U.S. President Donald Trump holds the first cabinet meeting of 2019 and allows the media to engage for a lengthy question and answer session:

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President Trump enters a new phase in legislative road-blocking fraught with challenges inside the Senate chamber.  Almost all U.S. Republican Senators have accepted the indulgences of U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue.
President Trump now relies on the upper chamber to consent on the America-First trade deals he has been renegotiating.  Simultaneously, Donohue and McConnell plot how to best utilize their increased influence over the executive branch…. [Romney was the first shot]

A tempered response does not come as a surprise given the landscape.
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CTH previously outlined the likely path Democrats will follow when they take control of the key congressional committees starting tomorrow {Go Deep}.  For those who walk through the deep weeds of DC politics, the sequence of 2019 events -based on accepting the historic resistance pattern- is entirely predictable.

Today, Fox News confirms the intention of Jerry Nadler (House Judiciary), Elijah Cummings (House Oversight) and Adam Schiff (HPSCI) as soon as they are sworn into office:

WASHINGTON DC – They’re about to get subpoena power – and they plan to use it.

As Democrats officially take back control of the House when the new Congress is seated Thursday, newly empowered House Committee chairmen are preparing to launch a slew of Trump administration investigations.

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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.

President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP

Sarah H Sanders Twitter @SHSanders45

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 †

Don’t get so caught up in a furor over Senator-elect Mitt Romney writing a political hit piece against the President of the United States that we forget to look at the big picture.
Senator-elect Mitt Romney’s niece is Ronna McDaniel, Chairwoman of the Republican National Committee (RNC). Senator Romney didn’t just wake up on New Year’s Day and haphazardly write a specifically constructed character assassination against the President of the republican party; who is currently the President of the United States.
No, this attack was done with forethought and specific intent.

Think rationally and logically.  Why write the op-ed at all?  What is the purpose behind writing the op-ed?  What does the author have to gain by writing the op-ed?…
And specifically, given the nature of the familial relationship between republican Senator Romney and RNC Chairwoman McDaniel, not to mention the political profession therein, with the senator writing something highly damaging; well, there’s obviously a larger intended purpose on Romney’s end of the equation.
Likely many will believe Ms. Ronna McDaniel was generally unaware that her uncle was going to take such a position of expressed opposition.  She didn’t know?  Mitt Romney wouldn’t, given the circumstances, tell his niece of his intention?
Let’s presume Romney didn’t tell his niece.  What does that tell us about the character of Mitt Romney; his obvious self-interest; and, in the bigger picture, what does that tell us of his relationship to republican party objectives, writ large?
What exactly is this ‘republican party‘, Romney’s frame-of-reference (under such a presumption), all about?  Who would Mitt and Ann Romney believe is operating it?
If Mitt Romney felt his current DC entry point, constructed by his specific intent, would leave him entirely isolated from any influence and/or affluence from his position – he wouldn’t do it.  Right?  But he did…. so he doesn’t view this adversarial starting point as damaging to his political objectives.
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Senator-elect Mitt Romney obviously couldn’t wait to kick off the new year with a direct attack against President Donald Trump.  Hell, he hasn’t even taken office yet, and Romney rushes to express his hatred in a strategically aligned op-ed published by the Washington Post:

“The president shapes the public character of the nation. Trump’s character falls short”…

You can read the op-ed here I’m not sharing it.  Romney is a small, foul, bitter and jealous man.  His intent to lead the MAGA resistance was entirely predictable.  F**k Romney!

Also, don’t forget all those who have aligned with Romney throughout the years.

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Hopefully President Trump can withstand the severe UniParty manipulation and actually get the troops out within the four month time-frame. However, with John Bolton as National Security Adviser, consider me slightly skeptical.  Bolton loves war…

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Yesterday we noted how subtle (and not so subtle) messages have been coming out from Beijing China admitting how the party of Chairman Xi underestimated the cunning fortitude of U.S. President Donald Trump.   Today, a stunning visual is broadcast from inside North Korea which follows the same general outlook.
Remember, nuance and subtle optics are very significant in Eastern projections of political brand messaging.  When they present a nationally broadcast message every grain of sand on the optical beach has been thought out, considered, staged and carefully placed by hand with great forethought toward the intended audience. The optics are everything. [That’s also the reason why POTUS Trump used a video presentation (specifically for Kim) at the end of the Singapore summit.]
In an unprecedented international broadcast, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un delivers a message not just to his people, but more specifically to the international community.  The backdrop, the venue for the message as broadcast, reflects a stunning shift for the country of North Korea.  Notice the background message is ‘economic‘: Business attire; business office etc.  The guiding hand of Chairman Xi is visible, and the transmission is full of messages highlighting the influence of the Trump Doctrine.

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It is critical to remember that Chairman Xi (Beijing China), is still the leading influence agent over Chairman Kim (DPRK). That nuanced/subtle (hostage/captive) influence message is also inherent in the background of this broadcast. As the U.S. -vs- China confrontation continues, this video message provides additional support that Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping is no longer underestimating the cunning of POTUS Trump.
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The inauguration of former army Captain turned congressman Jair Bolsonaro was held today in Brazil; delivering the first nationalist outlook to the office of the presidency in decades.
President Jair Bolsonaro and First-Lady of Brazil Michelle Bolsonaro both delivered speeches during the inauguration ceremony, with the first lady also using sign language (her father is deaf).

President Bolsonaro now takes the reins of Latin America’s largest and most populous nation after decades of corruption carried out by Brazil’s far-left politicians. Many will remember a failed assassination attempt on candidate Bolsonaro by opposition from the socialist workers party only a few weeks before the election. Bolsonaro has vowed to end business-as-usual governing which led to rampant corruption.
Many people within the far-left ridiculed Bolsonaro while he was a congressman and stated his Brazil-First outlook was too nationalistic amid a world now driven by global influence. The marginalization by those voices failed and now President Bolsonaro will likely chart a different course.  (Sound familiar?)
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