This likely will not come as a surprise to most CTH readers, but a recent poll from Rasmussen shows the nation is split on whether Joe Biden is actually fulfilling the role of the presidency.  Forty-seven percent of those polled believe there are people behind Biden that are really in control.

(Via Rasmussen) –  Voters are evenly divided about President Joe Biden’s ability to perform the duties of his office, and nearly half believe others are really in charge at the White House.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 47% of Likely U.S. Voters believe Biden is really doing the job of president. The same number (47%) say others are making decisions for Biden behind the scenes. (read more)

Even die-hard democrats will admit privately that someone else seems to be running the White House.  The inability of the press secretary to outline who is actually in control of the cabinet-level staff is quite remarkable.  When posed with questions Jen Psaki rarely answers about executive level decisions and instead defers to the institutional agents who are in position to talk to reporters.

The relationship between Beijing and Pyongyang has been obvious since President Trump took office in 2017 and began a series of sunlight diplomacy drops.  What President Trump exposed was the level of control China holds over North Korea.  Essentially, Kim Jong-Un is a hostage to Chairman Xi Jinping with little control over the military aspects of the DPRK.

When this baseline forms the forward analysis, the paradigm of historic western engagement with North Korea takes on an entire new dimension.

If China controls North Korea, specifically the functional leadership within the military, then all military action is essentially not from North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, but rather controlled and positioned by Chairman Xi.

As a downstream consequence the issue of North Korean nuclear weapons is essentially moot.  Of course the DPRK has nuclear weapon capability, those weapons would come from China and be controlled by Beijing.

Accept the DPRK as a proxy province to China and the issues look completely different.  We can debate the level of Beijing’s control, but it is certainly evident the military -which is essentially the important part of the DPRK government- receives instructions from China, not from Kim.  Chairman Kim Jong-un is essentially riding a dragon he does not control.  That was the subtle diplomacy visible inside the relationship as expressed between President Trump and Chairman Kim.

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In this exclusive interview with Epoch Times, Jan Jekielek sits down with Kash Patel, a former Obama-era DOJ prosecutor, who was essential in uncovering the Spygate scandal. Patel was personally recruited by Congressman Devin Nunes to spearhead the congressional investigation into the FBI’s handling of the Russia probe.

With all of his inside knowledge, this interview with Kash Patel is well worth the 44 minutes.

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To say the first major diplomatic summit between the United States and China was an unmitigated mess would be an understatement.  Apparently U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken thought it would be of value for the domestic audience if he was to lambast the Beijing delegation in public and on camera.  His efforts were a complete fail as the Chinese knew everything was presented for domestic consumption… so, the Red Dragon threw fire right back onto the purple hair and obviously stunned an unsettled U.S. Secretary.

The train wreck was started by challenging China publicly, in front of the international press, likely believing such an aggressive posture would weaken Republican criticism about the Job Biden administration being soft/weak on China. However, using a joint press conference as the forum only provided insult to the Beijing delegation.

Public insults are expressions of weakness, not strength.

It was visibly obvious that Secretary Blinken stupidly did not anticipate the Chinese officials would retaliate in their remarks responding to him.

The Chinese diplomatic team is exceptionally skilled at verbal combat; they use facts and evident weakness to their advantage. Blinken’s foolish decision gave the Chinese officials a rare opportunity to dress down the Secretary of State very publicly in front of the international media.

Secretary Blinken was visibly shocked and destabilized by the strength of the returning words from the Chinese team. His response was extremely defensive; ‘he doth protest too much’, and he was incoherent. Blinken also repeated JoeBama’s ridiculous catch-phrase “America is back.”

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Concerns over the physical and mental stability of the installed current optical head of the White House continue to mount today as Joe Biden attempts to walk up stairs into Air-Force One.  Key word: “attempts”

The leader of the United States government stumbles, falls, stumbles and falls again, three times, on the same day the leader of Russia challenges him to a public debate.   The White House will not take the challenge…. for obvious reasons.

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The United Auto Workers are angered about a decision by Ford to move production of a new electric vehicle from Avon Lake, Ohio, into Mexico.  Ford previously agreed to spend $900 million on a new product line for the Ohio plant; however, according to the UAW the location has shifted.

One way of looking at this change in direction from Ford relates to the cost of producing electric vehicles.  First, it is far less expensive in Mexico (labor, environmental regulation, energy costs, etc); secondly, an outlook the new Biden administration will not strongly enforce USMCA compliance measures against U.S. multinational firms.

The UAW supported Joe Biden, but his policies will likely undermine their workers.  Unfortunately, this was all too predictable.   Partly because Biden-Harris owe Wall Street too much, and the multinationals are once again in control over the U.S. economy.

(Via Reuters) […]  The UAW said Ford in 2019 as part of its four-year contract agreement had committed $900 million for the plant in Avon Lake, Ohio, including a next-generation product to be added in 2023, which the UAW letter said would secure the plant’s “employment well into the foreseeable future.”

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In this exchange between Senator Rand Paul and Anthony Fauci the senator from Kentucky confronts Fauci about the irrelevance of wearing a mask after either infection/recovery or vaccination. As Senator Paul notes there is not a single study that shows reinfection after COVID recovery, so why the “theater” of wearing a mask when the immunity is present?

Fauci has no scientific response except to say “variants” of the COVID virus are potentially possible for reinfection.  The lead advocate for national policy then takes exception to being called out for the political “theater” of his mask wearing dictates. WATCH:

https://youtu.be/meYaOs0Nvuk

There is a larger segment of the American population now catching-on to the political ruse that underlines the COVID fear.  With Florida as an example of how COVID is not the threat the U.S. federal government claims it to be, more people are starting to ask common sense questions.

Fauci is a  political operative within the bureaucracy.  This was evident from his first entry into the public spotlight. Fauci claims masks may be needed into some unknown future, again because of some fearful determinations that have absolutely no basis in science or research.  This is propaganda.

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You can read all about the pro-DC republican reasons for going back to a time when they used earmarks [SEE HERE].  However, the bottom line of earmarks is really quite simple…  “Earmarks” are, in their most honest definition: legislative bribes.

When earmarks exist, the crap legislation passes because individual votes can be purchased through the earmark process.  Remember: “The Cornhusker Kickback”; “The Louisiana Purchase”; or “Gator-Aide”; those were legislative earmarks to get Obamacare passed in the Senate.

Obamacare was the sh!t sandwich the American people were forced to eat, the earmarks just gave senators some justification for their votes.

Bottom line.. it is the earmark process that makes crap legislation pass.  Confront any politician and they will admit this.

The most brutally honest answer to the question of earmarks is this: If the legislation sucks and will not pass on its own (hence the need for earmarks), then why would adding some expensive ice-cream make the sh!t sandwich better?

Remember, the originating legislation doesn’t come from inside congress.  The K-Street lobbyists are the ones writing the legislation; the earmark process only arms congressional leadership with an enhanced tool to sell the K-Street construct. {Go Deep}

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The gobsmacking parseltongue continues from the podium at the Brady room in the White House.  Today Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked about Customs and Border Patrol officers informing media they are not allowed to talk about the border crisis per instructions from DHS and the White House.  The response from the White House is talk to DHS.  WATCH:

This level of evasive non-answer from the White House is actually dangerous to our national and foreign policy.  Our adversaries can see the sensitive spots of weakness within an administration that is fearful of the truth. Those adversaries can then exploit this weakness to drive further division through influence operations.

Most people do not realize how dangerous fabricated stories can be upon a nation that is strong only when it is exhibiting truth.   If the domestic and international audience recognize the United States government is truth-adverse on the little things, the ability of our nation to influence positive results on the bigger global issues is destroyed.

Ultimately it boils down to this: Devalue the United States and the world begins to destabilize.  Recognize and/or accept this consequence, and you realize that outcome is a feature of Obama’s larger plan, it is not a flaw.

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Katherine Tai was confirmed by a unanimous senate vote today to become the United States Trade Representative.  The vote was 98-0.  Ambassador Tai has family connections in both Taiwan and China and replaces former USTR Robert Lighthizer.

The doctrine of President Trump was to use trade and economics to achieve diplomatic results on foreign policy and national security issues. It will be interesting to watch what happens now as the Biden Administration returns to using ideological diplomacy as the baseline… then providing economic benefits to support leftist objectives.

The rustbelt was created, and China rose to economic influence, on the political outlook once again in power in the United States.  Ideology comes first, all other things changed, modified and or considered downstream in lesser importance than the ideology.  This was how the alignment of Wall Street, Globalists and Beijing exploited Bush, Clinton-Clinton, Bush-Bush and Obama-Obama terms.  The U.S. middle-class economy suffered greatly, while Wall Street multinationals thrived.

On the positive side there will be pressure from the Bernie Sanders wing to defend American jobs.  However, that faction’s political leadership, like Bernie Sanders himself and AOC, will compromise the long-term interests of the American worker when the opportunity surfaces for personal and familial wealth.  The Sanders types, just like the union leadership, can all be bought for the right price.

Ambassador Tai has not yet made statements about whether she will advocate for steel and aluminum tariff removal, but she is a big supporter of environmental justice as it pertains to trade and economic justice.  The climate and trade issue here specifically is the potential for carbon taxes to be part of JoeBama trade policy.  How?  Well, that might look like the U.S. re-entering the Trans Pacific Partnership with a carbon trading system in place.

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