President Donald Trump holds an impromptu presser aboard Air Force One en route back to Washington DC.  Most of the conversation centers around the upcoming “Liberty Day” tariffs, and the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

According to National Economic Council Chairman Kevin Hassett, our President now has all the assembled data from the full review and analysis of the combined research of the MAGAnomic agencies within the White House.  The analysis combines both tariff and non-tariff trade barriers to determine exactly what costs are put upon the U.S. export companies for goods that arrive in various countries.

All of those combined costs, by country, will determine the reciprocal amount of the tariff levied by President Trump.  The announcement of tariff rates will likely come this week, with President Trump previously saying April 2nd and April 3rd being the beginning of the implementation dates.

President Trump also puts context on the headline quotes promoted by NBC news and Kirsten Welker about his consideration toward Vladimir Putin. A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT CONTEXT!  President Trump simply noted that while President Putin doesn’t like Zelenskyy, and factually calls him illegitimate, Trump needs Putin to accept Zelenskyy in order to have the other chair at the peace table filled. That’s it. Pragmatic toward peace! WATCH:

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President Trump notes that after his warning of secondary tariffs against any nation who imports oil from Venezuela, Chinese ships pulled up anchor and left Venezuelan ports empty.  Additionally, regarding Zelenskyy, President Trump notes the Ukraine President is going to face “a lot of trouble” if he backs out of the previously agreed minerals deal.

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This is one of the examples of narrative engineering that is simply infuriating.  NBC has driven dozens of articles, pundit claims and discussion segments from their “transcription” of a recorded phone interview with President Trump.  However, no actual audio of the interview is presented.

President Trump weaves through interviews in his answers, providing context, tone, inflection and detail for each point of a conversation he is answering.  It is the context that surrounds the “quote” that becomes important when understanding what the president says.

In this segment on NBC Meet the Press, and the follow ups that appear on NBC Nightly News, notice how they do not provide the actual recorded interview, only the quotes, which Kirsten Welker then interprets for the audience.  This narrative engineering is the worst form of information manipulation.  WATCH:

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Where’s the audio, Kirsten?

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Jeffrey Goldberg appearing on Meet the Press, says he has met and spoken to Mike Waltz and that Waltz’s ongoing denials to that end are “simply not true.”   Goldberg notes his phone number was in Waltz’s phone simply because his phone number was in Waltz’s phone.

According to Jeffrey Goldberg, despite Waltz’s numerous denials, the National Security Advisor and journalist do know each other.  WATCH:

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Appearing on Fox New with Maria Bartiromo, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett walks through the intent of the upcoming April 2nd ‘liberation day’ tariffs.

Hassett notes the auto tariffs are likely to generationally change the dynamic of car manufacturing in the USA.  Additionally, the stock market disruption is entirely predictable against the dynamic of Wall Street -vs- Main Street. WATCH:

Today, exclusively on @SundayFutures with @MariaBartiromo, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett #KevinHassett spoke about President Trump preparing to announce reciprocal tariffs this Wednesday.@FoxNews pic.twitter.com/1lU8w9w0FB

— SundayMorningFutures (@SundayFutures) March 30, 2025

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The dynamic is obvious to any intellectually honest observer, which is to say U.S. and Western media disqualify themselves and continue pushing preferred EU narratives.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected the latest U.S. proposal for a minerals deal that would create a partnership to repay the United States for ongoing financial support.  According to Zelenskyy, the deal to share in oil, gas and mineral revenue would amount to debt that would disqualify them from EU membership due to unstable financials.

However, it is important for U.S. readers to remember the U.S. aid package already underway pays for the entire operation of the Ukraine federal spending liabilities, including pensions, government worker paychecks and everything normally within a govt budget.  U.S. taxpayers are not only subsidizing the war with munitions, but we are also subsidizing the government operation and citizens of Ukraine.  Within that spending there is MASSIVE corruption ongoing.

When Zelensky rejects (1) the terms of a “minerals deal,” (2) rejects U.N peacekeepers, (3) rejects the predicate for peace that Russia will retain part of Eastern Ukraine geography, and (4) rejects the offered security guarantees, he is also rejecting the idea that American taxpayers should be repaid for all their support.

Almost all of these rejections appear based on Zelensky’s belief the U.K, France and European allies can replace any support lost by President Trump changing his approach toward Ukraine.  Zelensky, who has not been elected, is developing a reputation for being so difficult, so demanding, so spoiled and temperamental that neither Vladimir Putin nor President Trump wants to deal with him.

Against this backdrop, the ceasefire deal is tenuous at best.  Russia, who previously said they did not expect Zelensky to stand by any ceasefire proposal, continues to launch airstrikes against Ukraine as Zelensky continues to prove Vladimir Putin correct by rejecting U.S. proposed terms for a ceasefire – while claiming Russia is not abiding.

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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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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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The Chief of Staff to the President is a key administration official in any White House. With one foot in policy and one foot in politics, the CoS shapes the outcomes of a presidency.

Current White House Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, appears on Fox News for an interview with Lara Trump to share her views and perspectives along with her role in assisting President Trump with MAGA success.

Within every interview there are always nuggets that help put perspective on the interpersonal dynamics.  One of the nuggets within this interview is Wiles sharing how she came to be in the original orbit of President Trump.

According to Wiles she was “asked by a mutual friend” to travel to New York and meet with candidate Trump in “late December 2015.”  That timeline would be post-Fox Debate (Megyn Kelly attempted hit – Aug ’15) when President Trump was leading every republican primary poll and became the enemy of the professional Republican establishment.  WATCH:

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There is a lot of speculation about the potential for President Trump to remove National Security Advisor Mike Waltz following the SignalGate fiasco.  However, I doubt it will come soon.

Yes, CTH predicted in January that Waltz would be the first to get fired; but that prediction was due to the easily identified conflict between Waltz’s ideological mindset and his responsibility to execute a President Trump national security policy that is seemingly counter to Waltz’s worldview.

President Trump is unlikely to dismiss Waltz until some time has passed and his removal doesn’t look like a win for the media narrative operation.  Currently the SignalGate issue is diminishing. However, watch what assignments Waltz is given – that’s where we will likely see a shift in responsibility.

I suspect Mike Waltz will no longer have a critical role in the Ukraine-v-Russia conflict that President Trump is trying to bring to an end.  If Waltz has lost effectiveness or the trust of President Trump, his role as National Security Advisor will be visibly lessened.   The influence of JD Vance, Marco Rubio and to a smaller extent Steve Witkoff will be more prominent.

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