An interesting article in the Washington Times poses a possibility of President Trump holding a deconfliction summit with North Korea –SEE HERE– And that begs a question of whether or not it’s actually plausible. I would state unequivocally yes, and here’s why.
If you have followed the foreign policy pattern of President Trump you immediately recognize he does not restrain himself to DC political customs or DC political norms. Indeed as Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi optimistically noted, President Trump can accomplish many things because he brings a unique perspective to the world of policy and diplomatic engagement. Later repeating: “He Can Do The Impossible“.

Additionally since we originally outlined the likely scenario for a restart of the ‘six party talks‘ (China, South Korea, Russia, Japan and the U.S.), on August 13th, there has been some visible activity providing further evidence toward that end.
•Japan (Shinzo Abe) has stated they have “great confidence” in President Trump’s Asian national security approach. •South Korea (President Moon Jae-in) has stated they are “confident there will not be war again on the Korean peninsular“; •and they are willing to send a special envoy to North Korea to begin talks. •In addition, China has quietly removed the 71-year-old veteran diplomat, Wu Dawei, from the position of negotiator toward the DPRK, and replaced him with 58-year-old Kong Xuanyou. Kong is a long time Chinese diplomat in charge of Asian affairs and he speaks Korean.
All of this generally under-reported diplomatic activity has taken place within the past week while the American media was busy pushing Charlottesville narratives.  But more importantly this activity took place while President Trump directed USTR Lighthizer to begin a section 301 trade investigation into China.  POTUS Trump is ramping up the pressure on Chinese President Xi Jinping, but more specifically this action targets Beijing’s communist old guard who control both their economy and the DPRK behavior.
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President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump and Barron Trump depart New Jersey and arrive back in Washington DC following a working vacation during renovations to the White House and Oval Office.

The USS Fitzgerald collided with a merchant vessel in June of this year killing seven members of her crew.  Unfortunately today the USS John S McCain has also collides with a merchant vessel; details unknown.
Update 10:00pm EDT: Unfortunately it appears there are numerous injuries and missing sailors:

“Ten sailors were missing after a Navy destroyer collided with a merchant ship east of the Singapore and Malacca Straits, authorities said Sunday.   Five sailors were injured in the collision between the USS John S. McCain and the merchant vessel, a 30,000-ton chemical and oil tanker, the Navy said in a statement.
A Navy spokesman told NBC News the incident was being treated as an accident. (link)

Original Press release from Pacific Command 7th Fleet Operations:

SOUTH CHINA SEA – The guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) was involved in a collision with the merchant vessel Alnic MC while underway east of Singapore and the Strait of Malacca on Aug. 21.

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Earlier in the day Defense Secretary James Mattis announced President Donald Trump has made a decision on the United States’ strategy for Afghanistan after a “sufficiently rigorous” review process.   The White House announced a few hours later that President Trump will deliver a prime-time address on the issue:

BRIDGEWATER, N.J./WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump will lay out his long-awaited U.S. strategy for the war in Afghanistan in a prime-time television address to the American people on Monday night, the White House said on Sunday, with a modest increase in U.S. troops possible.
A White House statement said Trump’s 9 p.m. (0100 GMT Tuesday) speech from Fort Myer, Virginia, near Washington, would “provide an update on the path forward for America’s engagement in Afghanistan and South Asia.”  (read more)

Angela Merkel is essentially the de-facto global head of modern political liberalism.  The central tenet, almost religious-based in its importance, is the lunacy within “climate change”.  However, as most reasonable people have concluded, the ‘climate discussions’ are more about controlled global economics than any actual concerns about planetary climatology.   Bottom line, it’s the economics that really matter beyond all else.
Backdrop – The day after President Trump announced his decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Treaty, the German auto-sector immediately responded with a statement.  We see the immediate admission that ‘climate’ is simply a tool to shape global economics within that reactionary auto industry statement (emphasis mine):

(Via Reuters) […] “The regrettable announcement by the USA makes it inevitable that Europe must facilitate a cost efficient and economically feasible climate policy to remain internationally competitive,” Matthias Wissmann, president of the German auto industry lobby group VDA, said in a statement on Friday.

“The preservation of our competitive position is the precondition for successful climate protection. This correlation is often underestimated,” Wissmann said, adding that the decision by the Unites States was disappointing. (link)

As clearly stated, when push comes to shove German sensibilities are connected more to their economics than to any do-gooder need to save the planet.  This reality, in combination with upcoming German elections, sets the stage for Angela Merkel’s statement today, three months later: (more…)

It’s all connected.  The “Big Ugly” is underway.  Intellectually honest people know the CEO boards and advisory council members were on the White House team to shape and protect their collective stakes in the upcoming America First economic trade reset.  Nothing more.
The intents of the prior participants were to protect their interests, period. There was no ideological American altruism within any of the motives.   Globalists, multinationals and the participating leaders, who make their livelihoods on globalist economic expansion, were simply protecting their interests.  Fortunately for the livelihood of the American middle-class they ran into economic granite, the Monolith that is Donald Trump.  Faced with the futility of their self-interested endeavor, they exit under false pretense.  C-Ya.
With NAFTA ongoing, and freed from the original concern about undermining America-First MAGAnomics by domestic industrial leadership, which was the entire premise of assembling them in the first place; in conjunction with Big Panda telling their bag-man in the DPRK to stand down, President Trump now positioned to fire-at-will:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States on Friday formally launched an investigation into China’s alleged theft of U.S. intellectual property, a widely expected move following a call from President Donald Trump earlier this week to determine whether a probe was needed.
The probe is the administration’s first direct measure against Chinese trade practices, which the White House and U.S. business groups say are bruising American industry.

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Obviously there’s an awakening happening throughout the U.S. body politic.  Proof of that awakening is President Donald Trump.  CTH has long held the belief that with information, simple information, the awakening will continue.  However, the MSM have a vested interest in keeping ‘simple truth’s‘ wrapped up on complicated linguistics.
Complication serves their interests.

That said, and against the backdrop of the Atlanta Federal Reserve saying the U.S. GDP is on pace for third quarter growth at 4.0 percent. Here’s a reference point to showcase how much the American electorate have been subjected to economic gaslighting by the media.
The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is simply the sum total of all goods and services made, manufactured and delivered in the U.S.A. minus the total value of our imported goods.
When considering economic growth, you may have heard that 4.0 percent or higher GDP growth is impossible.  Allow me to remove the gaslighting from that claim.
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NAFTA negotiations enter day #4 today.  The final Round 1 summary day is tomorrow, Sunday.   Information as to specifics is hard to find.  Much of the ongoing negotiation is clouded in secrecy.
However, that said, one of CTH mouses (with wolverine teeth) shares a negotiation aspect that drew a great deal of conseternation from the Mexico and Canada side.
The issue revolves around government contracts, specifically U.S. federal contracts for goods and services.  President Trump has initiated a “Buy American, Hire American” policy for government contracts; meaning if the U.S. government has to spend money for a product or service, it should be spent on acquisition of American products made by American workers.
Mexico and Canada want access to these lucrative contracts.  President Trump’s “America First” procurement process is against their interest.  Canada is especially upset about this dynamic.  Canada wants to be able to bid on U.S. Federal Government contracts; and Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland referred to the buy-local rules as “poor public policy.”
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This is one of those paradigm shift CTH predictions that many people scoffed at back in 2015/2016 when we discussed a Trump federal budget, and how Washington DC politicians would respond to a president who actually planned to cut spending.  Back in February we warned:

[…] The UniParty is going to fight hard, very hard, to retain their spending. Don’t be surprised to see GOPe “conservatives” demanding President Trump spend more money. We have been repeating this warning since he announced his bid for the presidency in 2015. (link)

Today’s headline reads “Fears Grow That Trump Could Ignore Congress on Spending“. Traditional thinking, at first glance of the headline, would be the President might ignore budgetary levels and spend more than he should. However, in reality, the paradigm shift is the exact opposite.  DC is worried that President Trump won’t spend enough money.
Let that sink in for a minute.
THAT’S a prime example of: A.) evidence of the DC UniParty; and, B.) how ridiculously dysfunctional and broken the federal budgetary and spending process has become.  DC lawmakers are now consulting attorneys and planning to sue the President and force him to spend money.

WASHINGTON – Lawmakers and activists are preparing for the possibility that President Donald Trump’s administration, in its zeal to slash the federal budget, will take the rare step of deliberately not spending all the money Congress gives it — a move sure to trigger legal and political battles.

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“It can’t be done”, they said. “There’s no way Trump can achieve 4.0% economic growth” they said.  The Congressional Budget Office said economic projections were “improbable”, they said….  “Impossible”, they said.
Yeah, well, Donald Trump said: “Impossible is just the starting point“.  And now:

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. economy is on track to expand at a 4.0 percent annualized pace in the third quarter with inventory investment contributing 1.12 percentage points to growth, the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDP Now forecast model showed on Thursday. (read more)

How is this possible?  Well, if you’ve never had to wash your hands with Lava – it might seem impossible.  For those who have washed with Lava, it’s simple common sense.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, is the growth in value of all goods and services produced within the economy over a specified period of time.  A key part of that equation is the sum total of exported goods minus imported goods is part of the measure.  Only the stuff created in the U.S. increases the growth dynamic.  If you import more, the GDP shrinks.  It’s simple arithmetic.
If you grow exports, and maintain a constant on imported products, the net lowering of the trade deficit adds to GDP growth. It’s not a hard equation.  If our economy is making more stuff, our economy is growing.
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