Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appears on Bloomberg to discuss the tariff approach of President Trump toward national security.  Economic security is national security.

Lutnick correctly points out the crazy mindset of the Canadians and Europeans not understanding and respecting the big picture objective of President Trump.  Ex. President Trump says we need steel and aluminum made in the USA, Canada responds with a tax on soccer balls.  As Lutnick says, “really, I mean, REALLY?”

This interview is must watch television that cuts directly through the pretending and silliness.  WATCH:

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President Trump holds a press availability in the oval office with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, an effeminate man of insufferable disposition.

During the press availability, President Trump took multiple questions from the media about the Ukraine-Russia war and current geopolitical events. Trump talks about trade practices with the EU and the end to the 1945 Marshal Plan that is scheduled for April 2nd with reciprocal tariffs.

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As expected, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has caved on the continuing resolution bill from the House.  Schumer called the decision a “Hobsons choice,” supporting the Trump CR vs letting OMB Director Russ Vought control the government in shutdown mode.  Schumer doesn’t want to see Elon Musk, DOGE and OMB downsizing government by giving them the power within a ‘shutdown.’

WASHINGTON DC – […] In a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday night announcing he would support the House-passed stopgap, Schumer said he had little choice as the Friday shutdown deadline loomed.

“Musk has already said he wants a shutdown, and public reporting has shown he is already making plans to expedite his destruction of key government programs and services,” said Schumer. “A shutdown would give Donald Trump the keys to the city, the state and the country.”

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Remember what President Trump did every time Kim Jong-un did something stupid?  He hit Beijing with an economic hammer.  ’17/’18 DPRK does stupid, Trump slaps Xi.  It worked like a charm.  Xi stopped influencing Kim, Kim and Trump became friends.

Fast forward to 2025.  The EU Commission does a big stupid, Trump hits Macron with an economic hammer.

[SOURCE]

Why this approach?

See below.

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This is a big day for potential winnamins.  We may just reach the “too much winning” phase.

Democrats are threatening to shut down government by not supporting the Continuing Resolution (CR) measure that passed the House and is about to reach the floor of the Senate.  This threat is awesome, and we can only hope it happens.

Personally, I think Chuck Schumer will tell eight of his Senate members to vote cloture on the CR (they need 60 votes) and then tell them to vote against the underlying bill on the floor (where only 51 are needed for passage).  However, the looney leftists in the base are stomping their feet and telling Schumer not to support the Trump CR measure.

If the CR is not passed, the govt goes into “shutdown mode” at midnight tonight and all “nonessential” employees, as determined by the Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, are laid-off.

This is perfect for DOGE and the objectives of shrinking government very quickly.  Even Politico notes the Democrats are about to step on a rake.

WASHINGTON DC – […] There’s another reason the White House isn’t sweating a shutdown: Senior officials agree that when coffers run dry, the Trump administration — specifically Vought, the longtime cost-cutting conservative now running OMB — would have unprecedented flexibility to choose which agencies get to stay open and which don’t.

[…] It’s not hard to see Musk getting out his chainsaw and Vought finding a hammer.

“Musk in charge of furloughs in a shutdown? He’d be giddy. He’d be beside himself with joy,” the official joked.

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There are multiple media reports outlining ‘terms’ that Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced in order to establish the framework for a ceasefire. Every single one of those ‘western media reports‘ are fake news.  Putin has not made any statement of terms or conditions for a ceasefire.

What the media are doing is extrapolating on the prior terms Putin announced when he was trying to avoid war with Ukraine.  Those terms included: (1) No NATO membership for Ukraine, (2) no western boots-on-ground peacekeepers (IC ops), (3) Ukraine is denazified/demilitarised and (4) the 4 Donbass regions are accepted by Ukraine/NATO as Russian territory. Again, these were the previous pre-war terms.

President Putin visited the Kursk region where fighting was previously intense as Ukraine mounted a counteroffensive last year, and Russia has just completed retaking most of the area.  During his visit Russian President Putin made the following statement. [Source Kremlin]

“In this regard, I would like to, as you have already noted Some units that have shown themselves in the best way, I hear almost and you have named some of them every day, lately both in the morning and in the evening, I still want to name those that I have heard of.

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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 President of the United States is recognized in the U.S. Constitution as a person; the ultimate control authority within the Executive Branch of Government. President Donald J Trump is that person.

I am citing two examples below; however, the same approach applies to any information President Trump would want to release to the general public.  There is absolutely no way for the Administrative State to block or impede this approach.

Dear Mr. President and White House counsel:

Understanding the ordinary process of declassifying documents or releasing information is a request and authorization to the executive officers and stakeholders of classified information. And understanding the current authorization or request for information is not ordinary because the intelligence community stakeholders and Washington DC are averse to the interests of the office of the president; here is a process to cut through the chaff and countermeasures.

The background here is that any unilateral declassification request, demand or authorization by President Trump puts him opposition to a variety of corrupt interests.

As a direct result the executive office of the president will be facing legal action, likely from unified democrats and republicans in the legislative branch.  With that accepted, here is the most strategic approach.

In anticipation of litigation:

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In more than a few ways this decision is even more crazy than District Judge Beryl Howell’s prior rulings.

Judge Howell (pictured below) issued a temporary restraining order, blocking President Trump from barring the law firm of Perkins Coie from representing federal contractors.

There are a few outlines of the hearing HERE and HERE that essentially tell the story.  Consider this quote:

“When you say that if the president, in his view, takes the position that an individual or an organization or a company is operating a way that is not in the nation’s interests, he can issue an executive order like this and take steps to bar that individual, that entity, that company from doing any business with the government, terminate whatever contracts they’ve got, bar them from federal buildings,” Howell said. “I mean, that’s a pretty extraordinary power for the president to exercise.”

Yes, and that’s called the power of the presidency.  Apparently Judge Howell has never heard of ‘executive power’ that allows the elected President of the United States to determine what is in our nation’s best interests.  Approving his ability to make these decisions, is what that whole voting thing is all about.

Howell further pressed — what would happen if Trump were to “get annoyed” by the law firm representing Perkins Coie in this lawsuit and issue a separate order targeting them?

“If he made a finding that there’s a national security risk with a particular law firm, then yes,” Mizelle responded.

Chad Mizelle is not exactly the best voice to be making the DOJ argument, after all it was this knucklehead who as Rod Rosenstein’s counsel wrote the authorities for the Robert Mueller special counsel.  However, on this issue Mizelle is exactly correct.

Yes, the president has the ability to make decisions about national security threats and private enterprises who the President might feel are detrimental to the national security of our nation, like Perkins Coie.  Howell then went into crazyville to extend her logic.

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