President Trump travels to Rome Georgia today to deliver remarks on the economy from Coosa Steel Corporation. The anticipated start time is 4:00pm ET. Livestream Links Below.
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Secretary Marco Rubio went out of his way in this joint presser to emphasize the personal relationship between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and U.S. President Donald Trump. Orban is facing a serious election challenge this April and all of the EU/NATO systems are actively trying to create pressure points to remove him.
Secretary Marco Rubio is in Budapest today for meetings with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his government to include the signing of a civilian-nuclear cooperation agreement heralded by the Trump administration. Hungary is one of the few voices within the European Union who is pushing back against Brussels efforts to go to war against Russia.
Prime Minister Orban has been very critical of Ukraine, openly stating his opposition to EU membership for the embattled country. In response President Zelenskyy has weaponized Ukraine’s geographical stewardship of oil and gas pipelines to shut down Hungarian energy and drive-up prices. VIDEO:
[Transcript] – MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. May I extend my most cordial welcome to all of you, and may I extend my most special welcome to His Excellency Mr. Marco Rubio, Secretary of State of the United States of America, at the press conference and signing ceremony organized on the occasion of his visit to Hungary. Let me also extend my warm welcome to Mr. Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary, members of the U.S. and Hungarian delegations, and all our esteemed guests.
At today’s event, the agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Hungary to facilitate cooperation on the civilian nuclear program in Hungary will be signed. The signatories to the agreement on behalf of the United States of America, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and on behalf of Hungary, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Mr. Peter Szijjarto.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio took a different path on his European visit than Brussels wanted to see. After his time at the Munich Security Conference, Rubio headed to Slovakia and Hungary for conversations with the two nations who are not at all in alignment with Brussels leadership on the issue of Ukraine.
UPDATE: Better video and Transcript Added
Rubio speaks very bluntly on the topics that are of key concern to Prime Minister Robert Fico, including the topic of energy which is a major problem for both Slovakia and Hungary right now. Toward the end of the presser, the very last response by Fico [44:20 of video] is very interesting.
Prime Minister Fico directly claims that Ukraine is purposefully withholding oil and gas from pipelines that travel from Russia through Ukraine, into Slovakia. Fico notes he is not going to blame either Ukraine or Russia for previously detonations at the oil refinery and transport hub, but he is very sure Ukraine is purposefully withholding energy products from Hungary as blackmail until Hungary changes their position on Ukraine achieving status in the European Union.
You can tell from the way Fico presents the subject and from the prior points of Rubio this hot button issue is why Fico flew to Mar-a-Lago a few weeks ago for a talk with President Trump. WATCH:
MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Please, welcome to our press conference after mutual meeting of the Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico and Secretary of State of the U.S. Marco Rubio. So, Prime Minister, please, you have the word.
PRIME MINISTER FICO: Thank you. (Via interpreter) Dear Secretary of State, dear Marco Rubio, please allow me to welcome you once again – you and your whole delegation – to Bratislava and our office of the Government of the Slovak Republic. Dear ladies, dear gentlemen, we had a shared, short tete-a-tete meeting with the Secretary of State, and then we had delegations’ discussion when we went into details, where we discussed topics that are the point of our today’s meeting. I’ll try to briefly sum up the conclusions of our discussions, be it in Four Eyes or, let’s say, in our meeting of delegations.
First of all, I deeply appreciate the fact that this visit comes quickly after our meeting in Florida, where I had a chance to speak with the President of the United States Donald Trump with Mr. Rubio being present. So, it’s a great follow-up and great country, nation. And after a short while when we met in Florida, we could discuss how much we achieved during those few weeks about topics we discussed.
The Obama-Biden administration couldn’t get the votes needed in Congress to amend the Clean Air Act and regulate “greenhouse gases.” So, they both decided to ignore the law and create trillions in regulatory costs on the American people.
As noted by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, “The Trump Admin is proudly following the law, saving $1.3 TRILLION for the American people, lowering new car costs by over $2,400 per vehicle, and getting rid of the climate participation trophy for manufacturers to install Obama Switches that shut vehicles off at red lights and stop signs.” WATCH:
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Media questions begin at 19:31.
The headline is the reality of the thing.
In order to make themselves feel better, the European Union is now banning the EU countries from purchasing discounted Russian oil and gas directly. Instead, the EU will force their assembly to purchase Russian oil and gas from India at a premium. The EU is still buying Russian oil and gas; however, paying more, they believe, will work out better for them in the long-term. Go figure.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola made the announcement via X:
The actual target of this oil and gas ban is the nation of Hungary, who as a landlocked nation is dependent on the gas from Russia. The EU ban expressly hurts the position of Hungary because Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has refused to kneel to the dictates of Brussels.
Prime Minister Orban has vowed to sue the European Parliament over the ban. The lawsuit will likely be supported by other EU countries who understand the stupidity of paying India for what amounts to a brokerage fee to deliver the same oil and gas.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, and Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever held a joint press conference at the North Sea Summit in Hamburg. During the pontificating EU session much anxiety was expressed about the Kingdom of Denmark’s ownership of Greenland and their position to use NATO leverage to remain sovereign to their interests.
During question-and-answer session about EU energy, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen then said this about the position of overall European energy dependence. WATCH:
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Prime Minister Fredericksen couldn’t quite bring herself to say Trump was right; however, the reality of her statement proved that President Donald Trump was right. Imagine that.
Yes, at the introduction to President Trump the business assembly of WEF leadership they actually thanked Trump and said President Trump has forced the assembly to stop pretending. It must be the art of the deal, folks.
Following the introduction President Trump told the assembly of business leaders there was no need to repeat his prepared remarks and instead spoke off-the-cuff, giving thanks and praise to the audience specific to his intents and purposes. During his impromptu remarks President Trump highlighted leadership in the audience and drew attention to their organizations and business interests. WATCH:
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Last week President Donald Trump officially announced the members of the Gaza Board of Peace; an organization headed by President Trump and tasked to oversee the second phase of his plan to end the Israeli conflict in Gaza, specifically the reconstruction and disarmament of Gaza and Hamas respectively. [SEE HERE]
The members of the “Board of Peace,” chaired by Trump himself, includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio; Emissary Steve Witkoff; Jared Kushner; former British Prime Minister Tony Blair; an American-Jewish billionaire named Mark Rowan; World Bank President Ajay Banga; and Deputy National Security Advisor of the United States, Robert Gabriel. President/Chairman Donald Trump has also appointed Aryeh Lightstone and Josh Gruenbaum as senior advisors to the Board of Peace.
At the same time, President Trump announced another executive body that would operate under the Peace Council to assist with the facilitation of a new Palestinian government, the “Gaza Executive Board.” This structure is intended to manage day to day events on the ground instead of a Hamas loyalist govt. The appointees to the executive board have upset the Netanyahu government of Israel.
According to the White House announcement, the Gaza Executive Board will include: Witkoff; Kushner; Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan; senior Qatari official Ali al-Thawadi; Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad; Tony Blair; billionaire Mark Rowan; UAE Minister Reem Al Hashimi; former Bulgarian Foreign and Defense Minister Nickolay Mladenov, who also served as the UN envoy for the Middle East peace process; U.N Representative Sigrid Kagg, and Israeli-Cypriot businessman Yakir Gabbay, who specializes in real estate, technology and international investments.
Additionally, to establish security, preserve peace, and establish a durable terror-free environment, Major General Jasper Jeffers has been appointed Commander of the International Stabilization Force (ISF), where he will lead security operations, support comprehensive demilitarization, and enable the safe delivery of humanitarian aid and reconstruction materials. [link]
According to Israeli media Netanyahu is not happy, and planning to protest the Turkish, Qatari and UAE appointments to Marco Rubio (not Trump):
Germany has a severe electricity shortage and cost problem, and it’s getting worse.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz recently made the admission that shutting down the German nuclear power reactors was a “severe strategic mistake.”
“To have acceptable market prices for energy production again, we would have to permanently subsidize energy prices from the federal budget,” Merz said, adding: “We can’t do this in the long run.”
“So, we are now undertaking the most expensive energy transition in the entire world,” Merz said with pronounced frustration. “I know of no other country that makes things so expensive and difficult as Germany.”
Keep in mind, Germany represents the largest contributing economy in the European Union. The German industrial sector is the backbone of the European economic model.
All of these realities paint a very tenuous picture for the economic future in Europe, when combined with a new trade relationship with the USA, increasingly cheap goods dumped into the EU by China and the EU promising to continue spending on the war effort in Ukraine against Russia.
I am not wrong!
We have researched, tracked, measured and followed each detail.
Having travelled to regions of the world in discussions with people who factually determine economic outcomes, it is clear that every single policy shift undertaken by the Canadian government of Mark Carney is exactly the opposite of what is needed. In the next 24 months, the lifestyle of every Canadian will forever change.
Prime Minister Mark Carney bows to Big Panda. The most alarming words spoken during the formal welcome ceremony are prompted below. WATCH: “The New World Order”
Too many words; too small a man.
President Trump is reestablishing an entirely new economic, trade and finance system. The era of the Marshal Plan is over; it has been factually deconstructed in the past 12 months.
Canadians and Europeans are desperately trying to offset the ramifications, hold on to their economic benefits and find a new mechanism to afford the domestic indulgences now eliminated by President Trump and the absence of money.
Both the EU and Canada are looking to China and ASEAN partnerships as a financial offset. However, the ASEAN group has no domestic wealth and can only provide one-way benefits.
Despite the reality of things, denial is rampant. Here are three facts that will not change.