REMARKS BY PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP AND NATO SECRETARY GENERAL JENS STOLTENBERG IN JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE

White House East Room

[Transcript] 4:03 P.M. EDT – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you. Secretary General Stoltenberg, it’s a pleasure to welcome you to the White House — especially at such an important moment in our great Alliance.

I also want to acknowledge the great work being done by our Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, to strengthen the NATO Alliance, as well as the Secretary’s trip to Moscow to promote the security interest of the United States and its allies. He did a terrific job. Just watched parts of it — an absolutely terrific job.

Sixty-eight years ago this month, not far from where we are gathered today, President Harry Truman spoke at the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty. In the nearly seven decades since Harry Truman spoke those words, the NATO Alliance has been the bulwark of international peace and security.

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We said yesterday that “Putin flinched“. We were wrong, it was much more than a flinch.

Russian President Vladimir Putin relies upon the appearance of strength for his domestic political influence. What most of the media are missing from today’s visit by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was the duration of time Putin met with T-Rex. Russian State TV provides propaganda the same way U.S. MSM gaslight the grubered U.S. audience.

The meeting was, according to all narratives framed, an “unexpected” audience. This narrative would be funny if the issues were not so consequential.

Russian President Vladimir Putin does not hold two hour “unscheduled” or “unexpected” meetings as as function of some diplomatic protocol or gesture of his magnanimity.

Putin fears T-Rex and Trump.

Bigly.

Important to note China did not back the Russian Veto. President Trump is isolating Russia and stroking panda fur just right. https://t.co/7Wf1JFhKgq

— TheLastRefuge (@TheLastRefuge2) April 12, 2017

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President holds joint press conference with NATO Sec. General Jens Stoltenberg hold a joint press conference in the East Room of the White House on Wednesday, April 12th.
The press conference is scheduled to start at 4:00 pm eastern time.

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Following a lengthy five hour meeting in Moscow with Foreign Minister Lavrov, and following an “unscheduled” meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin, Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson are scheduled to hold a joint press conference at 130pm Wednesday, April 12:

Update – Video Added

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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a lengthy bi-lateral meeting earlier today on the heels of considerable political posturing surrounding the Syrian conflict and Assad’s use of chemical weapons.

Lavrov enters the meeting with a weak hand as the international community has fully supported the approach of U.S. President Donald Trump toward halting Bashar al-Assad’s attacks on his political opposition within Syria.

Gamesmanship and optics are very important to Russian President Putin as his position in Russia is entirely dependent upon his projection of strength.

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Minister Lavrov and President Putin do not yet know how to approach Secretary Tillerson and President Trump because the U.S. administration is now entirely different from their former frame of reference. That unsettled nervousness comes through in Lavrov’s comments and statements.

The weaker player within bilateral diplomacy is always the one using the most words to justify their position. In the transcript below, the “tells” are emphasized by me.

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President Trump and Defense Secretary Mattis both gave almost identical responses today when asked about the future administration policy toward Syria.   Secretary Mattis speaking from the Pentagon stated:

…”I think what we have to look at here is a policy decision by the United States.  There is a limit to what we can do.  And when you look at what happened with this chemical attack we knew that we could not stand passive on this.  But it was not a statement that we could enter full-fledged, full-bore, into the most complex civil war probably waging on the planet at this time.”  (link)

President Trump speaking to the New York Post stated:

(Via New York Post) Amid complaints that his aides are saying different things about Syria and his policy is confusing, President Trump emphatically cleared the air.

“We’re not going into Syria,” he told me yesterday in an exclusive interview. “Our policy is the same — it hasn’t changed. We’re not going into Syria.”

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Earlier today President Trump lead a discussion forum at the State Department library with cabinet members and corporate CEO’s to discuss ongoing economic policy and hear about the challenges.

One of the main challenges communicated by the business group was… wait for it.., yep, ObamaCare.  This concern is directly connected to any tax reform plans, and cuts to the heart of President Trump’s earlier economic strategy.

ObamaCare is, at the core, a massive tax program; and it becomes more difficult to navigate tax reform, with the anchor of ObamaCare dragging down opportunity for economic growth and the revenue growth that accompanies expansion.

[Transcript] 10:55 A.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you all for being here.  Very much appreciate it.  I want to thank Steve Schwarzman for putting together this very incredible group of world-class business leaders.  That’s what you are.

Also, joining us are Secretary Betsy DeVos, Secretary Wilbur Ross, Secretary Elaine Chao, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, and my budget director, Mick Mulvaney.  That’s an easy job.  Where’s Mick?  (Laughter.)  Such an easy job.  It’s the easiest job of anybody in the government — right, Mick?

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Before Donald Trump won the presidency we accepted his approach. Trump enters a battle-space, any battle-space, with adversaries 360° around him; and yet somehow he has them surrounded. As President Trump, this approach continues.

On a scale of 1 to 10 the average person has a sense of internal purpose around level four. People of intense historic consequence generally exhibit a stronger personal drive which pushes their scaled sense of purpose to around a seven.  However, Donald Trump, now President Trump, as exhibited throughout his life’s accomplishments, carries a sense of purpose considerably higher – perhaps the highest in our life time.

During the phase of the industrial revolution the highest captains of Main Street industry were known as “Titans”. The economic Titans accomplished incredible achievements in building and industry.

These giants moved the nation forward. Relentless forward progress. They never stopped moving forward and they carried a resolve so severe they never allowed anything to stand in the way of their purpose driven objectives. National politicians knelt at the desks of these nationalist Titans.

With that established, Wolfmoon1776 provides an explainer:

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According to Russian state media reports President Vladimir Putin has reversed his prior position will meet with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.   This is the first flinch from Putin and highlights his awareness of how weakened his political hand has become.

The Trump administration, led by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, has maneuvered a strong-play (punched Assad, Russia and Iran directly where it hurts) and gathered the support of a massive international audience.

Putin’s intransigence and unwillingness to state publicly that chemical weapons are out-of-bounds, has created his isolation and diminishment. Additionally, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley made Russia’s Deputy Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov look like a disconnected apologist for Assad’s brutality at the emergency U.N meeting.

Prior attempts to play out the optic of the unaffected strong-man (staying away from direct talks with T-Rex), have now collapsed and the political optic reversed.  Secretary Tillerson looms internationally as the tower of moral strength.  Instead of projecting strength President Putin looks weak, cowered and afraid of T-Rex on the international stage.  Hence, it does not come as a surprise to hear Vladimir Putin has reversed his decision:

(Via Daily Mail) Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with Donald Trump’s chief diplomat after all during his stay in Moscow, a Russian television station has reported.

Putin’s spokesman said Monday that the foreign leader did not plan to see Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of state. Tillerson was to meet with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, instead.

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions delivered remarks with Homeland Security Secretary Kelly today at the South-Western U.S. border.   AG Sessions outlined a thunderous change in DOJ policy that begins effective immediately.

… […] “For those that continue to seek improper and illegal entry into this country, be forewarned: This is a new era. This is the Trump era. The lawlessness, the abdication of the duty to enforce our immigration laws and the catch and release practices of old are over.”…

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Here’s the full transcript of Attorney General Sessions remarks to include explanations of the new DOJ policies and judicial procedures.

ATTORNEY GENERAL SESSIONS – “Good morning, everyone. Let me start by thanking the brave men and women of Customs and Border Protection, who not only served as our gracious hosts today, but who put themselves in harm’s way each day to secure our borders and protect us.

Here, along our nation’s southwest border, is ground zero in this fight. Here, under the Arizona sun, ranchers work the land to make an honest living, and law-abiding citizens seek to provide for their families.

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