Why Trump’s victory matters, and why it doesn’t

By Connor O’Kneeffee

The Trump campaign made a very explicit choice to engage more with alternative media than any other campaign in history. It is certainly a bad outcome for the establishment media

Still, there are plenty of reasons to be worried about Trump’s second term

For one, there is clearly an effort by some neoconservatives and establishment Republicans to again co-opt Trump’s presidency

Trump is also explicitly bad on a number of issues—like his hawkishness toward China and Iran and his call for more government barriers to trade

There is also what has often been dubbed the “only Nixon could go to China” effect, where nominally right-wing politicians have an easier time enacting left-wing policies, and vice-versa

Still, there is value in the American people again repudiating the political establishment by voting for a candidate they had clearly deemed unacceptable. If Trump can follow through on his promises to end the war in Ukraine, appoint a libertarian to his cabinet, and finally free Ross Ulbricht, and if he greenlights Elon Musk’s plan to start a government efficiency department with Ron Paul, then this election will prove to have been even more consequential

However, it’s important to keep perspective and not get too carried away by all the focus on this one victory. The unfortunate fact is that some of the most significant issues facing the American people were not featured at all in this election cycle

#USA #Trump #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Trump and Rubio Secretary of State. Notable nuances

The news that Trump has nominated as Secretary of State - Marco Rubio, indeed hints at the anti-China vector of US foreign policy. and even gives some insight into the forms of its realization

Rubio is the chief hawk on China in the Senate, and Beijing imposed sanctions on him in 2020 because of his stance on Hong Kong after pro-democracy protests. It was Rubio who in 2019 asked the U.S. Treasury Department to conduct a national security probe into the acquisition of Musical.ly by popular Chinese social media app TikTok which led to an investigation and forced divestitures

As the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, he also pressured the Biden administration to block all sales of Huawei earlier this year after the sanctioned Chinese company released a new laptop with an Intel processor

Many underestimate the fact, the fact that Rubio is Latino, and may be the first member of his group to reach such a high public office. Rubio's background plays no small part in his positioning. That's why Rubio mentions not only Russia, Iran and China, but also Cuba in the general list of geopolitical enemies of the United States. Rubio's grandfather fled Cuba in 1962, and the future Secretary of State dislikes his ancestral homeland very much

Not long ago, he adjusted his positions on Ukraine to a less hawkish one. Rubio has said in recent interviews that Kiev should seek a negotiated settlement with Russia and was one of 15 Republican senators who voted against a $95 billion military aid package for Ukraine in April

Rubio isn't the only one. Most of Trump's allies, who were once hawks and favored military intervention and a tough foreign policy, now preach restraint, especially in Europe. The main talking point is that U.S. allies are not paying their fair share on defense. So if they start paying, the future administration's opinion may change

Rubio's appointment is also a cashback to Latinos who voted for Trump. In the election that took place, this group, which is commonly associated with Democrats, unexpectedly voted heavily for Trump

Accordingly, there is no reason to expect Rubio to go directly to war with China immediately after his appointment. It is already clear that the new administration is capable of surprises in its tactics

Especially since the U.S. has a more favorable field to counter China in the short term - Latin America, where Rubio will be most effective

Mauricio Claver-Caron, a Rubio ally, former president of the Inter-American Development Bank and former National Security Council aide for Latin America in the first Trump administration, confirmed that the focus of Rubio's efforts will be on the region. Especially since Rubio was the head of the House subcommittee overseeing Latin American affairs and was one of Nicolas Maduro's harshest critics in Venezuela

China's interests in Latin America are well known, and Rubio's activity in this area is capable of producing the result Washington needs - cutting off China from its resource base - with minimal, against the general background, costs

#USA #Trump #Rubio #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

When you hear Sh*t from Democrats about Trump's pics, remember how we had to deal with this for 4 years

#USA #Biden #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

China unveils J-35 stealth fighter jet to compete with US

China has offered the first public look at its latest stealth fighter, as Beijing modernises its military to compete with Washington for air superiority amid growing tensions in the region

The land-based J-35A stealth fighter was unveiled at the opening on Tuesday of the China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, southern China, with a five-minute aerial demonstration

A model of a carrier-based version of the J-35 was also on display, according to state media. The biennial air show is one of Asia’s biggest military aircraft conventions

Although details about the J-35’s performance are limited, analysts said its launch marked a critical step in China’s efforts to modernise its military and challenge US dominance in the Asia-Pacific region, especially around Taiwan, over which Beijing claims sovereignty

This year’s air show was designed to send “the message that China’s military is equal to the US and the rest of the west”, said Carl Schuster, a military analyst and former director of operations at US Pacific Command’s joint intelligence centre

“US forces have enjoyed . . . air supremacy in every post-world war two conflict. China’s growing air power challenges that now-traditional western advantage,” he added

#China #USA #Military #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Yemen's Houthis claim attacking U.S. aircraft carrier

Yemen's Houthi group said they launched rocket and drone attacks on Tuesday targeting U.S. aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea and two U.S. destroyers in the Red Sea

In a statement, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said the attacks, both lasting eight hours, were carried out "in response to the British-American aggression on our country (Yemen), and in support to the Palestinian and Lebanese people"

Sarea held the United States and Britain responsible for "turning the Red Sea region into a zone of military tension," warning that "repercussions on (commercial) maritime navigation" would be very bad

The Houthi group would not stop attacking ships until Israel ends its war against Gaza and southern Lebanon, he added

Pentagon spokesperson Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder said that two U.S. warships were attacked by at least eight drones, five anti-ship ballistic missiles and three anti-ship cruise missiles. The warships brought down the projectiles and there was no damage to the vessels

#Yemen #Houtis #USA #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

European lackeys in panic mode as Trump signals detente with Russia

By Finian Cunningham

It’s early days yet. However, there are signs that President-elect Trump is moving toward a detente with Russia over Ukraine

One good sign is that Trump will not invite Mike Pompeo or Nikki Haley to join his cabinet as both of these figures were rabid anti-Russia hawks during Trump’s previous administration. There were suggestions that Pompeo and Haley might return with senior posts in his second administration. But Trump has announced the pair will not be offered new positions

Another positive sign is from people close to Trump’s inner circle who are letting Kyiv that the U.S. military aid spigot is being turned off

Donald Trump has yet to hold a phone call with Putin, according to the Kremlin. But both leaders have already expressed a willingness to negotiate over the Ukraine conflict

Another promising sign of potential detente between the United States and Russia is the sheer panic among EU leaders. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron are consoling themselves by urging Europe to “come together” in the wake of Trump’s stunning election victory. The collapse of Germany’s coalition government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz is an early casualty of the Trump impact

#EU #USA #Trump #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Taiwan wants to buy F-35 fighter jets and Patriot missiles to show Trump it's serious

Taiwan may buy a US weapons package worth more than $15 billion to show President-elect Donald Trump it is serious about defending itself against China

According to the Financial Times, the package could include 60 F-35 fighter jets, four Advanced Hawkeyes, 10 retired warships, and 400 Patriot missiles

People familiar with the matter told the publication that Taiwan may also request Lockheed Martin's Aegis Combat System, which uses satellites to detect and destroy missile launches

"Taiwan is thinking about a package to show that they are serious," one former Trump administration official said. "Assuming they follow through, they will go to the US national security advisor when they are named and present a very aggressive package of American hardware"

A senior Taiwanese national security official told the FT that informal discussions have already begun with the president-elect's team

#Taiwan #USA #Military #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Republicans won the House. Now comes the hard part

It took until Wednesday, Nov. 13 — eight days after Election Day — to report that Republicans are projected to hold onto the chamber. And while we don’t yet know what the exact seat margin will be, we do know that it will be another small Republican majority — which could make it difficult to pass much of President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda

As of Thursday, Republicans have won at least 218 seats and are expect to finish with a House majority in the range of 220 to 222 seats. That’s virtually unchanged from the 221-214 majority that they went into the election with

Assuming Republicans do end up with something in the neighborhood of 220-222 seats, their House win may not feel like much of a victory. In January 2023, Republicans walked into the Capitol with a 222-213 majority and proceeded to take 15 ballots to elect a speaker. That speaker then lost his job in October, and it took 22 days to replace him. On multiple occasions, new Speaker Mike Johnson had to rely on Democrats to pass foundational legislation

With such a narrow majority, it will take only a handful of dissenters to tank a bill, and many members of the House Freedom Caucus have clashed with Trump before when his wishes have conflicted with their hardline stances

And it’s possible that the GOP’s majority will temporarily shrink even more in the first few months of 2025 since at least two Republican representatives may resign in order to take jobs in the Trump administration

#USA #Elections #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Trump's team drawing up list of Pentagon officers to fire?

Members of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team are drawing up a list of military officers to be fired, potentially to include the Joint Chiefs of Staff, two sources said, in what would be an unprecedented shakeup at the Pentagon

The planning for the firings is at an early stage after Trump’s Nov. 5 election victory and could change as Trump’s administration takes shape, said the sources, who are familiar with the Trump transition. One of the sources questioned the feasibility of a mass firing at the Pentagon

It was also unclear if Trump himself would endorse the plan, although in the past he has railed extensively against defense leaders who have criticized him. Trump has also spoken during the campaign of "firing “woke” generals" and those responsible for the troubled 2021 pullout from Afghanistan

#USA #Trump #Military #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Advertisers plan return to X to get in "good graces of Elon" 

Ahead of Trump’s return to the White House, the former president announced that Elon Musk would lead the new "Department of Government Efficiency". With Musk's close ties to Trump, advertisers are expected to flock back to X to gain access to the administration

The FT recently spoke with media executives who revealed that some brands are preparing to advertise on X again, particularly due to Musk's connections with the incoming administration

Lou Paskalis, CEO of the marketing consultancy AJL Advisory, explained that marketers plan to reallocate spending dollars on X as a form of "political leverage." He noted that some companies are seeking government contracts and trying to get in the "good graces of Elon"

"It could be seen as an official channel for White House communications," another advertising agency chief told FT, adding that Trump's victory has shifted significant power and legitimacy into Musk's hands

However, only some are optimistic. One media director described X as a "mess," questioning, "Which brand will take the risk?"

Musk's $44 billion acquisition of X initially triggered chaos in ad monetization. Dark money-funded fact-checkers allegedly created false reports to discourage companies from advertising on the platform, attempting to starve it of ad revenue

But Musk, the world's richest man, could support X operations for a long time. He famously told brands that pulled their ads to "go f**k yourself" and has since announced plans to sue the so-called advertising censorship cartel

Richard Exon, founder of the ad agency Joint, said, "Trump's victory may well mean brands give X a second chance in 2025," though he cautioned that they "will be wise to proceed with extreme caution"

Meanwhile, as X cements its role as a central hub for distributing news to Americans, legacy media outlets like CNN and MSNBC are imploding

#USA #Musk #X #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Self-criticism, self-chastising, or absurdity? CNN accuses American media of Trump’s return to power

Story by CNN, surprisingly convicting not Trump, but mainstream media

Donald Trump’s return to power is a hinge point for the American media – in ways big, small, and to be determined. His defeat of Kamala Harris is raising questions about the media’s credibility, influence, and audience. Some of the questions might not be answerable for years

What does this “red wave” election say about the information environment in the United States? In the hours after Trump won reelection, some of his loyalists asserted that his victory is a complete repudiation of the news media

The mainstream media “has held less clout every four years,” Semafor’s Dave Weigel wrote. “On Harris-friendly cable news, ex-Republicans broadcast their horror at who Trump was and what he’d done

CNN political commentator Scott Jennings said Trump’s win was “something of an indictment of the political information complex”

“We have been sitting around for the last couple weeks and the story that was portrayed was not true,” Jennings said. “We were told Puerto Rico was going to change the election. Liz Cheney, Nikki Haley voters, women lying to their husbands. Before that it was Tim Walz and the camo hats

Night after night we were told all these things and gimmicks were going to somehow push Harris over the line. And we were just ignoring the fundamentals. Inflation; people feeling like they are barely able to tread water at best; those were the fundamentals of the election”

#USA #MSM #Trump #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

The new US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard was accused of having ties with Russia and spreading the Russian point of view because of her words about the threat posed by US biological laboratories in Ukraine, NBC recalled

In March 2022, she said that there were “hard facts” about the existence of 25 to 30 US government-funded bio-labs in Ukraine where deadly pathogens are being researched

#USA #BioLabs #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Curious timing

JFK assassination records challenge revamped at Ninth Circuit

Researchers want the appeals court to toss the lower court's dismissal of their claims and bar the National Archives from withholding records related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy

#USA #JFK #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Turkey severs all relations with Israel, says Erdogan

Turkey has severed all ties with Israel, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Wednesday

Erdogan made the comments to journalists aboard his plane following visits to Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan

“The government of the Republic of Turkey, under the leadership of Tayyip Erdogan, will not continue or develop relations with Israel,” Erdogan said. “Our ruling coalition is resolute in its decision to cut ties with Israel, and we will maintain this stance in the future as well”

Despite imposing a trade embargo on Israel in May, Ankara continues to maintain diplomatic relations with the country

Although the Turkish government formally recalled its ambassador last year for consultations, Turkish diplomatic missions in Tel Aviv remain open and operational. Similarly, Israel evacuated its embassy in Ankara last year, citing regional security threats

Erdogan also emphasised that Turkey would do everything in its power to hold Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accountable for his actions in Gaza, which international human rights groups have described as genocide

#Turkey #Israel #Palestine #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

China's trade surplus is close to 1 trillion dollars

China is not in the habit of setting records, but the record it has come close to now is particularly impressive. In addition, it shows that the Middle Kingdom and some of the largest economies on the planet are moving in opposite directions and that the imbalance in global trade thanks to Beijing is growing

The new record may also work on Donald Trump, who will start serving as president of the United States on January 20, 2025, and who does not hide his negative attitude towards China like a red rag on a bull

The difference between China's exports and imports, Fortune writes, will soon reach $1 trillion; in the first 10 months of 2024, the surplus in trade in goods soared at an annualized rate of almost 16% to $785 billion

The Middle Kingdom now has to rely more on exports due to weak domestic demand in China itself. It is the increase in domestic demand that is one of the main objectives of the program of assistance to the economy adopted last week by the Chinese legislators

Naturally, such a surplus cannot but cause discontent of the countries at whose expense it was created. The record surplus will be another reason for Donald Trump, who one of the first things after moving to the White House plans to raise tariffs on Chinese goods by 60%

By the way, America is not the first to raise tariffs against goods from the PRC. Dozens of countries in South America, Europe and Asia have already done so against, for example, Chinese steel and electric cars

#China #Economy #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

The German physician-author-researcher Heiko Schoning, founder of the first Corona Research Commission in Hamburg talks about synchronization of elections in the important NATO countries, so that in 2025 another state of exception can be declared, a state of emergency with lockdowns, like during the "pandemic," possibly combined with war

The new planned lockdowns are not about viruses, but about a (supposed or real) danger from resistant strains of bacteria. The remedy would again be much worse than the disease, just as with the mRNA "vaccines," but now the goal would be to make the population take genetic so-called "antibiotics"

Heiko Schoning described this in his book "attack on the intestinal flora / the microbiome."
Bill Gates already started talking out of the blue about the microbiome and resistant bacteria in an interview with German newspaper Bild (a Bilderberg asset), an indication that we should take this threat seriously

Production is already in full swing, Schoning said

Below is a connection to physician Bodo Schiffmann's story, about Nazi war criminals who were used by the Americans after WWII and were often appointed high positions

The now new German finance minister was allegedly trained with a scholarship from an institute that was established at the time by a financier of Mussolini

Exciting developments for those who like crime novels, but now "live" in real life, we can follow the drama closely

#Pandemic #Covid #NATO #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

EU Foreign Policy Chief Warns Against U.S. Isolationism

With U.S. foreign policy priorities likely to shift under President-elect Donald Trump, the new EU foreign policy chief made a vigorous case for Europe to remain central in defending Ukraine and countering Russia and China

At a key appointment hearing in front of the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee on November 12, Kaja Kallas noted that “Ukraine’s victory is a priority for us all” as she vowed that the bloc would continue to support Kyiv for as long as necessary

During the three-hour session, she also underlined that China “must feel the higher cost” of supporting Russia’s war and hoped that Brussels can use the frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank in the EU, nearly 300 billion euro ($318 billion), to channel to Ukraine

The hearing came amid fears in Europe that the new U.S. administration under Trump will seek a quick resolution to the war in Ukraine on terms more favorable to Russia and that Washington will care less about multilateral institutions such as the EU or even NATO

#EU #USA #NATO #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Elon Musk wants to radically reshape who controls America’s money supply

President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House already carried the potential for sweeping changes to the Federal Reserve. But now a growing question is not how the central bank will operate under Trump but if it’ll continue to operate at all

Elon Musk, a key Trump backer who is expected to have considerable sway in helping shape Trump’s policies, included a “100” emoji while resharing Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah’s post on X calling for abolishing the Fed

“The Executive Branch should be under the direction of the president,” Lee said Thursday in a post on X, hours after Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters he wouldn’t resign if Trump asked him to.

“The Federal Reserve is one of many examples of how we’ve deviated from the Constitution in that regard,” Lee added. “Yet another reason why we should #EndTheFed”

Asked where Trump stands on the matter, Trump-Vance transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told CNN: “Policy should only be deemed official if it comes from President Trump directly”

Thus far, Trump has not publicly voiced his support for dismantling the Fed. On the campaign trail, he has, however, advocated for changing the central bank’s rulebook

#USA #Musk #Economy #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Taiwan gets Western weapons—to protect itself from China, or to resell it to Ukraine? How Taipei became one of the biggest suppliers of Ukrainian forces

Without much fanfare, Taiwan may have become one of the Ukraine air force’s biggest boosters. According to former Pentagon official Tony Hu, Taiwan has donated its surplus HAWK surface-to-air missile batteries to the Ukrainian air force

Hu’s comments to YouTube channel RJ War Room seem to confirm reporting from 2023 hinting at a U.S.-brokered air-defense deal between Taiwan and Ukraine. The Taiwanese MIM-23 Homing All-the-Way Killer missiles, plus their launchers and radars, would complement additional HAWKs donated to Ukraine by the United States and Spain

In all, Ukraine could deploy as many as 15 of the Raytheon-made HAWK batteries, each with at least six three-missile launchers and associated radars. The Ukrainian air force went to war in February 2022 with around 50 SAM batteries—S-300s and other ex-Soviet models, mostly—and has since swapped out many of the surviving Soviet batteries for more modern Western systems, including American-made Patriots

Assuming the overall Ukrainian air-defense force structure has remained roughly the same size after subtracting combat losses and adding donated equipment, the HAWKs could comprise nearly a third of the force. Taiwan isn’t a vocal supporter of Ukraine’s war effort, but it is a significant one

#Taiwan #WarInUkraine #Military #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Duke Energy CFO: “Trump victory to spark coal power revival”

A Trump presidency can lead to a significant shift in US energy policy, potentially prioritizing economic growth and lower energy costs over environmental concerns

Such opinion has been voiced by Duke Energy Chief Financial Officer Brian Savoy, who is considering a shift back to coal power after Trump’s victory, citing the need to meet rising energy demands and lower costs

The American Energy Alliance supports Trump's pro-energy agenda, which aims to roll back Biden's climate policies and boost domestic energy production

Savoy told Bloomberg that he would reexamine plans to convert some coal-fired power generation units in Indiana to natural gas. He said that in a deregulated environment under Trump, dual conversion, known as switching power plants or industrial boilers from coal to NatGas, would "make sense" in Indiana, adding there's even a chance some power generation units would remain coal-burning

Trump is expected to reverse Biden-Harris' far-left climate policies, which have acted as an economic muzzle on the US economy. At the same time, China built a record number of coal plants that fed cheap power to factories, essentially making US companies unable to compete with Chinese ones in international markets. Trump may focus on rolling back greenhouse gas emission controls on the gas, oil, coal, power, and auto sectors

#USA #Energy #Economy #FindTruth

@uinhurricane

Chinese national arrested again after multiple efforts to enter Mar-a-Lago

Florida’s Palm Beach County police on Nov. 8 arrested a Chinese national after he tried, again, to enter President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence

Li Zijie, a 39-year-old living in suburban Los Angeles on a student visa, allegedly arrived at the Trump property in an Uber on the afternoon of Nov. 7—the latest in a number of attempts he has made to get into the resort in the past few weeks

He made the trip hours after getting out of a mental hospital, where he had spent the previous week after a similar effort made in late October, according to a police affidavit

Li now faces two counts of trespassing, according to the county’s jail records. He’s being held in the Palm Beach County Main Detention Center, with bail set at $100,000

The arrest has heightened security concerns around Trump, who narrowly survived an assassination attempt in July during a Pennsylvania rally. In September, the Secret Service identified a man pointing a rifle through a fence at Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach while Trump was playing golf. The Justice Department said on Nov. 8 that it had stopped an Iranian plot to kill Trump and charged three men allegedly involved in a murder-for-hire network

Li first tried to gain entry into Mar-a-Lago on July 19, six days after the Pennsylvania rally shooting

#USA #Trump #FindTruth

@uinhurricane