There is a considerable amount of visible internet and social media angst surrounding the National Security Council and staffing decisions made by National Security Advisor HR McMaster.   CTH has no insight into the inner workings of disagreements within the current NSC, however, with a modest amount of both skepticism and cynicism the current level of alarm appears over indulged.

Within any work group there’s going to be differences of opinion.  Within any national security working group there’s going to be ideological differences of opinion.  The issues are important and very complex.  The differences should never be dismissed or marginalized in their potential consequence.  That said, it’s not the differences of opinion that present problems – it’s when those differences become entrenched in opposition to the reason for the groups primary function.  That’s when differences become problems.
Consider the foreign policy proposals, and worldviews therein, of candidate Donald Trump and candidate Ted Cruz.  Now think about taking the foreign policy/NatSec principals from both candidate camps, and the outlooks carried therein, and put them into the same council chamber to hammer out papers of recommended action toward policy.
Can you see the structure for an underlying problem?  Now overlay the ideological interests of the institutional military with a healthy dose of both deep state and religious (centered principle outlook) career ideology, and you’ve got a recipe for disagreement.  Well, that’s essentially what I see when reviewing various media reports of internal group conflict points. (more…)

Today Secretary of State Rex Tillerson highlighted events over the past six months.  T-Rex takes another stroll around the globe discussing regional policy, specific state policy, and ongoing challenges.  Secretary Tillerson then takes questions from the media at the conclusion of his remarks.
Very informative. Very well worth watching (T-Rex Begins at 03:40):

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[*Note* We’ll capture and share transcript as soon as possible.]
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Almost no-one has watched Paul Ryan, Kevin McCarthy, Eric Cantor, John Boehner AND republican leadership of the House Freedom Caucus admit they intentionally hide their support for amnesty and immigration reform because they know the electorate doesn’t support it.  Yet it’s right there on camera: video showing exactly that. –SEE HERE–
The video is highly controlled by PBS and Frontline (legal), and in my opinion tightly controlled because PBS fully understands what would happen if the story of republicans in that video reached the larger awareness of U.S. voters. –The Last Hour is Critical–
There is only one political party in Washington DC.  There are two wings, but only one political and ideological apparatus.  An accurate frame of reference for watching this border wall video released today from Paul Ryan is only possible with the understanding from that FrontLine video in 2014.  What you see below is 100% political manipulation:

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House Speaker Paul Ryan is attempting to pull off the Alex Castellanos strategy through the utilization of political policy; it’s a strategy the UniParty uses effectively.
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Arriving at Joint Base Andrews President Trump gives brief remarks on the firing of Reince Priebus and the replacement with John Kelly as Chief-of-Staff.

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At 1:45am on July 28th 2017, Republican Senator John McCain together with Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins voted against the ObamaCare repeal in the Senate; ensuring the failing ObamaCare health care takeover and economic drag continues.
This should not come as a surprise.  McCain has a legacy of voting against the American people to the benefit of his corrupt legislative corporate handlers.  Yet, the vote was still blood-boiling in ramification and consequence.
Additionally, it should be noted for an accurate record that Nevada Republican Senator Dean Heller delayed his own roll call vote, skipped his name when called, until he was able to see that McCain cast the vote against America.
When Heller was safe – as in: able to hide his malicious intent and vote “aye” at the conclusion of the roll- he gave the appearance of support.  A very typical albeit Machiavellian maneuver, customarily subtle and historically utilized by Senator Ted Cruz with few paying attention.
Senator McCain’s vote holds much larger ramifications than just the continuance of ObamaCare.  Inherent within the retention is a reality that any tax reform, tax cuts to benefit the middle-class, will also necessarily be diminished.
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When President Trump made his initial remarks reflecting disappointment in Attorney General Jeff Sessions it was initially unnerving.  The subsequent fallout from the public criticism has united the NeverTrump crowd, Cruzbots and professionally GOPe, to defend the honor of the much beloved former Senator.   The opportunity to bash Trump is simply an ancillary benefit.
Conversely, the MAGA community has largely portrayed the rift as if the Presidential critique was part of a larger strategy between the President and Attorney General. If we wait long enough some mysterious master plan is eventually to be discovered.
However, the subsequent POTUS tweets and comments do not indicate any joint strategy at all.  What they do actually show is a genuine disappointment and frustration with the focus of Jeff Sessions; and the cabinet member’s apparent unwillingness to confront the corruption within the DOJ and by extension the larger DC swamp.
It is not accidental the frustration and disappointment surface as the various opposition groups to the Trump presidency begin to target the entire Trump family.   Despite some opinion to the contrary, Donald Trump does have a nuclear trigger point; target his family and you’ll find it quick.  Just ask anyone who has known him for any substantive amount of time.
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David Mamet famously said (paraphrased): ‘when questioned on policy and consequence, in order to avoid the conflict within their ideological message, modern liberals will always pretend not to know things.’
In today’s audio/visual example we find top national democrat leadership pretending not to know their rebranding message, “A Better Deal“, is nothing short of an almost identical policy platform created by the current President, Donald Trump. A policy platform they are committed to blocking.
You just can’t make this stuff up folks.

“We Haz Plans“

Seriously, it took months of carefully poll tested review of each specific point to create the agenda that Democrats hope will help them win election in 2018. However, if you look at the substance of their “Better Deal” proposals a person cannot help but find themselves feeling deja vu, all over again.
The platform includes: •a $15 minimum wage (economically inadvisable and already having devastating consequences in local areas of enactment), •a $1 trillion infrastructure plan (hey, isn’t that Trump’s idea?), •new trade laws more beneficial to American workers (wait, what, yup, Trump again?), •and a plan to engage in job training and national apprenticeship initiatives (yup, more Trump). Heck, if they throw in a modern Glass-Stegall they can just call it “Trump’s Better Deal 2.0”, or something.
What makes the entire exercise intensely ludicrous is the amount of energy, effort and execution they put into the roll-out:
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Looks like the suspicions many people had were correct.
It was announced tonight that Senator John McCain is diagnosed with Primary Glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.
It appears from the reporting the initial operation removed cancerous tissue (a tumor), not necessarily a ‘blood clot’ as originally reported, and clear margins were achieved.  Unfortunately this type of cancer can quickly spread to the brain stem where the primary function of respiration can become quickly affected.

(CNN) – Sen. John McCain, 80, has been diagnosed with a primary glioblastoma, a type of brain tumor, Mayo Clinic doctors directly involved in the senator’s care told CNN exclusively. The doctors spoke directly to CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

The senator underwent surgery to remove a blood clot on Friday at Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix. Lab results from that surgery confirmed the presence of brain cancer associated with the blood clot.

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Earlier in the year President Trump established a commission to review U.S. election integrity.  Earlier today the first meeting of that Commission on Providing Election Integrity took place.
The meeting video is below which begins with remarks by Vice-President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump. (A Transcript follows):

[Transcript] 11:28 A.M. EDT – THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, good morning. Please be seated. On behalf of the First Family, welcome to the White House. And welcome to the inaugural meeting of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.
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Various senators deliver remarks following the collapse of their ability to reform and replace ObamaCare with any alternative.  Beginning with the controlled opposition position of Rand Paul and continuing with Mitch McConnell and the Senate GOP leadership (at 15:00 of video).

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What these insufferable politicians well understand is that any substantive tax reform will necessarily also be compromised by the flawed dynamics inside ObamaCare. That will have a negative downstream impact on any hope for economic growth. However, they are not stupid – they know this – that is their unified UniParty goal.
The increasing taxpayer costs to keep big government ObamaCare operational, for non-taxpaying medicaid recipients, means the middle-class is once again sacrificed at the altar of the Big Club.
American workers on the individual market will not only see increased insurance rates, but their income tax rates will also be higher as the need to subsidize the lower-income non-working group (medicaid) remains.
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