Moments ago, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick took the oath of office in the Oval Office as delivered by Vice-President JD Vance.
Secretary Lutnick is going to be a very key component in the MAGAnomic agenda, likely second only to President Trump. Just as Wilbur Ross was key to unlocking the economy in President Trump’s first term, so too is Secretary Lutnick going to play a pivotal role.
Long before President Trump won the election, Howard Lutnick was one of the few people who really understood the construct of MAGAnomics, how economic nationalism was crucial, and how the strategic use of tariffs creates massive GDP growth. The swearing-in ceremony is very uplifting, and both President Trump and Secretary Lutnick are very positive about the future.
At 11:38 of the video below, President Trump holds an impromptu press conference. WATCH:
There are some contextual comments from President Trump that are never reported, this is one of those examples. Within these impromptu press remarks aboard Air Force One, President Trump gives context for his current position toward the leadership in Ukraine, and other matters.
The beginning remarks about U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent traveling to Kyiv to meet with President Zelenskyy, and the fact that Zelenskyy refused to meet with him – says quite a lot about the lack of respect the Ukraine president is openly willing to display. Obviously, this is one datapoint that helps explain President Trump’s perspective. WATCH:
When Elon Musk asked how Norm Eisen could be financed, I replied, “If the United States govt gave money to Qatar, knowing Qatar was going to send that money to organizations within the USA intended to carry out an objective of a small group in U.S. govt., what would that be called?”
Qatar is a major source of funding for the Brookings Institute. Brookings funds various Lawfare operations, including Norm Eisen. The extended process is quite simple. If elements within the U.S. Govt., wanted to indirectly fund Brookings, could they do it by sending funds to Qatar?
The question is not supposition, because this was the exact process Hillary Clinton and Leon Panetta used for the State Dept to send weapons to the Libyan “rebels,” aka Operation Zero Footprint.
Operation Zero Footprint was the State Dept/CIA sending funds to Qatar, and the Qatari govt then purchasing missiles from the CIA to give to al-Qaeda affiliates in Libya. We can consider the historic Iran-Contra scandal under a similar framework. However, the nuanced difference is about sending money toward a foreign govt (via USAID), while knowing the money would return to fund a domestic agenda inside the USA.
Example: USAID sends money to the U.K, and then British political allies send political operatives into the USA to support Kamala Harris. We know the latter part of that sentence happened. So, did the Biden administration (Samantha Power) fund the Labour Party operation?
Are the various political NGOs and activist groups in the USA actually funded, indirectly, by U.S. taxpayers? Many signs point to, yes.
Against this high likelihood, it becomes just a natural extension of the process if U.S. politicians are beneficiaries of the circular laundry operation. That is what Representative Tim Burchett believes will surface if the DOGE team follow the money trail. WATCH:
Today, President Donald J Trump signed an executive order triggering the first ever system of “reciprocal trade tariffs,” a seismic change in U.S. trade policy that will also consider the respective nation’s VAT (Value Added Tax) tariff.
Within the executive order [as outlined], the Secretary of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative will consider foreign industry subsidies, and non-monetary tariff barriers as part of the determination of the tariff levied. This is a stunning shift in U.S trade agreements that will cut through all the angles being deployed to avoid U.S. tariffs and block U.S exports into their country.
The policy will pressure foreign nations to lower their trade barriers to U.S. goods and eliminate disparity in foreign trade agreements. One big example will be the impact on the EU through the continuing Marshall Plan. The EU will now face reciprocal tariffs and no longer benefit from one-way tariff acceptance. There are obviously no tariffs on products made inside the USA.
With “reciprocal tariffs” the Commerce Dept and USTR will now determine the trade imbalances with each individual country and will evaluate each FTA (Free Trade Agreement), one-by-one to deconflict the trade imbalance. Direct tariffs, subsidies, regulatory hurdles, non-monetary trade barriers and hidden export subsidies will be addressed as part of the reciprocity evaluation. This is a completely new dynamic in the era of modern global trade and economics.
During the executive order signing event, President Trump took questions from the media. WATCH:
Between now and April 1st, each individual trade agreement will be evaluated with consideration for all facets of the cost for American companies to export to the evaluated nation. Direct tariffs, Value Added Taxes (VAT), state subsidies and non-monetary regulatory tariff barriers, will be determined for each nation. That nation will then be made aware of the tariff against each sector within their export system to the United States.
Effective April 2, 2025, President Trump will then have the tariff data provided by the USTR and Secretary of Commerce. President Trump will determine when the reciprocal tariff will be triggered and will likely engage in discussions with the leaders of the foreign nations.
These fireside chat-style impromptu pressers during executive order signings are awesome. The revolutionary change in government transparency and communication is, well, quite literally historic and stunning. The media can ask questions in real-time as the specific policy is implemented and explained, while simultaneously the ability of the media to shape an anti-Trump policy narrative is removed.
President Trump delivered some rather remarkable filler information today surrounding the phone calls between himself, President Putin and President Zelenskyy. The remarks, which should not be missed, come at the conclusion of the Tulsi Gabbard swearing in ceremony. [09:45 video, prompted]
The first question received was about the Russia v Ukraine conflict and the conversations with Zelenskyy and Putin. President Trump outlined that the first meeting to end the conflict will likely take place between himself and Vladimir Putin in Saudi Arabia as organized through the intermediary, Mohammed Bin Salman (MbS). [11:45]
President Trump noted there was unlikely to be any NATO discussion for Ukraine, and the concession of territory to Russia was generally accepted foregone conclusion. [15:10] Due to the curiously missing Zelenskyy in the response, the media asked if President Trump “sees Ukraine as an equal member in the process.” President Trump responded that it was an interesting question, but ultimately “they have to make peace.” President Trump then noted that eventually, during this ceasefire, Ukraine is going to need to conduct elections. [More than implying that Zelenskyy is irrelevant].
The general response in combination with the previously released statement from Zelenskyy seems to frame a strange dynamic. Zelenskyy never asked Trump to visit Ukraine, and the way President Trump frames the Zelenskyy perspective is as if the Ukranian President is willingly an outside observer without a genuine ability to engage without having to ask another “entity” for permission. WATCH:
The way President Trump outlines the discussion(s) further evidences the suspicions we highlighted before. [SEE HERE] The response to the Ukraine questions extends to around 22:17 of the video, where the subject changes to DOGE. There again, some really interesting remarks from President Trump.
President Trump notes the corruption being outlined is of such a massive number, “billion and billions”, that there is no way these payments do not include kickbacks, likely to politicians. Trump then turns to AG Bondi and remarks that this is something the AG will likely have to look at. “There’s a lot of things to look at Pam.”
Earlier today President Trump and Elon Musk, head of the Dept of Government Efficiency, held a press conference in the oval office to answer questions about the ongoing DOGE review of government.
Elon Musk outlines examples of how the various government agencies spend money without any standard accounting principles that facilitate audits and reviews. In material fact the system of government that Elon Musk and President Trump outline, appears fully designed to generate fraud.
In essence, “waste, fraud and abuse” within government, is a feature of how the government systems are organized, not a flaw. WATCH:
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It is amazing how the media reporters present the structure of their questions to support the waste, fraud and abusive systems within the administration of government as it is outlined. We do not dislike the media enough.
Lawyers representing President Trump and the office of the presidency have filed an urgent response motion to remove a court order by U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer that blocked the Treasury Secretary and “political appointees” from accessing Treasury Department systems. [SEE ADMINISTRATION FILING HERE]
The filing is in response to District Judge Engelmayer’s blatant effort to engage in judicial activism and violate the Article II separation of power. The Chief executive cannot be limited in scope or activity by the judicial branch, let alone a single circuit court judge within the regional judicial branch who is attempting to block the executive branch nationally.
“Basic democratic accountability requires that every executive agency’s work be supervised by politically accountable leadership, who ultimately answer to the president,” Justice Department attorneys wrote in the 11-page filing, calling the order “impermissible” and “anti-constitutional.”
Back in 2023, when few were paying attention to the Defense Department’s inability to pass an audit, Jon Stewart highlighted exactly what happens when you start asking the right questions.
As the Dept of Govt Efficiency (DOGE) begins to engage the massive government agencies, it is well worth reminding ourselves of the institutional mindset that permeates these government silos. The conversations between Jon Steward and Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks takes place at a symposium cohosted by the University of Chicago’s school of public policy.
Below is an excerpt of the larger conversation. This small part shows the hubris of the DoD being questioned about the $850 billion in taxpayer funds that are given to the military. WATCH:
DOGE lead Elon Musk is highlighting this interview today to help people understand the mindset the DOGE team are encountering as they begin to question the spending of various agencies within the federal government.
Former Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks exemplifies the perspective and outlook of the bureaucrats within the federal government. The arrogance and evasion on display are quite remarkable. Now extend this attitude across the broad systems of government, and these are the people in direct opposition to President Trump and Elon Musk.
Before getting to the announcement, let me first answer a repeated question. “Why is it so easy for DOGE to identify wasteful spending?” ..in simple form.
When the trillion-dollar American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was passed, those “shovel ready jobs” in fiscal year 2009, that was the last year of a full federal budget. Every budget year thereafter has been a process of continuing resolutions and omnibus spending. Within the CR process they use “baseline budgeting,” which essentially accepts all prior spending as the starting point for the next spending allotment within the Continuing Resolution process.
That means, the $1 trillion ARRA was not only spent in 2009 (Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi on behalf of Barack Obama), but it was also spent again in ever year thereafter. Without a formally followed federal budget process, every year there is an extra trillion dollars (that’s a thousand billion) injected into federal spending. That accounts for $16 trillion of the current debt. Make sense now?
To be clear, what the DOGE team and U.S Treasury have jointly agreed makes sense is the following:
– Require that all outgoing government payments have a payment categorization code, which is necessary in order to pass financial audits. This is frequently left blank, making audits almost impossible.
– All payments must also include a rationale for the payment in the comment field, which is currently left blank. Importantly, we are not yet applying ANY judgment to this rationale but simply requiring that SOME attempts be made to explain the payment more than NOTHING!
In a stunning and sweeping emergency injunction that has even stunned the people who demanded it, a Manhattan-based District Judge has just removed Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent from his authority over the Treasury Department; blocked any political appointee from accessing records within the Treasury Department; blocked any “special appointee” of President Trump from records within Treasury; and demanded that all information previously extracted be destroyed.
The emergency injunction was signed by District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan, {Ruling pdf Here} determined without any input from the Trump administration and applies until Friday, February 14, 2025, when U.S. District Judge Jeannette A. Vargas will hear the full arguments of the lawsuit.
The emergency ruling comes as a result of 15 (Soros installed) attorneys general from New Jersey, New York, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Rhode Island, and Vermont, all filed suit in New York seeking to block Elon Musk and DOGE from access to information that would reveal how activist groups in their states have been funded by the U.S. government. [Link to Press Release Here]
WASHINGTON – […] The lawsuit said Musk and his team could disrupt federal funding for health clinics, preschools, climate initiatives, and other programs, and that Republican President Donald Trump could use the information to further his political agenda.
DOGE’s access to the system also “poses huge cybersecurity risks that put vast amounts of funding for the States and their residents in peril,” the state attorneys general said. They sought a temporary restraining order blocking DOGE’s access.
