♦Last week Vice President Mike Pence visited Japan, China, South Korea, Indonesia and Australia.  One of the primary topics was North Korea.  ♦Yesterday (April 23rd), President Trump followed up on Pence’s visit with personal phone calls to China’s President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe; again, the topic was North Korea:

“The two leaders reaffirmed the urgency of the threat posed by North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs, and committed to strengthen coordination in achieving the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” (link)

♦Today (April 24th), U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley brings the U.N. Security Council to the White House for lunch with President Trump.  The President spoke of the need for the U.N. to fulfill its original charter. ♦On Wednesday (April 26th), President Trump has invited all U.S. Senators to the White House for a classified briefing on North Korea.

♦On Friday (April 28th), U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will be traveling to the U.N. to speak to the Security Council personally: (more…)

One of President Trump’s greatest strengths is his keen instincts for developing relationships as a strategic tools toward accomplishing consequential objectives. To wit, President Trump invites the entire U.N. Security Council delegation to lunch at the White House.

Now, most of us, myself included, do not think highly of the United Nations as an entity that has ever accomplished anything of worth – beyond pushing an incessant drum-beat of left-wing globalism and ridiculous pie-in-the-sky pontificating.

However, that said, the historic invitation to lunch is quite smartly full-throated use of regional political proximity.  President Trump inviting the U.N Security Council ambassadors to the White House is something Vladimir Putin, or any other leader of consequence, cannot recreate.  The Ambassadors themselves acted more like a group of valedictorian school kids on an outing to where the really important people live.

Important leverage is created through personality, nuance, outline of expectations, proximity and exposure to real power. This is far beyond the mere wordy pontificating power of the attendee’s familiarity, this is structurally deploying leverage of consequence to change paradigms.

[TRANSCRIPT] 11:50 A.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT:  This is a very, very important and powerful group of people, and it’s really wonderful to have you with us.  And I have to say, welcome to the White House.  It’s a privilege to have all of the ambassadors and their spouses.

You know, they were going to leave out the spouses, and I said, you must bring your spouses.  (Laughter.)  You know, I heard there were a lot of very angry spouses — (laughter) — and this is their first time to the White House.  So it’s a great honor to those of you that brought your wife or spouse.

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The multinational corporate media are taking no chances this time in their efforts to frame a narrative preferable to their outcome in the French election.  This time they are being proactive:

(Story Here)

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A very unusual report from Reuters announces the White House has extended an invitation for the entire U.S. Senate to come to the White House for a policy and security briefing on North Korea.  The briefing is scheduled for 3pm Wednesday:

(Via Reuters) Top Trump administration officials will hold a rare briefing on Wednesday at the White House for the entire U.S. Senate on the situation in North Korea, senior Senate aides said on Monday.

All 100 senators have been asked to the White House for the briefing by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the aides said.

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The collective EU, and every like-minded multi-cultural entity within leftist media together with the Obama globalist operatives, are now laying a path of rose petals for their wunderkind Emmanuel Macron.

If you seek a reference point for the narrative over the next two weeks simply remind yourself how Barack Obama was elected in 2008.  It will be an absolutely identical playbook.

Emmanuel Macron, a 39-year-old who has never held elected office and is married to his former grade school teacher (24-years his elder), is being heralded as the second coming of the halo-clad unicorn-riding progressive lightbringer Emperor Obama as Macron strides boldly up the gilded staircase toward the purchased French Presidency.

Funny call readout from Secretary Tillerson’s office today.  The last paragraph is extraordinarily blunt (emphasis mine):

[Dept. of State] Secretary Tillerson phoned Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko today to discuss his recent trip to Moscow and his message to the Russian leadership that, although the United States is interested in improving relations with Russia, Russia’s actions in eastern Ukraine remain an obstacle. The Secretary emphasized the importance of Ukraine’s continued progress on reform and combating corruption.

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AP Provides the full transcript from Friday’s interview with President Donald Trump. It’s a lengthy read, and if you are familiar with President Trump’s interview cadence it’s much more understandable.

(Via AP) A transcript of an Oval Office interview Friday with President Donald Trump by AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace. Where the audio recording of the interview is unclear, ellipses or a notation that the recording was unintelligible are used.

AP: I do want to talk to you about the 100 days.

TRUMP: Good.

AP: I want to ask a few questions on some topics that are happening toward the end of the interview.

TRUMP: Did you see Aya (Hijazi, an Egyptian-American charity worker who had been detained in the country for nearly three years) …

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President Trump’s White House Chief of Staff, Reince Priebus, appears on Meet the Pus with Chuck Toad to discuss The Swamp.

Swamp topics include the administrations’ first 100 days, the imminent risk of a government shutdown, the budget battle, the southern border wall, health care, Marine Le Pen, and President Trump visits to Mar-a-Lago.

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The Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly sits down for an interview with John King’s ex-wife Dana Bash.  The primary topic was border security;

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions appeared on This Week with former Clinton White House staff George Stephanopoulos to discuss current political events. Attorney General Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary Kelly spent three days this past week touring the Southern U.S. Border and listening to border patrol officers:

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