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Monday April 7th – Open Thread

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 †

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President Trump Delivers Impromptu Remarks to Media Discussing Tariffs and Trade Reset with Media

President Trump smartly remained quiet after delivering the economic thunder-shock with his national security tariffs and new global trade expectations.  Now President Trump takes questions from the media about the initial reactions to the seismic event he created.

“China needs to solve the problem of the trade deficit with have with them,” is codespeak for China needs to open their markets to U.S. companies that have already established a footprint, AND China needs to purchase U.S. goods.  Despite the size of China, President Trump knows Beijing will never comply in earnest, so he gives the Panda a few words, but doesn’t give it too much time until the Dragon comes out from behind the mask.

President Trump notes he has “spoken to a lot of leaders from Europe and Asia” this weekend.  However, now is that powerful moment in any negotiation when the principal has clearly outlined his position, then remain silent as the opposition responds.   The “tariffs are instituted, they are not going away,” Trump said.

When questioned about having a “threshold” of “pain he is willing to tolerate,” President Trump notes the “question is stupid.”  We are responding to opposition who are playing a zero-sum game, there is no level of pain too intolerable when ultimately your survival as a nation is at stake.  Either we do, and win – or, we do not and die, that is our current status.

When questioned about having a zero-tariff agreement with Europe, President Trump references the scale of the imbalance.  “There’s no talk possible” with the EU unless they acquiesce.  Every country wants to make a deal, but “this is not sustainable” President Trump repeats.

When questioned about Tik Tok, President Trump notes there was a likely deal with China, but then Beijing responded to the tariffs and said the deal around the social media platform ownership was no longer possible.  Trump doesn’t care, he wants a TikTok deal; but ultimately, the tariffs are more important.

President Trump then weaves through the Russia conflict, bombs are still bad, and the Middle east conflict, Gaza is still full of terrorists, and moves directly into domestic national security.

President Trump then reaffirms he has not agreed to reduce, soften or smooth any tariffs against any nation.  The tariffs are in place, they will remain in place, and the global trade reset will continue until America wins. Period.

The remarks were ‘Full force Big Ugly‘ and the winnamins were flying off the shelves for 15 straight minutes.  I could not be more proud of our president.

HOLD THE LINE !

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Attorney General Pam Bondi #73

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi appears for her 73rd performance on Fox News this year.

As the DOJ embeds continue working diligently against the interest of the Trump administration, the top of the DOJ leadership structure appears for another performance to discuss the outcome of the embed diligence.  Yes, that’s the non-pretending reality currently being faced.

Not all, but many in key positions, are career DOJ lawyers working passively (weak arguments) and with willful blindness (purposeful mistakes) to undermine the agenda of President Trump.  The whac-o-mole General Bondi outlines is both external in the courts and internal in the Main Justice ranks.  Lawfare operatives are like cells within the larger body awaiting their turn to self-detonate.  WATCH:

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Sunday Talks: White House Senior Advisor for Trade and Manufacturing Peter Navarro

White House Senior Advisor for Trade and Manufacturing Peter Navarro discusses the trade reset and tariff impact as it works through the process.

As visible and stated by the Trump team, the broad-based tariff approach was designed to save time and create the environment where foreign countries, including those with bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) would come to President Trump in an effort to retain their interests.  From there, new trade agreements would be structured.

Navarro rightly notes that both tariff and non-tariff barriers are designed to create a structural trade imbalance in their favor. The trade reset strategy is designed to confront these issues.  Navarro also notes how Vietnam operates as case-study in the use of non-tariff barriers and simultaneously operates as a transnational shipping point for Chinese products. WATCH:

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Sunday Talks: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent -vs- NBC Kirsten Welker

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appears on NBC to discuss the current MAGAnomic tariff program and global trade reset. Bessent outlines how the history of President Trump’s tariff approach toward China (’17-’19) did not result in higher consumer prices for goods from China.

Secretary Bessent, like the rest of the MAGAnomic team, cuts through the talking points with direct evidence and analysis that destroys the preferred media narrative.  Video and Transcript Below:

 

[Transcript] – KRISTEN WELKER: And joining me now is Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Secretary Bessent, welcome back to Meet the Press.

SEC. SCOTT BESSENT: Kristen, good to see you.

KRISTEN WELKER: It’s great to have you back after a very big week. Let’s start with the market reaction to President Trump’s announcement of his tariffs. As I just laid out at the top of the program, the markets lost more than $6 trillion in value. Was this disruption always part of the plan, Mr. Secretary?

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Sunday Talks – Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick vs Insufferable Margaret Brennan

Margaret Brennan is very worried about the penguins of the Heard and McDonald Island being able fill their orders for EU heavy industrial equipment, against the backdrop of President Trump’s 10% tariffs.  Secretary Lutnick points out the issue of transnational shipping, as Brennan sits flummoxed.

That’s just one of the talking points from the ever-insufferable Margaret Brennan in this left-wing narrative engineering under the pretense of an interview.  WATCH:

[TRANSCRIPT] – MARGARET BRENNAN: Mr. Secretary, welcome to “Face the Nation.”

COMMERCE SECRETARY HOWARD LUTNICK: Great to be here.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We see about 60% of Americans have money in the stock market, which mean that retirees could be just as concerned as hedge fund managers this morning. Did you expect this level of shock in the financial markets?

SEC. LUTNICK: Well, you’ve got to realize this is a national security issue. I mean, we don’t make medicine in this country anymore. We don’t make ships. We don’t have enough steel and aluminum to fight a battle, right? All our semiconductors are made overseas. So every button we press when we try to start our car or even use our microwave, these are all semiconductors. They’re all made elsewhere. We’ve got to start to protect ourselves, and we’ve got to stop having all the countries of the world ripping us off. We have a $1.2 trillion trade deficit, and the rest of the world has a surplus with us. They’re earning our money. They’re taking our money, and Donald Trump has seen this, and he’s going to stop it. So it is going to be a big change. Of course, it’s going to be a big change, but the rest of the world has been ripping us off for all these many years. Donald Trump has seen it. He’s spoken about it–

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NEC Director Kevin Hassett, “more than 50 countries have reached out to the president to begin a negotiation”

Appearing on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, regime commander for the hard left, White House Director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hasset, shared that, “more than 50 countries have reached out to the president to begin a negotiation.”

Despite all the media pontification to the contrary, this notation should not come as a surprise, considering how dependent many emerging nations are on access to the U.S consumer market.

The ‘taking a knee’ sequencing should be reviewed through two closely intertwined metrics. (1) The wealth of the nation; and (2) the dependency of the nation.  Both metrics are closely aligned, and that will be the commonality of the first to line up to join a zero-tariff trade agreement.

More wealthy, parasitic and ideologically opposed nations will fight hard before they acquiesce. However, they will eventually acquiesce and come to terms.  The wealthy nations (like EU etc.) will be the most vocal in opposition to the global trade reset; and they will also be the voices we should see strategically ignored by President Trump.

NEC Director Kevin Hassett cuts through the Stephanopoulos talking points like a ninja quokka. WATCH:

You know Stephanopoulos is outwitted when he relies upon Rand Paul to frame his narrative.  lol

Regarding the Russia talking point.  How is Trump supposed to calculate a tariff regime against a country we have placed under trade sanctions with a full economic embargo?  There’s no current U.S. trade with Russia, deficit or otherwise, so there’s nothing to tariff.

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French Business Leaders Reject President Macron’s Demand to Divest from USA

According to French media, quoting multiple corporate leaders and company directors throughout France [LINK], the leadership of France’s biggest companies told Macron to ‘get stuffed’ following the French president’s demand to divest their interests from America.

President Macron ordered 50 of the largest companies with positions in the USA to attend an emergency economic meeting at Elysée Palace. As reported by French media, “Some of us fell out of our chairs,” confided one of the 50 or so French business leaders invited.”

“We are not in an administered economy,” thunders the leader of an employers’ movement. And the CEO of a CAC 40 giant bluntly asserts: “I don’t give a damn about what Macron says. We have operations in the United States. There is no question of abandoning them just like that. We must respect our commitments to our employees, our customers and our shareholders. An opinion shared by a manager of a spirits producer: “It is out of the question to stop investing in the United States, especially in the current economic slump.” [link]

This type of reaction should not be surprising at it reflects the transparent disconnect between ideological government officials and generally pragmatic business leaders.  Macron can stomp his reactionary feet, but corporate leaders and company owners are focused on the purpose of their enterprise, profit.

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Fifth Sunday of Lent

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area,
and all the people started coming to him,
and he sat down and taught them.
Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman
who had been caught in adultery
and made her stand in the middle.

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April 6th – 2025 Presidential Politics – Trump Administration Day 77

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.

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