As POTUS Trump and the U.S. trade team target ever increasing tariff pressure upon Beijing to change their behavior, keep a close eye on North Korea. Given the zero-sum approach of the Chinese; and their history of weaponizing the DPRK; we could expect to see Beijing roll out nuclear antagonism again in an overt effort to gain concessions.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross discusses the need to hit China with even more economic pressure. WATCH:

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Main Street U.S.A., the American worker and the American farmer know what is at stake. The globalist Wall Street financial class, and their financial media, can gripe and moan, but that is not going to deter President Trump from this critical trade reset.  When Secretary Ross says: “we’re going to win this“, he speaks with knowledge of who controls the maximum leverage…. it ain’t Chairman Xi.
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In June and July last year it became obvious President Trump was going to initiate a full-frontal geopolitical confrontation with China based on their ambitions for economic conquest.  We labeled the confrontation: Eagle -vs- Red Dragon.
Specifically around: intellectual property theft; massive U.S. trade imbalances; imposed tariffs, and ridiculous non-tariff barriers put in place by China, we anticipated the conflict would eventually force Beijing to drop the Panda mask and expose their economic intentions.  Additionally there was clarity within President Trump’s approach for any observer who was willing to accept the history of Mr. Trump’s views on the larger issues. In short, POTUS Trump will not back down.
In March of 2018 U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer completed a section 301 review of China’s trade practices.  [SEE HERE] Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974 authorizes the President to take all appropriate action, including retaliation, to obtain the removal of any act, policy, or practice of a foreign government that violates an international trade agreement or is unjustified, unreasonable, or discriminatory, and that burdens or restricts U.S. commerce.  However, as talks with China progressed, President Trump shelved the 301 action to see where negotiations would end-up.
Due to the severity of communist ideology, and the intransigence of China to make any modification to their global economic plans, Chairman Xi Jinping made the strategic decision to elevate the confrontation in full Red Dragon mode.  The May and June, 2018, negotiations between the U.S. and China provided no progress.  The 301 review of China is now pulled back off the shelf, and President Trump assembles his trade-war strategy:
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Corrupt Robert Mueller’s ‘Clinton alliance team‘ of corrupt federal prosecutors begin playing corrupt trial and jury games they are famous for.
Corrupt federal prosecutor Uso Asonye was using corrupt FBI agent Mathew Mikuska (a member of the federal no-knock-team who raided Manafort’s condo), as a witness to introduce financial records against Manafort when Judge Ellis interjected about the purpose of the FBI agent as a witness on the issue given the pending testimony of key government witness Rick Gates, Manafort’s business partner.
Corrupt Mr. Asonye then informed the court Rick Gates might not be testifying.
Judge Ellis was not amused.

(Via Washington Times) In a shocking admission Wednesday morning, federal prosecutors said Rick Gates may not testify in the trial of his former business partner Paul Manafort.
Mr. Gates, who oversaw some of the financial dealings of Mr. Manafort’s consulting business, was expected to be a key witness for the government.

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The ADP national employment report is a monthly measure of the change in total U.S. nonfarm private employment derived from actual, anonymous payroll data of companies served by ADP. The report measures approximately 24 million U.S. workers along with employment trends in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics.

For July 2018, ADP has calculated payroll increases of 219,000 new jobs including 23,000 more manufacturing jobs created as an outcome of a resurgence in manufacturing and goods-producing industries. In the last 19 months, the U.S. has added 836,000 manufacturing jobs.  [For contrast: in the 19 month period preceding President Trump’s MAGA-Magic-manufacturing growth, only 26,000 manufacturing jobs were created.]

(Via CNBC) Private payrolls in the U.S. increased by more than expected last month as companies get a boost from lower corporate taxes, ADP and Moody’s Analytics said Wednesday.
Jobs in the U.S. increased by 219,000 in July, while economists polled by Reuters expected a gain of 185,000. July’s job gains were the best since February, when 241,000 jobs were added. Jobs growth for the previous month was also revised up to 181,000 from 177,000.

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Jon McNaughton’s latest artwork:

“Crossing the Swamp”

From left to right: Nikki Haley, James Mattis, Ben Carson, President Trump, Jeff Sessions, Mike Pence, Melania Trump, Mike Pompeo, Sarah Sanders, Ivanka Trump, John Bolton, Kellyanne Conway, John Kelly

Visit McNaughton Website Here

Social media lit up upon seeing a carefully crafted CNN article outlining that sometime in “the spring” of 2018 team Mueller referred democrat lobbyist Tony Podesta, former Minnesota Republican Rep. Vin Weber, and former Obama White House counsel Greg Craig to the Southern District of New York. A cursory review indicates many people are looking at this story with an eye toward a possible prosecution…. But not so fast.
In the aggregate CNN supports the political objectives of the Mueller team; and CNN has invested millions in selling the anti-Trump ‘Russian Conspiracy’ narrative.

When you read the article closely, with eyes wide open, a more reasonable takeaway -based on the historic pattern- is that CNN is attempting to protect Robert Mueller and frame his highly-political legal team as bi-partisan in their investigative endeavors.
President Trump has focused a great deal of sunlight on the one-sided approach of Team Mueller; and a majority portion of the U.S. electorate now see the Mueller investigation for what it is, a political ‘witchhunt’.
Against the backdrop of a trial against Paul Manafort beginning; which is an in-your-face contrast to how his business partner Tony Podesta has been handled; only amplifies the one-sided-nature of the Mueller team’s collective intention.
Enter CNN, for a necessary assist.
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President Donald J. Trump holds a MAGA rally at the Florida State Fairgrounds Expo Hall in Tampa, FL, with republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis.  Anticipated Start Time is 7:00pm EST with pre-rally events ongoing:
UPDATE: Video Added.  [Starts at 18:32]

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Today, prior to a MAGA Rally in Tampa Florida, President Trump will sign his administration’s first major Education Policy bill at Tampa Bay Technical High School and deliver remarks on the ongoing vocational/technical workforce development program.
The bill received bipartisan support in Congress and will allot $1B in grants to students receiving vocational and technical skills training to aid workforce development in the U.S. Anticipated start time 6:10pm EST
UPDATE: Video Added

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For more than three decades all U.S. economic policy was elevating Wall Street and diminishing Main Street. As a result the middle America blue-collar workers have not had wage gains keeping up with inflation for over 30 years…. Then came the era of Trump.

– “Walking in a Winner Wonderland” –

More than two years ago CTH began discussing the ramifications to a new emphasis on the economy outlined as a possibility of candidate Donald Trump’s economic policy outlook. Within the overall discussion we walked through the anticipated changes possible if A.) Trump won the election, and B.) Trump began instituting Main Street economic policy ahead of Wall Street policy (the past 30+ years).
We discussed the new dimension that would occur between two economic engines (Main Street -vs- Wall Street) as three decades of policy shifted. CTH outlined statistical and measurable KPIs that would become visible in the space between the policy shifts.
Part of those discussions focused on energy costs, product costs (we explained how inflation would be weird), and importantly, wage rates. It takes several months of policy emphasis (actual outcomes), before the labor market wage rates would grow. We anticipated seeing that impact in Q2 of 2018, which is April-June 2018.  Well:
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President Trump sets the 2018 Mid-Term priority. Excellent. “I don’t care what the political ramifications are.” … “Border Security is National Security, and National Security is the long-term viability of our Country.” Yes, indeed, yes it is.

(Tweet LINK)

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