An interesting pattern of seemingly disconnected political stories is beginning to show signs of a common continuity.  In the bigger of the big pictures seven words continue to set the baseline: “There are trillions of dollars at stake”.
When the common sense Tea Party movement formed in 2009 and 2010 it contained a monumentally frustrated grassroots electorate, and the scale of the movement caught the professional republican party off-guard. When Donald Trump ran for the office of the presidency he essentially did the same thing; he disrupted the apparatus of the professional republican party.
The difference between those two examples is one was from the bottom up, and the second was from the top down.  However, the commonality in the two forces resulted in the 2016 victory.

It took a few years for the heavily armored old guard of GOP to formulate a plan to retain their control.  In the example of the Tea Party, the republican power structures moved in 2011 through 2014 to co-opt the vulgarian movement and impede their disruptive influence.  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was at the forefront of those power moves.  {Go Deep} and {Go Deep}  The basic issue for the GOP was retention of power.
McConnell and crew tamped down the fire.  A few years pass and the issues that spurred the Tea Party movement remained unresolved.  In 2015 Donald Trump taps in to that exact same Tea Party frustration toward the control authority within one-half of the DC UniParty; again, the professional republican apparatus was disrupted.  The movement rebranded and now the MAGA movement wins the presidency.
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Former FBI Director James Comey gives a brief press conference following his testimony before a joint congressional committee.  Notably, Comey references the importance of saving the ‘institutions’ (and all the corrupt interests within it) above all other aspects.
When the institutions are corrupt; and the officials within the institutions are corrupt; and there is inquiry into the corrupt activity of the officials within the institutions; then retaining the institutions is the priority.  It’s that simple.  If you take down the institution you run the risk of exposing the corruption…. So anyone associated simply demands another coat of paint.

Additionally, Comey seems to infer that the removal of Jeff Sessions is now part of the Mueller/Rosenstein/Democrat approach to frame obstruction against President Trump.  Quite simply, any action by Trump to expose the previously described corruption is viewed as unlawful obstruction.  That’s their plan, and the approach has worked so far.
Comey is scheduled to return for more testimony on December 17th. Transcripts of today’s hearing should be available soon.
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OMB Director Mick Mulvaney has been wearing two hats as both head of the Office of Management and Budgets and head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
Democrats went bananas in 2017 when Mulvaney took over the source of their financial black-mail and fundraising scheme constructed by Elizabeth Warren.
Today the senate voted to confirm Mulvaney’s protege’ Kathy Kraninger to replace him.
Democrats are still going bananas.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate voted 50-49 on Thursday to confirm President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. consumer watchdog despite opposition from Democrats and consumer groups who say she is unqualified.
Kathy Kraninger will serve as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), replacing acting chief Mick Mulvaney, after Trump signs a declaration approving her five-year term.

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If the latest reports are accurate, this is *not* good.  Remember, there are trillions at stake and Wall Street has spent hundreds-of-million on behalf of multinational interests lobbying to keep the current status with China unchanged.
There’s a deep financial motive within this dynamic to stop President Trump from resetting the trade relationship with China. Additionally, Canada is aligned in self-interest with Wall Street and Trump’s adversaries toward the same goal.

Apparently National Security Adviser John Bolton was aware the CFO of Huawei was going to be arrested in Canada.  However, President Trump was kept out of the loop.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, said in an interview with National Public Radio that he knew in advance about the arrest of a top executive of the Chinese technology giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd [HWT.UL], according to an NPR reporter on Thursday.
Bolton said he did not know if the president was aware in advance of the arrest of Meng Wanzhou in Canada on Saturday, the day Trump struck a 90-day truce on trade in a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Argentina, NPR reporter Steve Inskeep said in a tweet.

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There is a great deal of suspicion and analysis surrounding the latest developments in the Mueller case, or lack thereof, against Michael Flynn.   Consider this a summary addendum to the CTH initial review.  This is the Occam’s Razor that explains some contradictions.
We cannot view these actions through the transactional prism of modern judicial proceedings as they relate to you and me. These are political struggles taking place inside the venue of the legal system. The players use the legal system to game out the optics and narrative of political battles for ideological wins and losses.

After the November 8th, 2016, election everyone within the Obama network who was associated with the surveillance operation against the Trump campaign was at risk. This is the impetus for the “Muh Russia” conspiracy narrative that was used as a mitigating shield. Within a few weeks ODNI James Clapper and CIA Director John Brennan began pushing the Russia election interference narrative in the media.
NSA Director Mike Rogers went to Trump tower on November 18th, 2016, and essentially informed the principals within the campaign they were under some forms of surveillance.
By mid-December the Obama administration was deploying a full-court-press using their media allies to promote the Russia conspiracy.  However, despite their public proclamations Clapper and Brennan were refusing to give any specifics to congress.
The hard narrative was that Russia interfered. That was the specific push from within the Obama intelligence apparatus writ large.  All IC officials, sans Mike Rogers (NSA)  had a self-interest in pushing this narrative; after all, it was the defensive mechanism to justify their illegal spying operation throughout 2016.  This was their insurance policy.
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Within the dynamic of the U.S -vs- China trade confrontation, CTH noted the Wall Street (globalist) multinationals would likely go bananas.  There are trillions at stake and President Trump is confronting three decades of financial influence from the corporate lobbyists.   To the angst of Wall Street, POTUS Trump tweets the dynamic:
President Trump has been brutally consistent for more than three decades on his intent and purpose with the Chinese.  President Trump is the first U.S. President to understand how the red dragon hides behind the panda mask.
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Political analyst and commentator Dan Bongino has a great dot-connecting podcast today that outlines the players, motives, moves and intentions surrounding the ongoing Deep Administrative State battle.
It is an excellent presentation in all facets, with one minor gear slightly askew – which CTH will explain.  The content is very well presented. Everyone should listen to the podcast.  (Hit the little orange arrow):
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The only divergence CTH holds to the overall outline is below.
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National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow discusses some of the key specifics within the dinner table conversation between President Trump and Chairman Xi.  [*note* at the very end of this briefing, Kudlow is asked about the German auto visit tomorrow]
President Trump has been brutally consistent for more than three decades on his intent and purpose with the Chinese.  President Trump is the first U.S. President to understand how the red dragon hides behind the panda mask.  Additionally, while carrying out the objectives of the confrontation, Secretary Mnuchin, Secretary Ross, Ambassador Lighthizer and adviser Navarro are well aware of Beijing’s panda mask; POTUS Trump will never let them forget about it.

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With a full quarter of trade data to analyze the impacts, the Chinese tariff results are now measurable.  A multinational group studying the outcome (full pdf), identified that approximately 4.5% of the current tariff impact is being carried by American consumers.  The overwhelming cost of the tariff is being paid (20.5% absorbed) by Chinese producers.
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One of the less discussed aspects to President Trump’s economic cabinet is the careful selection of specific members who operate above the financial influence of ‘The Big Club’. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are two key positions able to focus on economic nationalism without worrying about undue influence from the globalist lobbying pressure of Tom Donohue and the U.S. CoC.
The baseline of financial independence, and disconnect from self-interest, is unique in our lifetime; and allows the resulting execution of economic policy to focus, very deliberately, on America First objectives.  Secretary Mnuchin discusses the China confrontation:

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This is a painful, albeit rather telling, interview to watch.  Matt Cartwright has not had the time to fully digest how to be a good resistance member, whereby he simultaneously argues for and against the economic and trade policies of President Trump.
On domestic economic policies, specifically trade, President Trump is essentially carrying out all of the objectives of the blue-dog (moderate) Democrat party.  However, now the ‘resist we much overlay’ creates a pretzel dynamic for those same democrats.  They are for the policies, but must oppose the person carrying out those policies.  This is a goofy preview of what is to come in 2019.

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Lost but not invisible in the Cartwright angst is any acceptance that President Obama never cancelled NAFTA; nor did President Obama ever challenge the one-way economics of China; both of these confrontations and resets are favored by the new co-chair of the democrat platform committee…. but favored/not-favored when Trump does it.
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