The media are full-frontal Trump Derangement Syndrome today, against the backdrop of foreign affairs, exhibiting a rather humorous unwillingness to accept that President Trump has a long-term strategy.

The severity is not necessarily evident in this interview with KT McFarland, but rather in the aggregate of apoplectic punditry. President Trump’s Deputy National Security Advisor, KT McFarland sits down for an exclusive interview with Chris Wallace to discuss if the U.S. can count upon China to leverage North Korea toward non hostile action.

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At approximately the same time Vice-President Mike Pence was in Alaska refueling Air-Force-2 en route to South Korea, the North Korean regime attempted a missile test and failed.

https://t.co/ki6dcVGkdx

— Jamie (@jamieedurann) April 15, 2017

LA TIMES – […]  U.S. Pacific Command said it detected a missile at about 6:20 a.m. Korean time. The device apparently “blew up almost instantly,” Cmdr. Dave Benham, a command spokesman, said in a statement.The type of missile is still unknown, he said. (more)

Defense Sec Mattis said they're "aware of North Korea's most recent unsuccessful missile launch" and "the president has no further comment."

— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) April 16, 2017

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Perhaps it’s because the complexity is difficult to distill; maybe it’s because some just can’t give President Trump any credit; or perhaps it’s because the scope is too challenging to comprehend against the constant belittlement meme du jour.  Regardless of reason, President Trump is fundamentally realigning international geo-political alliances and almost no-one is connecting the dots.

President Trump obviously held a long-ball strategy with the Chinese; he’s described the approach in his books and lived the approach in his business life:

At the outset, position yourself at the furthest oppositional point when it costs you nothing; then leverage inward toward your opponent as they expend their resources to meet your stance.

Almost no-one is noting the scope of what President Trump has accomplished simply by positioning himself at the furthest extreme from the best interests of China, and then working his leverage back toward dual-interests as the Chinese expend capital to meet the point of mutual benefit.

President Trump has expended nothing other than his sheer will, and yet he has leveraged gains that are jaw-droppingly consequential.

♦ What’s the goal of identifying China as a currency manipulator?  To stop China from manipulating currency, right?  Well, arm-chair opposition says President Trump has reversed his position simply by ‘not doing something’.   However, that opposition doesn’t seem to acknowledge the end-goal of the labeling has been achieved without expending an effort.   The doing is unnecessary when merely the threat of the doing changes the behavior of the doer.

In two days, April 6th and April 7th, President Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.  What actions has President Trump taken, other than ‘not’ doing something, and what actions has President Xi Jinping taken? (more…)

BREAKING: North Korea's vice foreign minister tells the AP it will conduct next nuclear test whenever supreme headquarters sees fit.

— The Associated Press (@AP) April 14, 2017

It is important to ignore the loud and panicked voices.  Very deliberate and serious people are dealing with complex issues.  Ignore 99% of what you see/hear in media.

There are very capable people who have a life of experience in dealing with all elements of international leadership.  We have excellent and capable leadership in the U.S. both visible and non-visible.

President Trump and Secretary Tillerson have smartly invested in relationship building around the N-Korean issues. Do not buy into the MSM fear mongering, or worry yourself with dark imaginings.

You might have noticed that China halted coal imports from North Korea, specifically the type of coal used for making steel known as coking coal.   The Chinese decision was made following a meeting between President Trump and President Xi Jingping in Florida.

[…] To make up for the shortfall from North Korea, China has ramped up imports from the United States in an unexpected boon for U.S. President Donald Trump, who has declared he wants to revive his country’s struggling coal sector. (link)

That’s the backdrop for a visit today by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to Western Pennsylvania coal country.  Subtle, like a brick through a window, but still the media won’t discuss it.

SYCAMORE, Pa. – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt visited the Harvey Mine in Sycamore, Pa., today, to meet with coal miners and announce EPA’s Back-to-Basics agenda. The agenda reinforces Administrator Pruitt’s commitment to refocusing EPA on its intended mission, returning power to the states, and creating an environment where jobs can grow.

“What better way to launch EPA’s Back-to-Basics agenda than visiting the hard-working coal miners who help power America. The coal industry was nearly devastated by years of regulatory overreach, but with new direction from President Trump, we are helping to turn things around for these miners and for many other hard working Americans,” said Administrator Pruitt. “Back-to-Basics means returning EPA to its core mission: protecting the environment by engaging with state, local, and tribal partners to create sensible regulations that enhance economic growth.”

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During the February 2016 GOP primary debate candidate Trump told the world what he would do in response to continued North Korean missile aggression –SEE HERE–  In January of 2017 President Trump repeated the message –SEE HERE–

On April 6th and 7th, last week, President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a two day summit discussing trade and North Korea.   The United States and China are the two largest economies in the world.  Now see this:

A fleet of North Korean cargo ships is heading home to the port of Nampo, the majority of it fully laden, after China ordered its trading companies to return coal from the isolated country, shipping data shows.

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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appeared on two Sunday news programs today ABC (Stephanopoulos), and CBS (Dickerson) to describe the seismic foreign policy events of the past week.

The first interview, T-Rex explains the U.S. policy directly to John Dickerson:

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T-Rex outlines the appropriate distribution of responsibility for the chemical weapons attack in Syria.

Metaphor – A dangerously moldy red book keeps reappearing on the boardroom desk (the mid-east).  No-one in the room will take responsibility for its origination. U.S. President Trump walks into the room, picks up the book and angrily, publicly, throws it in the trash.

Trump then looks sternly at the most influential task management in the room (Putin/Assad) and tells them deliberately: ‘if the book reappears they will be held to account’. 

The entire organization (world) watched, and saw, the event.  President Trump has assigned responsibility for the future, and accountability for the consequence.

The second interview delivered the same message. T-Rex appears on ABC with George Stephanopoulos.

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We are seeing a lot of media reports about the U.S.S. Carl Vinson carrier group being re-routed back toward North Korea.

However, stunningly, what we are not seeing is any media pointing out the specific conversation between President Trump and President Xi Jinping about North Korea (as shared by Secretary T-Rex).

First, the latest media report via Reuters:

A U.S. Navy strike group will be moving toward the western Pacific Ocean near the Korean peninsula as a show of force, a U.S. official told Reuters on Saturday, as concerns grow about North Korea’s advancing weapons program.

Earlier this month North Korea tested a liquid-fueled Scud missile which only traveled a fraction of its range.

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Secretary Rex Tillerson delivered very important remarks today in Palm Beach Florida ahead of ongoing discussions with the Chinese delegation and President Xi Jinping meeting with President Donald Trump.

Following the segment by T-Rex outlining the parameters for the meetings today and tomorrow, Tillerson communicated a position of the Trump administration that Syrian leader Bashir Assad should step down from power.

“With the acts that he has taken, it would seem that there would be no rule for [Assad] to govern the Syrian people.

The process by which Assad would leave is something that I think requires and international community effort, both to first defeat ISIS within Syria, to stabilize the Syrian country to avoid further civil war, and then to work collectively with our partners around the world through a political process that would lead to Assad leaving.”

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Neither Secretary Tillserson or President Trump are proposing military action to remove Assad.  However, the remarks by Secretary Tillerson about Syria and Bashir Assad are a shift in approach, and were almost simultaneously communicated by President Trump (albeit with nuance) aboard Air-Force One en route to Palm Beach.   See below: (more…)

Last Thursday Secretary T-Rex was in Japan (below left); Friday he was in South Korea (below right); tonight (tomorrow local) Secretary Tillerson will arrive in China.

During a flight between nations, Secretary Tillerson gave an interview to IJR reporter Erin McPike.  A full audio file has been provided CLICK HERE (will open in separate window) The interview is almost 30 minutes in duration and takes place aboard the flight.

In addition, IJR has posted a transcript of the interview which is AVAILABLE HERE.

I would again strongly urge everyone to ignore the media presentations of the comments from Secretary Tillerson, and instead go directly to the unfiltered source material.
The Audio Interview is very interesting.  Understandably, with the full content available, the DC media and their Deep State partnerships are frustrated and angry about their inability to manipulate the Tillerson narrative.
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