There’s a lot of news this week reflecting a great deal of oppositional alignment against the presidency of Donald Trump. CTH can get down in the weeds of each specific issue to discuss the motives and intents (we will, and do), but the big picture MUST remain at the forefront of understanding. If we lose track of the big picture, the weeds are overwhelming.

…“It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institution and merely lukewarm defenders in those who gain by the new ones.”
~ Niccolò Machiavelli

♦POTUS Trump is disrupting the global order of things in order to protect and preserve the shrinking interests of the U.S. middle-class.  He is fighting, almost single-handed, at the threshold of the abyss. Our interests, our position, is zero-sum; if POTUS Trump fails, there will never be another available route to confront the Big Club.
President Trump’s aggregate opposition seeks to repel and retain the status-quo. They were on the cusp of full economic control over the U.S. just before candidate Trump snatched away their victory.  There are trillions at stake. They won’t make that mistake again.
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United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin concluded the second round of trade negotiations in China with a meeting with Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping and Vice Premier Liu He.
Both teams are working on a way-point memo of understanding (MOU). Talks will continue. Both sides extending diplomatic courtesies and presenting an optimistic face.

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[White House]  This week, at the direction of President Donald J. Trump, officials from the United States traveled to Beijing to continue negotiations on the trade relationship between the United States and China. On the United States side, the talks were led by Ambassador Robert E. Lighthizer, the United States Trade Representative, and the Honorable Steven T. Mnuchin, the Secretary of the Treasury.
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Attorney General William Barr quietly took the oath of office in the oval office today with Chief Justice John Roberts administering and officiating the swearing in. [link]

With the introduction of a fully empowered and confirmed U.S. Attorney General there is likely to be a great deal of speculation about how AG Barr will interact with the seditious conspiracy scandal known collectively as ‘spygate’.
No doubt the tick-tock-boom club will sell more books with declarations of soon to be announced indictments, grand juries, etc. However, as with all political horse trading in DC, the reality of accountability usually falls far away from headline predictions.
Attorney General Barr will be navigating a myriad of high-powered political interests through his office at the Justice Department.
If we presume William Barr is not intending to cover-up for the gross misconduct of the DOJ and FBI, which is a considerable presumption, it will be worth watching how the two camps, Team Obama and Team Clinton, react to the shifted DOJ landscape.
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the latest consumer price information today which shows overall low inflation at 1.6 percent (with energy price deflation, and flat food prices).
Excluding food and energy costs the total CPI remains low at 2.2%.   This low inflation is the exact opposite of what financial media were predicting when President Trump began the series of import tariffs in 2017, which continued throughout last year.

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When President Trump began the tariffs against global Steel and Aluminum imports; and when President Trump began the first set of tariffs against Chinese imports; almost all financial media went into fits of apoplexy claiming we would see massive increases in prices.   Reality shows their doomsday predictions were completely over-hyped.
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Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Robert Lighthizer are currently leading another round of trade negotiations in China.  Recent reporting indicates the U.S. team will meet with Chairman Xi Jinping at the conclusion of this round of discussions.

At the conclusion of the previous round of discussions in Washington DC, President Trump invited the Chinese delegation to the Oval Office. The surface panda-face diplomacy appears to be based on reciprocity; however, there is no indication President Trump and Chairman Xi are making any efforts for a meeting.

BEIJING – China’s President Xi Jinping “is scheduled to meet” key members of the US trade talks delegation, including US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, in Beijing on Friday, according to sources close to the matter.

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al-Qaeda is at the functional military end of the Muslim Brotherhood spectrum.  The Muslim Brotherhood is the umbrella political face for multiple factions of radical Islam.
al-Qaeda’s representative to congress, Ilhan Omar (AQ-MN), was given a seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Earlier today al-Qaeda’s rep had a heated exchange with Elliot Abrams, the U.S. special envoy to Venezuela.
The visual of al-Qaeda seated under the capitol dome of the U.S. congress is quite stunning. Watching al-Qaeda directly question U.S. officials from the dais of a congressional committee is something I never thought we would see. Quite remarkable:

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Earlier today U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump welcomed Colombia President Iván Duque Márquez and First Lady Ruiz Sandoval to the White House for an official state visit.
The continuing crisis in neighboring Venezuela was the primary focus for both presidents during the visit.

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is traveling through central Europe as part of the ongoing Trump administration outreach to genuine U.S. geopolitical allies who are often diminished by the larger economies within the EU.  [Follow the Photo-Journal Here]
While in Budapest, Hungary, Secretary Pompeo participates in a joint press availability with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto. The political and national values carried by the U.S., via President Trump, and Hungary, via PM Orban are in alignment.

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[Transcript] MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Distinguished secretary and minister, distinguished under secretaries, deputy secretaries, dear guests: Heartfelt welcome to all of you at the press conference of Their Excellencies Peter Szijjarto, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Secretary of State Michael Richard Pompeo. First of all, may I ask His Excellency Mr. Peter Szijjarto to deliver his speech.
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President Donald Trump Trump begins 2019 with a massive MAGA rally at the El Paso County Coliseum in El Paso, TX.   At this first rally of the year, President Trump is expected to reiterate his pragmatic proposal for a border security wall while Democrats simultaneously campaign against border security and advocate for open-borders.
The anticipated start time is 7:00pm MST / 9:00pm EST with pre-rally speakers and events ongoing.
UPDATE: Video Added

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The democrat political apparatus, supported by Speaker Pelosi, is committed to the removal of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as part of their agenda.  However, the elimination of ICE is not supported by the majority of Americans, so the democrats are using a stealth maneuver to accomplish their goal.
As part of their position on border security negotiations democrats are trying to insert limits or caps on the number of detainees ICE can hold. Former ICE Director Tom Homan explains how 30,000 criminal aliens would have to be released from detention if Democrats get their way.  WATCH:

“I’ve been saying for almost a year that I don’t think they’re ever going to accomplish the abolish ICE that they’ve been saying they’re going to do. But I’ve been saying what they’re going to do is bankrupt ICE to make them ineffective. They’ll take their money away so they can’t do their job.”
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