much of the first segment of the speech covers topics of significant importance to farming and agriculture, President Trump also expanded his remarks to cover current political events. WATCH:

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As if carrying Homeowners insurance in California and Florida wasn’t already subject to ridiculous increases in premiums, things are about to get a lot worse.

Effective with the July 1st notification, Reinsurance rates, these are companies who insure the insurance companies, are telling their clients there will be up to a 50% increase in cost for underwriting catastrophic coverage.  Perhaps claims in the past few years have been higher; however, I suspect the issue amid the reinsurers is partly connected to the issue that surrounds banks and bond rates.

Back when interest rates were near zero, banks and reinsurers likely scooped up lots of Treasuries and bonds. As the Federal Reserve hikes rates those bonds have declined in value. When interest rates rise, newly issued bonds start paying higher returns to investors, which makes the older bonds with lower rates less attractive/valuable. The result is that most banks, and I suspect big reinsurance houses, have some amount of unrealized losses on their books.

Whatever the reason, the big reinsurance companies are now telling the insurance carriers their catastrophe rates are going up as high as 50%.  Those insurance companies will then pass those rate hikes to the individual policy holders for commercial buildings, residential homes, cars, RV’s etc.  Bottom line, homeowner insurance rates are about to go up again with policy renewals, especially in Florida and California.

LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) – U.S. property catastrophe reinsurance rates rose by as much as 50% at a key July 1 renewal date, broker Gallagher Re said in a report on Monday, with states such as California and Florida increasingly hit by wildfires and hurricanes.

Reinsurers insure insurance companies, and have been raising rates in recent years because of steepening losses, which industry players put down in part to the impact of climate change. Higher reinsurance rates can affect the premiums which insurers charge to their customers.

U.S. reinsurance rates for policies which previously faced claims for natural catastrophes rose 30-50%, Gallagher Re said.

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New analysis of the long-term impact from Section 301 tariffs triggered by President Trump against China, shows just how consequential economic nationalism can become.

Our own analysis of U.S. consumer prices in 2019 showed that prices of imported goods actually declined despite the tariffs. A recent report from CPA takes a look at the impact to Chinese exports to the U.S.  [SEE DATA HERE] Bottom line, the tariffs worked to reduce Chinese imports.

CPA – […] Since the Section 301 tariffs were imposed, the share of imports from China has steadily declined from 21.6% in 2017 the year prior to the tariffs to 16.5%, a decline of 5.1%. No other country has lost as much share of total U.S. import penetration over the past five years.

In terms of total import value, Mexico gained the most from the tariffs, adding $110.8 billion. Vietnam gained the second most in import value by $78.4 billion and by far gained the most of total share of U.S. imports. In 2017, Vietnam accounted for about 2% of U.S. imports at $46.5 billion. In 2022, the U.S. imported $127.5 billion in goods from Vietnam, and the share of the total nearly doubled to 3.9%. Other countries in Southeast Asia such as Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia all saw significant increases in their value of imports by the U.S. (read more)

With the leading opponent to President Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, not supporting tariffs on behalf of the multinationals and Club for Growth donors who stand behind him, it’s worth revisiting the actual outcome to American consumers to dispel the popular myths about tariffs raising prices here at home.

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Joe Biden reads his response to the Supreme Court decision that blocked the executive branch from permanently eliminating student debt without an act of Congress.

In his defense of the smackdown by SCOTUS, Biden conflates his unilateral student loan giveaway with the legislatively authorized PPP program.  One is from executive fiat, the other from legislative assembly; see the difference?   Yes Joe, if you wanted it to be legit, you needed an act of Congress.

Additionally, notice how Biden lies about what the PPP program was. PPP was a program to subsidize and support the payroll expenses of shut down small businesses – keeping small business workers with a paycheck -not replacing the business’s operational income.  Video and Transcript Below – WATCH:

[Transcript] … This program was all set to begin.  The website had been set up.  The applications had been simplified so that it took less than five minutes to complete.  Notices had been sent out to people about the relief they were eligible for.  Sixteen million people — sixteen million people had already been approved.  The money was literally about to go out the door. 

And then, Republican elected officials and special interests stepped in.  They said no — “no” — literally snatching from the hands of millions of Americans thousands of dollars in student debt relief that was about to change their lives. 

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The larger story behind this recent Intercept Article is the headline you just read. Let’s talk….

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a representative organization in the United States that lobbies Congress.

The CoC represent the interests of the multinational corporations who use K-Street and J-Street in DC to write rules, regulations, policies and laws as part of their corporate control over U.S. wealth.  That’s what the CoC does.  That’s the entire purpose of the Chamber of Commerce.

For a long time, the CoC has been in the background of multiple political discussions.

During the Obama administration, the federal Dept of Commerce permitted the private sector U.S. Chamber of Commerce to write U.S. trade language; that is to physically write the words that go into U.S. trade deals with other countries.  This was the era of maximum value for the CoC that saw their coffers swell as massive multinational corps realized the CoC was in the business of literally controlling the U.S. capitalist economy.

The arch nemesis of the CoC was President Donald Trump, who threw the CoC out of the room when decisions were being made about trade and economic policy.  This was the era of minimum value for the CoC, when corporations were no longer getting to influence the policy.

In desperate response the CoC turned to their purchased politicians in Congress, specifically to their #1 ally Mitch McConnell, and asked or help in overcoming the problem that Trump and his America First agenda represented.

As MAGA (America First) economic and trade influence in Congress increased, the CoC had trouble because President Trump could target any Republican CoC beneficiaries that undermined the economic policy.  That could result in a career ending primary challenge.  For the first time in decades, the Republican wing of the UniParty had a tough time supporting Chamber President Tom Donohue in his demands for influence.

What happened next was stunning.

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As Anheuser Busch continues supporting alphabet “pride” and transgender grooming rallies around the nation, the sales of their products continue declining. However, that did not stop the marketing and advertising sector from awarding “creative marketer of the year” to Anheuser Busch at Cannes Lions, which is dubbed the “Oscars for the advertising industry.”

[New York Post] – Sales of Bud Light suffered their steepest weekly drop yet since the beer brand launched its disastrous tie-up with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney, according to the latest data.

In the week ending June 17, sales of the Anheuser-Busch brand fell by an eye-popping 28.5% versus a year ago, according to the most recent sales figures issued by Bump Williams Consulting and NielsenIQ.

That eclipses last week’s 26.8% decline, which beat the previous week’s fall of 24.4%.

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This is the big one.  The Economic Policy is the distinct and singular policy at the core of Make America Great Again.  The MAGA coalition is centered around the principles of America First economics, and Ron DeSantis has just admitted he does not support them.

CTH has long warned about Ron DeSantis’ economic policy being driven by the donors who fund him.  When he was in congress, DeSantis voted in support of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) for President Obama, and DeSantis voted in support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement (TPP).

These are the trade policies supported by the Club for Growth who was congressman DeSantis’ biggest funder.  The Club for Growth also held the pre-announcement donor fundraiser in February of this year in support of DeSantis ’24.

The Wall Street billionaire, hedge fund, multinational corporate alliance, that assembles at Sea Island and funds Ron DeSantis, are fully against America First trade and economic policies.  DeSantis has just made an admission of his alignment with that corporate “globalist” outlook to a private confab of donors in California.

The DeSantis campaign is in full panic and retreat mode now that his establishment position is exposed.  The statements during the secret meeting were leaked.

[CALIFORNIA] […] The Republican snuck in and out of the Coalinga landmark undetected by the public nor the media, by design. He flew in and out of the nearby Coalinga airport, ushered to the back loading docks by unmarked Fresno County Sheriff’s vehicles.

The Central Valley lunch stop for 60 donors — paying $3,300 — was in between a breakfast event in Sacramento, and an evening in southern California.  The only indication that something special was going on was a “private event” sign. Most of the questions for the security guard related to the location of the restrooms.

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