A little detail from behind the wire.  I was asked very recently for my thoughts on why President Trump is a giant of influence in world leadership, my response was simple:  President Trump’s power is bottom up, historic global power structures are top down.

President Trump doesn’t just represent an office or title, nor does he simply represent the majority of the American people; President Trump’s voice is the voice of every ordinary person, what the non-English speaking world defines as “simple people,” and he channels a global message from the majority to the top of the highest power structures.

Smart leaders like Vladimir Putin recognize this power source, and they don’t challenge it – they align with it.  Stupid leaders, those who do not recognize their national nakedness like Emmanuel Macron, attempt to avoid & manipulate it.  The Make America Great Again doctrine is a borderless goal, empowering people to make their own lives great.

(VIA ABC) – […] Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday he stands by his comments from Brussels earlier this week on it being unrealistic for Ukraine to be offered NATO membership as part of a settlement, for it to regain its pre-2014 territory, or for U.S. troops to enter the country to keep the peace. 

“My job today, and in Brussels, was to introduce realism to the conversation – the reality that returning to 2014 borders as part of a negotiated settlement is unlikely; the reality of U.S. troops in Ukraine is unlikely; the reality of Ukraine membership in NATO as a part of a negotiated settlement unlikely. And I stand by the comments that I made on that first day in the Ukraine Contact Group,” Hegseth said at a press conference in Poland Friday. (source)

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UPDATE: Transcript Added

Shortly, Vice-President JD Vance is scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Germany, at the Munich Security Conference.

The meeting was originally scheduled to take place this morning, however, a member of the Ukrainian delegation confirmed that their meeting will now take place after 5 p.m. local time in Munich (approximately 11 a.m. ET). Vice-President Vance delivered remarks earlier to the Munich conference.

If you do nothing else today ….  WATCH THIS SPEECH!

It is very interesting that JD Vance brought up the recent Romanian election and the nullification of the result by European courts.  Vance shot an arrow directly into the heart of the hypocrisy of ‘democracy’ as defined by the European control agents (essentially EU intel).  Within the remarks, Vance alludes to missing elections in Ukraine and other various anti-democratic activities that have been recently visible in the EU.

“There is no security if you are afraid of the voices of your own people,” Vance said.  Continuing, “if you are running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing the American people can do to assist you.” WATCH:

You can hear a pin drop as Vice President Vance, tells the EU bureaucrats exactly how their activity is undemocratic, totalitarian and against the will of the majority of the people they are supposed to represent.

This is a seismic confrontation between JD Vance, President Trump representing the true cause of liberty, and the EU elites who believe they know better than the proles underneath them with their pesky demands for freedom.  Congratulations to JD Vance and President Trump for pulling no punches.  This is awesome.

[Transcript]  “One of the things that I wanted to talk about today is, of course, our shared values. And, you know, it’s great to be back in Germany. As you heard earlier, I was here last year as United States senator. I saw Foreign Secretary David Lammy and joked that both of us last year had different jobs than we have now. But now it’s time for all of our countries, for all of us who have been fortunate enough to be given political power by our respective peoples, to use it wisely to improve their lives.”

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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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With a party-line 12-10 vote from the Senate Judiciary Committee, FBI Director nominee Kash Patel is now set for the next phase of two votes in the full Senate. Majority Leader John Thune will now schedule a cloture vote to close debate and then a subsequent full senate confirmation vote.

WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s pick to head the FBI, Kash Patel, won the approval of the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, clearing the way for a vote to confirm a director who has called for a radical reshaping of the nation’s top law enforcement agency.

In a 12-10 party-line vote, the panel approved Patel’s nomination despite deep reservations by Democrats who said he is unfit to lead the bureau.

“We are inviting a political disaster if we put Kash Patel into this job,” said the panel’s top Democrat, Dick Durbin.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, a Republican of Iowa, said Patel had been fully vetted and subjected to “relentless attacks on his character” throughout the confirmation process.

Patel’s nomination has not yet been scheduled for full Senate debate and votes. (read more)

According to Glenn Beck, on Kash Patel’s first day the confirmed FBI Director is going to release the list of Epstein clients.

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If you read the Zelenskyy statement yesterday following the phone call with President Trump, you would notice the seemingly detached nature of his comments.  Almost as if Zelenskyy was a bystander awaiting further instructions.

Apparently, the European Union, various NATO members and likely some DoS/CIA operatives bent his ear.  24 hours later, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy now says it is critical for Ukraine to participate in any discussion on the future of Ukraine.

(Via AP) – […] In his first comments to journalists since Trump held individual calls first with Putin and then Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian leader conceded that it was “not very pleasant” that the American president spoke first to Putin. But he said the main issue was to “not allow everything to go according to Putin’s plan.”

“We cannot accept it, as an independent country, any agreements (made) without us,” Zelenskyy said as he visited a nuclear power plant in western Ukraine.

While Trump was noncommittal on Wednesday, he offered some reassurances on Thursday when asked by reporters whether Ukrainians would have a seat at the table in U.S. negotiations with Russia. “Of course they would,” Trump said. “I mean, they’re part of it. We would have Ukraine, we have Russia, and we’ll have other people involved too.”

During the conversation with Trump on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said, the U.S. president told him he wanted to speak to both the Russian and Ukrainian leaders at the same time.

“He never mentioned in a conversation that Putin and Russia was a priority. We, today, trust these words. For us it is very important to preserve the support of the United States of America,” Zelenskyy said. (read more)

NATO, the U.K and the European Commission are not happy that President Trump and Russian President Putin may end up framing the terms of a peace deal that ends the war in Ukraine. The EU, the U.K, Blackrock and JP Morgan are expecting financial gains; President Trump dismissing their claims and efforts while simultaneously demanding surety for any further U.S. funding has left the EU very angry.

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Today, President Donald J Trump signed an executive order triggering the first ever system of “reciprocal trade tariffs,” a seismic change in U.S. trade policy that will also consider the respective nation’s VAT (Value Added Tax) tariff.

Within the executive order [as outlined], the Secretary of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative will consider foreign industry subsidies, and non-monetary tariff barriers as part of the determination of the tariff levied.  This is a stunning shift in U.S trade agreements that will cut through all the angles being deployed to avoid U.S. tariffs and block U.S exports into their country.

The policy will pressure foreign nations to lower their trade barriers to U.S. goods and eliminate disparity in foreign trade agreements.  One big example will be the impact on the EU through the continuing Marshall Plan.  The EU will now face reciprocal tariffs and no longer benefit from one-way tariff acceptance. There are obviously no tariffs on products made inside the USA.

With “reciprocal tariffs” the Commerce Dept and USTR will now determine the trade imbalances with each individual country and will evaluate each FTA (Free Trade Agreement), one-by-one to deconflict the trade imbalance.  Direct tariffs, subsidies, regulatory hurdles, non-monetary trade barriers and hidden export subsidies will be addressed as part of the reciprocity evaluation.  This is a completely new dynamic in the era of modern global trade and economics.

During the executive order signing event, President Trump took questions from the media. WATCH:

Between now and April 1st, each individual trade agreement will be evaluated with consideration for all facets of the cost for American companies to export to the evaluated nation.  Direct tariffs, Value Added Taxes (VAT), state subsidies and non-monetary regulatory tariff barriers, will be determined for each nation.  That nation will then be made aware of the tariff against each sector within their export system to the United States.

Effective April 2, 2025, President Trump will then have the tariff data provided by the USTR and Secretary of Commerce. President Trump will determine when the reciprocal tariff will be triggered and will likely engage in discussions with the leaders of the foreign nations.

These fireside chat-style impromptu pressers during executive order signings are awesome.  The revolutionary change in government transparency and communication is, well, quite literally historic and stunning.  The media can ask questions in real-time as the specific policy is implemented and explained, while simultaneously the ability of the media to shape an anti-Trump policy narrative is removed.

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President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hold a joint press conference after their bilateral meeting in Washington. Modi has heaped praise on Trump and is hoping to avoid tariffs that the new administration has slapped on other countries in its opening week.

Livestream Links Below:

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Earlier today the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Robert F Kennedy Jr 52-48, with Senator Mitch McConnell (U-DC) the lone Republican joining all 47 Democrats to vote against him. Kennedy made pledges to protect existing vaccination programs in a bid to secure votes of hesitant lawmakers.

Completing the journey to align Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) with Making America Great Again (MAGA), Secretary RFK Jr will now run a Health and Human Services agency that coordinates more than $3 trillion in healthcare spending. Also under Secretary Kennedy are the Medicare and Medicaid programs that provide health insurance for over 140 million Americans, along with the National Institutes of Health.

During his swearing in ceremony RFK Jr pledged to work to end chronic disease. Previously Kennedy said he wants to break any ties between employees at the U.S. drugs regulator and Big Pharma industry. Secretary Kennedy had high praise for President Donald Trump; saying, “God sent me President Trump” to fulfill his mission to turn the American system of health around. Swearing in ceremony below:

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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.

(more…)