President Trump meets with African leadership and holds a press availability answering questions.  WATCH:

.

(more…)

CNN state media narrative engineers (think State Dept. in all things CNN) are running with a story to promote a new book by Josh Dawsey (Wall Street Journal – Author), Tyler Pager (New York Times – Author), Isaac Arnsdorf (Washington Post – Author) where they write about an audio segment by candidate Trump telling NY donors how he threatened Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping.

The leaked audio is essentially unremarkable as President Trump has told this story several times. However, the background context is more interesting when we consider the motives of the WSJ, NYT and WaPo. Here’s the segment:

The WSJ is against President Trump based on economics; WSJ representing Wall Street. The NYT is against President Trump based on DHS/DOJ domestic opposition from within DC. The WaPo is against President Trump based on the CIA position and larger intelligence community. None of the motives within these outlets are challenged by the intellectually honest political observers.

So, what’s the play here?

(more…)

The Supreme Court has approved a request for intervention by the high court and blocked a lower level court ruling that stopped the Trump administration from reducing the size of government.   In an 8-1 ruling [SEE HERE] with again only Ketanji Brown Jackson in dissent, the court has stayed the lower court ruling.

[Source]

WASHINGTON – […] The Trump administration can move forward with plans to fire tens of thousands of workers across the federal government, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

A judge in California had blocked the layoffs, finding that they would likely violate federal law. But the justices granted an emergency appeal from the administration seeking permission to enforce a Feb. 11 executive order that instructed agencies to carry out dramatic “reductions in force.”

(more…)

President Trump holds an almost two-hour cabinet meeting in front of the media where he and other cabinet secretaries take questions from the assembled press pool in the cabinet room.  Full video below. WATCH:

.

(more…)

I’ll put the entire cabinet meeting in another post.  It is interesting that RFK Jr. was not present (?).

For this outline, let’s focus on the issue that is exploding the MAGA and anti-MAGA universe on social media right now. President Trump and Pam Bondi’s response to a question about Jeffrey Epstein and the controversial DOJ/FBI memo that now states there is no “third party” or “client list” connected to the Epstein sex trafficking.

Obviously, President Trump is not happy with attention focused on the Epstein issues.  The most likely reason for the frustration expressed is simply that President Trump is unaware how much the Epstein issues are -and have been- part of the background focus within the base of his support.  Here’s the segment. WATCH:

First, kudos to Marco Rubio for his stone faced and remarkably unaffected disposition within the exchange.  It takes time and experience to remain stoic at this level.  Exceptional control.

Second, everyone here has a reasonable BS detector – meaning we can tell when a person is not telling the truth.  It is transparently obvious AG Pam Bondi is extremely uncomfortable with the Epstein issue, and her responses indicate she is not being honest or forthright.  You could say, she’s lying; however, the facts of her presentation are a little more complicated.

The main issue around Bondi’s less-than-fulsome response is the motive.  Is she lying because she’s just grossly incompetent about the issue, or is she lying because she is nefarious in her intent.  The Occam’s Razor answer to her obvious parseltongue is a combination of both.

(more…)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a press conference after meeting with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.  As Netanyahu remarked, “President Trump’s decision to act with us …. has made a remarkable change in the Middle East.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu also emphasized the need to “change the government of Gaza” as part of the current objective within the conflict.  Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized repeatedly that President Trump and himself are connected in common purpose. According to the Israeli Prime Minister, the government of the USA and the government of Israel have never been as deeply intertwined as they are at this moment in history.  WATCH:

.

Pay close attention to the tone and emphasis of the remarks from Prime Minister Netanyahu as well as the content.  For Netanyahu there is a domestic political need to stay as close to President Trump as humanly possible, and he is showcasing that intent in every word and inflection.  Netanyahu’s power is directly related to his proximity to Trump.

Benjamin Netanyahu fears distance from President Trump more than any element around him.  Remember, the need for control is a reaction to fear.  Netanyahu will do anything to keep close proximity.

(more…)

The Term-1 effect of deflation created by tariff policy is resurfacing in Term-2 even with larger tariff impacts across the network of global manufacturing exports. [DATA SOURCE]

In essence, there is little to no end result in price increases in the final price of consumer goods (Consumer Price Index). In fact, there is a slight deflationary aspect on CPI data from imported durable goods.  The lower price of arriving imported durable goods is effectively putting downward pressure on US consumer prices.   This is identical to the Term-1 result. A pattern is repeating.   [PCE personal consumption expenditure / CPI consumer price index]

[Source – WH Council of Economic Advisors]

It sounds counterintuitive, but tariffs do not impact the final price of goods to USA consumers; there are just too many factors, too many elements within the Total Cost of Goods (TCG) within supply chain.  Global energy prices, domestic energy prices, currency evaluations and fluctuations, state/govt subsidies to manufacturers, labor negotiations and production profit offsets are only a few of the components.

Additionally, and this is where U.S. consumers do not get a fulsome explanation from corporate media analysts, the tariff rate is applied to the ‘cost’ the exporter pays, not the final consumer price.  A pair of jeans from China may be sold to the import company for $5 per pair. A 30% tariff raises the price of the jeans by $1.50 to $6.50.  The tariff rate does not apply to the retail price of $50 paid by the consumer.

(more…)

President Trump hosts a dinner with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the delegation from Israel.  During his remarks, Prime Minister Netanyahu says he nominated President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize and provides him with a copy of the nomination letter.

The USA side of the table consisted of Mike Huckabee (Ambassador to Israel), John Ratcliffe (CIA Director), Pete Hegseth (Defense Sec) – [TRUMP] – Marco Rubio (State/NSA), Susie Wiles (Trump handler) and Steve Witkoff (emissary).

The closer and tighter Trump hugs, the more strategic his mind is operating.

Sara Netanyahu is there, at dinner. Melania Trump is not.

Benjamin Netanyahu is in the weakest geopolitical position of his career.

Trump is soothing the fears behind Bibi’s nervousness.  Remarkable to watch.

(more…)

President Donald Trump has begun posting the country specific tariff rate announcements on his Truth Social account.

Beginning with Japan and South Korea, President Trump is sending letters to each nation not currently in direct negotiations with the USA.  Japan example below:

Both Japan and South Korea are assigned 25% baseline tariff rates “separate from all Sectoral Tariffs.”  Additionally, if the nation participates in transnational shipping, the rate attempting to be avoided will be applied to the country violating the trade position.

Example:  South Korea (25%) acts as a passthrough for a country with a higher tariff rate like Vietnam, 40%.  If South Korea is caught engaging in transnational shipping then the applied tariff rate on the South Korean goods is 40%.

(more…)

White House Trade and Manufacturing Advisor Peter Navarro talks about how the Fed monetary position is lagging with the intent of Trump’s MAGAnomic policy.  In the short review, Chairman Jerome Powell is approximately 0.50% in rate cuts behind the growth plan of President Trump.

Peter Navarro notes this disconnect is politically motivated when viewed through the window of hindsight.  Navarro is correct.   CTH has been outlining this economic policy and monetary policy disconnect, specifically as it pertains to President Trump’s Main Street focused agenda, for almost a decade {GO DEEP}.

Additionally, in many ways the Trump tariffs are the reverse of decades of ‘exfiltration’ of American wealth. Just as there was a shift when the value of the Wall Street economy surpassed the value of the U.S. Main Street economy, the politicians began responding to their new donors, so too is the Fed reluctant in reverse focus and advance the agenda of Main Street.  WATCH:

Here’s the key – The DC challenges are not overwhelming when you take a non-traditional approach toward finding solutions.

(more…)