There is a considerable amount of visible internet and social media angst surrounding the National Security Council and staffing decisions made by National Security Advisor HR McMaster.   CTH has no insight into the inner workings of disagreements within the current NSC, however, with a modest amount of both skepticism and cynicism the current level of alarm appears over indulged.

Within any work group there’s going to be differences of opinion.  Within any national security working group there’s going to be ideological differences of opinion.  The issues are important and very complex.  The differences should never be dismissed or marginalized in their potential consequence.  That said, it’s not the differences of opinion that present problems – it’s when those differences become entrenched in opposition to the reason for the groups primary function.  That’s when differences become problems.
Consider the foreign policy proposals, and worldviews therein, of candidate Donald Trump and candidate Ted Cruz.  Now think about taking the foreign policy/NatSec principals from both candidate camps, and the outlooks carried therein, and put them into the same council chamber to hammer out papers of recommended action toward policy.
Can you see the structure for an underlying problem?  Now overlay the ideological interests of the institutional military with a healthy dose of both deep state and religious (centered principle outlook) career ideology, and you’ve got a recipe for disagreement.  Well, that’s essentially what I see when reviewing various media reports of internal group conflict points. (more…)

In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP

Sarah H Sanders Twitter @SHSanders45

We received the following email inquiry:

“I need some info. There’s a new FB page calling themselves Conservative Treehouse. Is that The last refuge Conservative Treehouse or has someone taken your name to create a page on FB? Their stories aren’t the same ones I see daily here at CT so thought I’d better check.”

Apparently an individual, or group of individuals, has established a Facebook page fraudulently claiming to be The Conservative Treehouse website (aka: The Last Refuge).
This is fraud.
The Conservative Treehouse Website is NOT on Facebook.  No member of this website has established a Facebook page to represent the content of this website; nor would we, or do we, have plans to ever establish a Facebook page.  Any claim to the contrary is 100% false.
Apparently an individual, or a group of individuals, in an effort to exploit the name and brand/site reputation for their own personal financial gain, have created a Facebook Page intended to deceive the Facebook community.
After CTH was alerted of the issue via email – the operator of the Facebook Page was politely asked to shut down the fraudulent Facebook page and to cease and desist any reference to this website.  They have refused the request.  We are reviewing legal options.
For clarity: TheConservativeTreehouse.Com is not affiliated with Facebook.  Additionally, the twitter account for CTH website is: [ @TheLastRefuge2 ] This is the only twitter account connected to content within  TheConservativeTreehouse.Com.
It is very unfortunate (and frustrating) to spend time dealing with underhanded and manipulative deception.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

New York Times Deputy Managing Editor Clifford Levy is worried about journalists being questioned, and exposed, by other mysterious unknown planetary journalists from the rising Generation Z, ie. college students.
Levy sends tin-foil-hat warning about the vast conspiracy to his narrative engineers:

(link)

If you find yourself thinking this mindset has a similarity to Clintonian-level paranoia, well, you would be accurate in the comparison.  Apparently ideological liberal journalists privately discuss fears of their ideologically liberal journalism becoming public.  Note the line:

“We all know it’s important to remain fair and politically impartial in our public statements”.

(more…)

(Via DOJ) Attorney General Jeff Sessions today issued the following statement on the swearing in of the new Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Wray:

“Moments ago I had the honor of swearing in Chris Wray as our new Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“Chris has the experience and the strength of character that the American people want in an FBI Director and I congratulate him for being overwhelmingly confirmed to that post and look forward to working with him every day to keep America safe.
(more…)

During a televised press conference White House Policy Advisor Stephen Miller was answering questions about the newly proposed RAISE Act.  A reporter from CNN named Jim Acosta, who always advocates for maximum camera time, thought he could engineer a narrative of self-promotion through the use of the Statue of Liberty.
After inferring an inscription on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty was part of our founding documents, it wasn’t, an epic fail followed:

The Statue of Liberty had nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with immigration.  The Emma Lazarus poem that Acosta refers to was affixed to the pedestal as an ex post facto inscription in 1903.  Even the New York Times knows the correct origin:

“The only immigrants mentioned at the dedication in 1886 were the “illustrious descendants of the French nobility” who fought on behalf of the United States against Britain during the American Revolution.”

(more…)

Earlier today President Trump introduced a new immigration policy proposal for legal entry into the U.S. known as the RAISE Act.  The RAISE Act eliminates the outdated Diversity Visa lottery system, which serves questionable economic and humanitarian interests. The RAISE Act replaces the current permanent employment-visa framework with a skills-based system that rewards applicants based on their individual merits.

[Transcript] 11:39 A.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. It’s great to be here today to unveil legislation that would represent the most significant reform to our immigration system in half a century. I want to thank Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue for their tremendous work in putting together this historic and very vital proposal.
As a candidate, I campaigned on creating a merit-based immigration system that protects U.S. workers and taxpayers — and that is why we are here today. Merit-based.
(more…)

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivers the White House press briefing for Wednesday August 2nd.
UPDATE: Video Added

(more…)

On December 12th 2014 the Republican controlled House of Representatives passed a 1,600 page continuing resolution, an “omnibus” spending bill of over $2 trillion dollars.  Every one of President Obama’s policy and agenda items was fully funded; including Obama’s executive action on immigration called DACA (Deferred Action for Children of Americans).

Approximately two months later, February 2015, the key-note speaker for the CPAC conference was Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan.  The same Paul Ryan who just passed a $2+ trillion Omnibus and eliminated the debt ceiling. At the conclusion of his speech over 1,000 members of the CPAC audience gave Speaker Ryan a standing ovation.
During a discussion of the irony and hypocrisy someone coined the phrase “Battered Conservative Syndrome” to describe the audience.   What, exactly, did that CPAC audience see as “conservative” in the fiscal action of Paul Ryan in the preceding two months?
(more…)