Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent appears on CBS’s Face the Nation for an inflation and affordability debate with narrative engineer Margaret Brennan.

The primary narrative can be seen in Brennan’s emphasis of the new democrat catch phrase “affordability.”  Having gaslit the American electorate over the issues of Joe Biden’s economic/energy policy which created record inflation, the same media who ran cover for Joe Biden have switched during the Trump administration to calling the subsequent high costs an “affordability” crisis.

In essence, Biden’s economic, energy and monetary policies drove 2021/2022 inflation to record levels, this made all prices rise massively.  Those high prices are now the “affordability problem.”  WATCH:

[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: Good morning and welcome to ‘Face The Nation.’ We have a lot of news to get to, and we begin with the Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent. Good to have you here.

TREASURY SECRETARY SCOTT BESSENT: Morning, Margaret.

SEC. BESSENT: Mr. Secretary, a lot of people are out there holiday shopping. Here is how the President described back in April, what to expect from this season.

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Tucker Carlson is attending a conference in Doha along with a series of U.S. and EU political pundits and people within the geopolitical world including Donald Trump Jr.  This conference has people like Mark Levin and Laura Loomer going bananas as the Qatar vs Israel influence operation reaches new political levels of antagonism.

In the interview below Tucker Carlson is interviewing Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on the Israel–Gaza war, U.S. foreign policy toward Israel, Qatar’s long and ongoing role in mediation with Hamas, and the surge of propaganda targeting Doha.

The discussion includes how various administrations have asked Qatar for assistance, and the issue of Israel attacking Qatar amid the active peace talks. Tucker Carlson also tackles the issue of U.S. voices calling him a propagandist for Qatar head on.  WATCH:

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As previously noted, Donald Trump Jr also attended the Doha, Qatar, conference.  His remarks are below.

The Qatar vs Israel influence battle, seems to be -essentially- the JD Vance vs Ron DeSantis pre-battle and influence operation.  I’ll keep watching it unfold, because the transparency of the objectives is interesting.

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President Trump’s 2025 National Security Strategy is outlined in a detailed 33-page report.

In addition to setting the priorities for the United States focus, the report details the Trump administration perspective on the world as broken down into specific regions.  The report is a brutally honest review of the current state of geopolitical benefits, risks and threats as they pertain to vital U.S. interests.

[Full pdf Here]

In addition to outlining a critically renewed focus on the Western Hemisphere, the Trump administration also notes the practical position of Europe, as it pertains to NATO and dependency on the U.S.A.

In a brutally honest review of the situation, the Trump administration notes Europe is increasingly losing their own identity.  The fear the Europeans express about being vulnerable to Russian strength is hypocritical, in the sense that in practical outcomes the EU is purposefully weakening itself and simultaneously demanding assistance against their own weakness.

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If we read between the lines in the latest update from President Trump emissary Steve Witkoff, we can clearly see the negotiations have entered into that critical phase where payments to all of the stakeholders will determine a successful outcome.

Pragmatic people have long predicted the ultimate solution to the bloodshed will only be determined once western interests get to the point where negotiators propose a long-term plan for continued financial benefit.  Too many people, “stakeholders” are making money from the conflict.

From a western perspective, support for the Ukraine conflict is based on money. Therefore, the solution to the conflict requires a system where the western opportunity for financial benefit continues.

Written in polite diplomatic terms, the continued payments are identified as “the prosperity agenda which aims to support Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction, joint U.S.–Ukraine economic initiatives, and long-term recovery projects.” This is codespeak for the U.S. Senate and EU will retain a financial mechanism to exploit for personal benefit.

From the language it appears that Witkoff and Kusher are confident they can construct a financial reward system for western banks, investors, politicians and Ukraine officials that will retain the benefits of war without the ancillary ingredient of bloodshed.

If the U.S. delegation can pull this off, then Russia can gain the territory they want, corrupt Ukraine officials can keep skimming investment money, the EU can retain the power it wants to extract financial payments, American politicians can use the “long-term recovery projects” for money laundering and quasi-public/private investment banks can benefit from the exploitation of Ukraine resources.

Again, from a ‘western geopolitical perspective’, the territorial issues, security guarantees, EU membership status and the position of NATO are downstream details once the larger payment system is organized.  Put another way, they are down to the stuff that really matters, the money.

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The European Union has fined the X social media platform (formerly Twitter), owned by Elon Musk and his investment group, $140 million (usd) for violations of the EU Digital Services Act.  The decision by the EU is likely to create even more friction between President Trump and the European Union.  However, this problem is not difficult to solve.

The collective government within the EU accuse Elon Musk and X of permitting misinformation, disinformation and malinformation to appear on the platform.

The European DSA is ultimately designed to control information, that reality should not be debated. All efforts to control traditional and social media are efforts to control information.

The specifics of the reasoning for the fine are typically European.  (1) Twitter allows ordinary people to deliver information at the same level as people who should be defined as more important.  (2)  Advertisers of those who pay for promotion of information on X are not easily identifiable – people need to figure it out on their own.  (3)  It is too difficult to figure out who is providing the information.

Basically, all of the EU concerns center around information control.  It’s really an ideology issue.  In the outlook of the EU, bureaucrats and elites feel they are superior and must rule/protect the people under them.  Ordinary people having access to information that may or may not be approved by the EU is the underlying issue.

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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Paris talking to Emmanuel Macron last weekend while Rubio, Witkoff and Kushner were meeting with Ukraine officials in Florida.  This telephone call is reported to have taken place the following day, on Monday.

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy together with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and European Council President António Costa held a conference call.

A transcript of the call was leaked to Spiegel, a German news outlet. According to the narrative the assembled group of EU leaders were discussing how the Trump administration was going to betray Ukraine in order to get a peace deal with Russia. The gist of the narrative sounds accurate, though some of the EU leaders are denying the specifics of the wording used.

EUROPE – “There is a possibility that the U.S. will betray Ukraine on the issue of territory without clarity on security guarantees,” Macron said, according to Spiegel, adding there was “a great danger” for Zelenskyy. The Élysée did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment. Spiegel reported the Élysée denied in a statement to the German outlet that Macron spoke of any betrayal. “The president did not use those words,” Macron’s office said, per Spiegel.

Merz chimed in that Zelenskyy had to be “extremely careful in the coming days.”

“They are playing games, both with you and with us,” Merz said, seemingly referring to Washington’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner — the son-in-law of American President Donald Trump — who spent five hours locked in talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.

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The authority for the United States government to capture the electronic records of all Americans without warrant falls under the auspices of FISA-702.  The current authority expires in April of 2026.

Some administrative state defenders will argue this issue with me. However, having researched almost every aspect to the construct, and the argument, I am confident FISA-702 authority underpins the much bigger, quasi-constitutional justification for the wholesale collection of U.S. citizen metadata.  Without the 702 authority, the legal justification for the apparatus of surveillance no longer exists.  It really is that simple.

That said, there remains ZERO justification for the wholesale capture of U.S. citizen data by the government. It is not the searching of the database that presents the issue; the capture itself violates the Fourth Amendment.

The only way the government can justify the capture of U.S. Citizen data is if there is some quasi-constitutional or national security reason for it.  That’s where FISA-702 comes in.

Take away “702” search authority, and the data collection argument collapses; ANY “incidental” search of the database then loses any plausible legal justification.  702 is the camel’s nose under the tent that forms the baseline for all data records to be intercepted, stored and ultimately available for review.

This is a very key component to fully understand.  Most practical applications of surveillance are contingent upon the capture of electronic records for tracking.  Ex. – if domestic travel records are considered private papers (never argued yet), then government agencies have no right to exploit them without a valid search warrant underpinned by a national security justification.  The government, not private sector – government, tracking people becomes more difficult if privacy rules are applied.

The legal aspect runs through the 4th Amendment, which -while historically undefined in the modern era- likely stirs in the background of the recent TSA decision to provide a $45 opt-out, for the use of REAL ID in domestic transit (interstate commerce application notwithstanding).

The Fourth Amendment aspect to the ‘warrantless’ government capture of American citizen records has never been fully argued in court; the modern definitions are opaque, and the govt has a vested interest in retaining the untested status quo.

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In an effort to return common sense, practicality and affordability to the American consumer base for automobiles, President Trump announced the elimination of Joe Biden’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for manufactured cars and trucks.

Under the auspices of the “Green New Deal”, the Biden administration mandated ridiculous quotas for EVs and demanded lower power combustible engines, or pay a climate change tax. These CAFE standards resulted in a surcharge for large vehicles, large engine autos and SUVs, and essentially bifurcated the auto consumer into those who could afford to pay for efficiency and stability, and those who could not.

“We’re officially terminating Joe Biden’s ridiculously burdensome, horrible actually, CAFE standards that impose expensive restrictions and all sorts of problems, gave all sorts of problems to automakers,” President Trump announced from the Oval Office. “It put tremendous upward pressure on car prices, combined with the insane electric vehicle mandate. Biden’s burdensome regulations helped cause the price of cars to soar more than 25%,” President Trump said. WATCH:

(Via White House) – DELIVERING A WIN FOR AMERICAN FAMILIES AND AUTOMAKERS: Today, President Donald J. Trump is delivering major relief to American families by resetting the Biden Administration’s costly and unlawful Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards.

President Trump is returning CAFE standards to levels that can actually be met with conventional gasoline and diesel vehicles. The Biden Administration standards imposed unrealistic fuel economy targets that effectively resulted in an electric vehicle (EV) mandate.

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Two weeks ago, the seditious six congressional members began framing an op against the Trump administration under the auspices of military “defying illegal orders.”  In the past few days, the same “illegal order” narrative has been used against Secretary Pete Hegseth; these two structured and timed sequence events are not disconnected.

The leftists and deep state IC are running a color revolution operation inside the USA.  The first step in all color revolutions is to undermine the legitimacy and authority of the elected national leader; this is exactly what the seditious six are doing.

This version of the color revolution is not dissimilar to the Lawfare approach; however, this is using the Intelligence Community and Det of War as the impetus and target for the destabilization effort.  The objective is the same, to delegitimize the administration of Trump and create purposeful crisis. WATCH:

While it is unnerving to watch this unfold, it is important to remember the #1 way to counteract the efforts of those who participate in the effort is to retain support for the intended target, President Trump.  On the positive side, there is a very large percentage of the American people who can see right through these efforts now.

[Transcript] – KRISTEN WELKER: It’s wonderful to have you back after a really significant week. And I do want to start with the National Guard shooting. You, of course, served in uniform. You know firsthand the impact, the devastation of gun violence. We just heard Secretary Noem defend President Trump’s decision to, quote, “permanently pause migration from all third-world countries.” What is your response to how President Trump is handling this?

SEN. MARK KELLY:

Well, let me start by saying what happened to the two guardsmen, Andrew Wolfe, Sarah Beckstrom, horrific. And it shouldn’t happen. And I’m praying for him and for her family. It was a horrible, horrible thing. And there needs to be an investigation and accountability. But when I heard the secretary say that they’re going to pause immigration from third-world countries, I mean, I take that as a message that they don’t want brown people coming to the United States. And I find that disturbing. We are a country that has always welcomed individuals that are struggling, that are fleeing famine and violence. And it would be a fundamental change to the fabric of our nation to change that.

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No other world leader can do this.

[Source]

12 Hours Later…..

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