Much ado is being made over President Trump wearing a mask while visiting wounded soldiers and veterans at Walter Reed hospital earlier today.   It seems a little silly to build a media narrative around taking precautions in the #1 place you would take prudent precautions, but whatever.   It’s always better with theme music:

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President Trump was accompanied by: Colonel Andrew Barr, Director, WRNMMC; Master Chief Randy Swanson; Command Master Chief Captain Gerard Woelkers, NMRTC Commander; Colonel Marion Jefferson, Troop Command; and Sergeant Major Jeffrey Zak, Command Sergeant Major.

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Earlier today President toured Fincantieri Marine shipyard and delivered remarks about the historic $5 billion dollar contract the Administration recently granted Fincantieri Marinette Marine. This is the first visit by a sitting President to the city of Marinette, Wisconsin.

Fincantieri Marinette Marine is a United States subsidiary of Italian enterprise Fincantieri, one of the world’s largest shipbuilders, the shipyard was established in 1942 to meet America’s growing demand for naval construction.

The Trump Administration’s contract to build up to ten new guided missile frigates worth nearly $5.5 billion, will secure the future of the shipyard. Fincantieri plans to invest $130 million in upgrades to the facility, add approximately 1,000 jobs and projects that the investment will create 15,000 additional jobs in the Wisconsin and Michigan supply chains.

[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, it’s a good song, isn’t it though? Lee Greenwood.

And thank you very much. I’m thrilled to be here with you on this incredible summer day in Wisconsin on the edge of the beautiful Lake Michigan — that is beautiful too; I know it well — with the legendary workers of Marinette Marine. And you now have a lot of contracts because of the United States government. You’re going to — you’re going to be so busy. (Applause.) You’re going to be so busy. I know you went through a little bit of a hard time; not anymore. Not anymore. Got you covered for years.

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Today, President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attended a Wreath Laying Ceremony at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War and remember the brave American soldiers who selflessly sacrificed their lives in the fight for peace.

Attending with the President and First Lady was Secretary David Bernhardt, Department of the Interior; Secretary Robert Wilkie, Department of Veteran Affairs; and Ambassador Lee Soo Hyuck, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the United States

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Korean War Veteran Participants Included:

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Earlier today the DOJ filed a civil action [see pdf here] against former National Security Advisor John Bolton for refusing to comply with the classified intelligence review prior to publishing a book.  [DOJ FILING LINK]  Perpetual warmonger John Bolton worked as NSA to President Trump from April 2018 to September 2019.

Bolton was always an odd pick for National Security Advisor given his propensity to advance mid-east wars and advocacy for military strikes against North Korea.

…”On June 7, 2020, without Defendant giving any prior notice to the NSC, press reports revealed that Defendant and his publisher had resolved to release the book on June 23, without completing the pre-publication review process. Subsequent correspondence with Defendant’s attorney confirmed that public reporting.

Simply put, Defendant struck a bargain with the United States as a condition of his employment in one of the most sensitive and important national security positions in the United States Government and now wants to renege on that bargain by unilaterally deciding that the prepublication review process is complete and deciding for himself whether classified information should be made public.”… (pdf)

An embed of the lawsuit is below:

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This is a little lengthy of a discussion, but it touches upon something very relevant to this election cycle.  Author Diana West discusses a network and pattern of ideology within the modern pentagon leadership, and how a worldview is threatened by President Trump. The interview and discussion is below.

The conversation necessarily gets in the weeds and is filled with unique insight into a very complex alignment. However, in the big picture it’s not difficult to figure out why the Pentagon would be opposed to Trump.  During the campaign and early administration President Trump’s expressed foreign policy was viewed by NATO alliance members as a threat.  The same type of perspective applies internally to the U.S. military.

President Trump’s preferred use of economic warfare makes the Pentagon’s role diminished. Instead of punching North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, President Trump hits the checkbook of Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping.  The primary has become the contingency. The value of James Mattis replaced by the effectiveness of Robert Lighthizer.  JC Milley isn’t in the planning room; Milley’s been replaced by Wilbur Ross (until he’s needed).

In the Trump era the President is telling the Pentagon where and when to position; and asks them for ‘contingency’ preparation.  Decades of Pentagon-centric foreign policy is lessened by an entirely new geopolitical approach based on economic strategy.

Take away power, or worse yet, stop using military power, and the leaders within the system start to sense their institution becoming functionally obsolescent.  Overlay this military view upon pre-existing ideological differences and the situation gets worse.

CTH touched on this last year when we noted how the Pentagon, specifically the joint chiefs, never took any action when Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman positioned himself as an opponent to President Trump’s policy perspective.  The pentagon left Vindman on assignment to the NSC even after Vindman attempted to take-down President Trump.

Another example was Joint Chief Chairman Milley, and the visit Pompeo and Milley took to Mar-a-Lago in December, where they were informing President Trump of military strikes in Syria and Iraq *after* they took place. [Background Here] [Background Here].

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Earlier today President Trump signed an executive order targeting members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) who have engaged in corrupt activity.   The XO bars entry into the U.S. and seizes property belonging to the targets.  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, Attorney General Bill Barr and National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien explain why these measures are needed.

[White House] As part of President Donald J. Trump’s steadfast commitment to protecting American service members and defending our national sovereignty, the President has authorized economic sanctions against International Criminal Court officials directly engaged with any effort to investigate or prosecute United States personnel without the consent of the United States. The President has also authorized the expansion of visa restrictions against International Criminal Court officials and their family members.

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The media apoplexy over stunningly positive economic news is directly related to how much damage a positive economy does to the Antifa/BLM strategy to divide our nation through class warfare.  A thriving Main Street economy is antithetical to the objective.

A thriving Main Street means an expanding U.S. middle-class.  As the middle-class expands it becomes more difficult to organize outrage based on division.

Part of the reason why limo-liberal elites have been successful politicians through the years is the outcome of their economic policy inherently creates a wider gap between the haves and have-nots.  This divide allows politicians to control apportioning.

Exploiting the gap, essentially exploiting class warfare as a political strategy, is the fuel that drives identity politics. Ergo all progressive economic policies, the offshoring of jobs; the policies that support Wall Street and globalism etc; are designed to weaken the U.S. middle-class while making rich people more affluent, and poor people more dependent.

The ruling elites deny this fundamental truth, but the rust-belt did not create itself.  The erosion of the U.S. manufacturing base -and Main Street- was an outcome of policy. Republicans and Democrats participated in this process.  Democrats claim, falsely, to be champions of the middle-class; but their narrative is refuted by the actual results of their policy.  Both parties are deep in the pockets of Wall St multinationals.

Many people call for a third party in politics without realizing President Trump represents the first second party DC has seen in decades.  That’s why he is opposed by both wings of the same legislative bird.

Through dependency the political elites begin their role to decide who gets what part of their limited and controlled economic pie.  Economic intervention, supported by both wings, in the spending process is what has allowed political interests to retain control.

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…She Knows Exactly What She’s Doing!

It seems quite transparent what the agenda is for Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser.  After giving the DC police orders to stand down; and after ending the previously declared state of emergency; and after cancelling the flow-through purchase contract where feds repay the city for national guard housing; she is now demanding that all national guard troops and security elements leave the nation’s capital city:

…”It’s our expectation that until soldiers are called home, we don’t think that soldiers should be in the nation’s capital patrolling or policing streets. We’ve made that formal request to the White House.”… (link)

Simultaneous to her demand that all security forces, including the added DC police, be withdrawn operations, the Mayor is helping to organize the introduction of far-left mobs under the pretense of her facilitating weekend mass protests against the White House.

In essence, Mayor Bowser is simultaneously removing DC security and introducing an extremist force.  This is beyond dangerous and appears to be an intentional effort by the mayor to force  and create a violent Kent State type confrontation.  This is Alinsky 101.

Provocation to a specifically designed conflict is why Mayor Bowser had the streets painted earlier today; and why she is pretending not to know what the end goal is for the operation where she is a key player.

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On the same day U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr announces an investigative finding that Antifa is behind much of the recent violence, looting and arson; James O’Keefe releases an undercover video of Project Veritas efforts infiltrating the group.  First, from AG Barr:

Dept of Justice – […] At some demonstrations, there are groups that exploit the opportunity to engage in looting. And finally, at some demonstration, there are extremist agitators who are hijacking the protests to pursue their own separate and violent agenda.

We have evidence that Antifa and other similar extremist groups, as well as actors of a variety of different political persuasions, have been involved in instigating and participating in the violent activity. We are also seeing foreign actors playing all sides to exacerbate the violence. (more)

Here’s the O’Keefe expose:

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The riots, arson, looting and related violence is in the backlash phase. Key political and racial leadership are now attempting to slow down the visible looting, fearful that it’s starting to hurt Joe ‘you ain’t black’ Biden. The violence and anarchy is in direct proportion to the depth of the Deep Blue Democrat leadership in the state/city.

Antifa groups (aka White ISIS) have organized for chaos, but their bricks-for-tricks are being exposed in many simultaneous areas. Black Lives Matter looting has narrowed to random opportunism.

Politically speaking, the merging of Antifa (revolution communists) & Black Lives Matter (sub-text political Islam), has a purposeful agenda unknown to the standard brick thrower.

Suburban white liberals and elitist minded political activists, essentially modern affiliates of the former Bill Ayers Weather Underground, are the organizing entities. Most of the people on the street are oblivious opportunists within the anarchy.

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