Category Archives: Cabinet
North Korean Reset
President Trump Hits Global Reset Button from Paris to Pyongyang. At least that’s the way a headline in The Hill sees it.
The article is by former Trump Staffer Sebastian Gorka. He claims that if you want to understand The Donald you have to read Art of the Deal. And once you’ve done that you’ll know it’s all about the objective:
The negotiations themselves, or maintaining the established way of doing business, are never the objectives. The real objective is defined by realizing your interests, which may not be possible if the status quo is maintained.
Russian Overcharge
For example, Hillary’s reset (or overcharge) with Russia didn’t achieve an objective.
President Obama sent Hillary Clinton to present a mislabeled “reset button” to the Kremlin. In reality, there was no reset. The Obama administration did not effectively address the expansionist and destabilizing behavior of former KGB colonel Vladimir Putin, not even after he invaded Ukraine.
But Gorka has way more faith in a Trump reset with North Korea:
It is a reset that included tough talk with China and North Korea, talk followed up by actions that have led to a response on behalf of Pyongyang, which may take us to the cusp of bringing peace and stability to the region after 65 years of potential war.
But whatever you do with Dear Leader, don’t go all Madeline Albright. 
The whole thing seemed more upset than reset with Secretary of State Tillerson. He was traveling in Africa when he learned of the dotard’s decision to meet the rocket man. 
So he called in sick.
Trumponomics
President Trump yesterday announced a 25% tariff on imported steel. Good news for American steelmakers but not so good for American Steel users. He also slapped aluminum with a 10% charge.
The news came as a surprise to the stock market. The Dow displayed its displeasure with Trumponomics by tanking 420 points. And it opened this morning down another 320.
Trumponomics: Tax Cuts and Tariffs
The news from Dan Henninger in the WSJ yesterday morning (before Trump’s announcement) was that the president is obsessed with jobs.
Every president claims to be a jobs president, but after a year it is becoming clear that this may be the only thing Donald Trump thinks about. He may even impose tariffs soon on imported steel, seeing only the protected jobs in front of him and missing the larger loss of jobs in steel-using industries.
But the bigger surprise might be that Trump’s keeping his campaign promises, from tax cuts to tariffs.
Red Flags
The kid who killed 17 former high school classmates in Parkland, Florida had a tough time getting the cops’ attention. Red flags popped up everywhere. Callers warned the Broward County Sheriff’s office 18 times. A tipster told the FBI in January, “I know he’s going to explode.”
Four cops stood outside outside the school building while inside he fired away.
Then the shooter left the building and bought a soda.
National Review’s David French says, The Parkland shooter did everything but call police and tell them the date and time of his attack. It would have been difficult for him to make his intentions more clear.
Red Flags
CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, “Are you really not taking any responsibility for the multiple red flags that were brought to the attention of the Broward Sheriff’s Office about this shooter before the incident?”
The sheriff’s reply? “I’ve given amazing leadership.”
Professional School Shooter
A Wall Street Journal story says the FBI failed to follow up on a tip that Nikolas Cruz was a dangerous threat to others.
On Jan. 5, the FBI received a call on a tip line from a person close to Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old charged in this week’s shooting, the bureau said in a statement on Friday. The caller provided information on “Cruz’s gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior and disturbing social-media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting,” the FBI said.
The FBI said the information should have been assessed as a possible “threat to life” but “no further investigation was conducted.”
Professional School Shooter
BuzzFeed reports that last September a Mississippi bail bondsman named Ben Bennight tipped the FBI to a disturbing YouTube post by a Nikolas Cruz. The post said “I’m going to be a professional school shooter.” The FBI followed up with a visit to Bennight’s office but he had no further information. At a press conference after the shooting the Bureau said it “could not uncover any details from the account.”
Florida Governor Rick Scott called for FBI Director Christopher Ray to step down.
Comey’s Response
The Devin Nunes memo released last Friday described an FBI application to the FISA court. The FBI was seeking permission to spy on Carter Page, a low level Trump advisor with Russian contacts. The application included the infamous Christoper Steele Trump dossier.
That would be the same dossier that former FBI Director Comey said contained “salacious and unverified” information. Not only that, the Clinton campaign funded the thing and possibly contributed information to it.
Comey’s Response
Comey’s response when he read the memo – That’s it?
