It seems like anyone who doubted the “Trump Effect” on Bitcoin was wrong, at least in these early days after the election and before he’s even inaugurated. Bitcoin soared to over $100,000 for the first time on Wednesday.

According to Breitbart:

The digital asset peaked around its previous 2022 record of $73,000 in March 2024, weeks after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved several exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for investors seeking to acquire it, according to data from CoinMarketCap.com. At the end of October, Bitcoin came close to that $73,000 record before retreating in the 60,000s range, then rocketing to a new all-time high of $75,000 before the end of the first week of November. Since then, BTC has sailed past new price benchmarks, first selling for $90,000 on November 13.

In the course of an hour, BTC surged from roughly $98,500 to $103,000 Wednesday evening, smashing a six-figure price barrier that felt unthinkable a decade ago, when the asset spent an entire year under $1,000.

Several factors may have contributed to the past month’s price action; investors may have been energized by President-elect Donald Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris (Trump vowed to create a BTC “strategic reserve” and appealed directly to Bitcoiners on the campaign trail) and the announcement that Gary Gensler — a villain in the eyes of many cryptocurrency fans — would step down from the SEC once Trump takes office.

But one of the key elements in Bitcoin’s perennial rise is its “halving” — a 50% reduction in its issuance of new “coin” units — that occurs every four years, making the “mining” that secures the network that records the ledger of BTC transactions more competitive and costly. The latest Bitcoin halving occurred in April 2024. Just as it did in 2012, 2016, and 2020, BTC appears to be entering price discovery roughly five months after the latest halving.

Historically, Bitcoin has grown in cycles of parabolic ascent and “crashes” down to prices far above the previous cycle’s highs.

Will Bitcoin go to $150,000? $200.000? $1,000,000? With Donald Trump in the White House, anything is possible.

During a discussion with Todd Starnes, Roy revealed that excuses are already surfacing among the GOP lawmakers as to why they won’t fully endorse Trump’s policies. Roy predicted a quiet resistance to Trump is forming within his party, unless significant pressure is applied to carry out Trump’s agenda.

“I think that Republicans in Congress are gonna give lip service to backing the president’s agenda and behind the scenes they’re going to be stonewalling it unless some of us can kick them right in the rear end and make them deliver,” Roy said. “That’s my blunt assessment. Truth is, you’re already hearing excuses. Well, we don’t have 60 votes in the Senate. You’re already hearing some of my colleagues say, ‘Well, we can’t do, you know, broad mass deportations,’ which by the way I think effectively just call it what it is, repatriation.”

"I think that Republicans in Congress are going to give lip service to backing the President's agenda, and behind the scenes, they're going to be stonewalling it. Unless some of us can kick them right in the rear end and make them deliver. " pic.twitter.com/d5rhy9TdFN

— Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) December 4, 2024

Roy pointed out recent legislative actions that he believes would immediately bankrupt important programs.

“You can’t just write another blank check. They just voted for $200 billion to re-shift Social Security funding from some people to others, which will cause their security to be bankrupt six months earlier,” Roy told Starnes. “This is the natural way of things for Republicans in Washington. They need to understand they will change their ways or they will lose power. That’s it. I’m gonna be on the side of change. I’m gonna be on the side of disrupting the status quo.”

The U.S. House of Representatives approved the bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act, which aims to abolish two outdated rules that diminish benefits for public sector workers, according to Yahoo Finance. Initially introduced in 2023, the bill now advances to the Senate with substantial bipartisan backing and, if enacted, will incur an estimated cost of $196 billion over 10 years.

Roy voiced his support for a substantial faction within the party that is eager to advance Trump’s policies. However, he warned, “There’s a large block here who want to do it, and I think some people here in this conference are in for a rude awakening.”

Roy also touched on broader frustrations with federal funding practices, emphasizing his discontent with taxpayer money supporting (National Public Radio) NPR through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

“I own a news talk radio station in Memphis, Tennessee. One of the things that angers me is the money I earn from my private business goes to fund competition across the street over at NPR, and I would love, I’ve already sent a message to Elon and Vivek, I would love for them to just dismantle the funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,” Roy said.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy previously unveiled their strategy for the newly proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), detailing extensive cuts to federal regulations and staffing.

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Between 50 to 100 Venezuelan nationals in Mexico are now requesting what is known as “voluntary return” every week, according to a Venezuelan official that spoke with Reuters, who added that many of these migrants have faced perilous situations in Mexico, such as kidnappings and sexual exploitation. A dozen migrants in Mexico told the news outlet that they would prefer to go back to their home countries, despite whatever issues that drove them to leave in the first place.

A major point of contention is Trump’s promise to scrap the CBP One app, which has been used by hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals to schedule asylum appointments with U.S. officials. More migrants feel the obstacles to come from Trump make it no longer worth waiting in Mexico, where many of them have been subjected extortion, sexual assault, kidnappings and a slate of other violence from cartels and other dangerous individuals taking advantage of the migration crisis.

“I am traumatized. If I don’t get the appointment, I will go back,” Nidia Montenegro, a 52-year-old Venezuelan national, said to Reuters.

Trump — who already established himself as an immigration hardliner during his first term in office — has vowed to embark on a number of hawkish measures for his second term, such as executing the largest deportation initiative in U.S. history, resuming wall construction, restarting the Remain in Mexico program and a number of other proposals.

“As President I will immediately end the migrant invasion of America. We will stop all migrant flights, end all illegal entries, terminate the Kamala phone app for smuggling illegals (CBP One App), revoke deportation immunity, suspend refugee resettlement, and return Kamala’s illegal migrants to their home countries (also known as remigration),” Trump posted on X in September.

First launched in October 2020 by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) primarily for cargo inspections, the CBP One app was expanded incredibly in January 2023 to include migrants waiting in Mexico hoping to schedule asylum appointments. More than 800,000 foreign nationals have scheduled appointments to present at ports of entry since the app’s expansion in January 2023, according to CBP.

While there have been reports of human smugglers urging migrants to rush to the southern border before Trump takes office and immigration officials have braced for such a possibility, border crossing numbers and on-the-ground interviews have largely suggested that most migrants feel defeated after Trump’s election victory. Todd Bensman, a national security fellow for the Center for Immigration Studies, reported Tuesday that “most everyone” he interviewed at a migrant camp in Mexico City said that they’re giving up and going home after Trump is inaugurated and cancels the CBP One app program.

Nevertheless, there are some that are still holding on to hope that they will land an appointment before the Republican re-enters the White House.

“I trust I will arrive before Mr. Trump takes office,” Johana, a young Venezuelan national hoping to cross from Guatemala to Mexico, said to Reuters. “If it’s not by appointment, there’s always a way.”

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The name is best known as the title of Sam Peckinpah’s classic 1969 western featuring a colorful cast of aging outlaws – William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Edmond O’Brien, Warren Oates, and Ben Johnson – who give it their all as they battle bounty hunters, the Mexican Federal Army, and the passage of time in order to make their mark while they still have a chance.

Substitute the legacy media and special interests for the bounty hunters and Mexican army, and that about sums up the desperate last-chance mission of the ragtag band Trump has put together to carry out his mandate of meaningful change in a government grown fat and corrupt for the past half-century.

We don’t need to belabor the point. Trump’s appointees aren’t outlaws, but they certainly have the federales worried – the so-called administrative state, the people who have been wearing badges and making the rules. Because this Wild Bunch looks like they mean business. If they get approved, they will be kicking ass and taking names.

It’s a far cry from Trump’s first Cabinet, which he appointed with the permission of the administrative state. The outsider president didn’t know enough yet – or have enough power – to buck the system. He went with consensus choices who, at best, might talk about change but would be hesitant to effect it. Half of them shot Trump in the back; most of the rest were disloyal to his face, along with the congressional power brokers who put up roadblocks to every meaningful reform.

It’s not hard to think of Trump as Pike Bishop, the William Holden character in “The Wild Bunch” who leads what’s left of his gang out of a disastrous gunfight at the beginning of the movie and then plans his next move. At one point, Pike tells his trusted lieutenant, “This is our last go-around, Dutch. This time, we do it right.”

That’s where Trump is now, at age 78, sensing the insufficiency of his first term and wanting to make a real difference the second time around. This time, we do it right.

The  president-elect has wasted no time in assembling his team of rabble-rousers. You can break the mayhem down into four discrete buckets – justice, health, national security, and economic overhaul – and it looks like, if he gets his way, Trump’s second term could be historic. Throw in the government reinvention project spearheaded by rogue entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy and you are well on your way to the second American revolution. No wonder the political establishment will stop at nothing to crush Trump and his appointees before they can begin the reforms they promised.

The old guard may have celebrated when they took down the proposed appointment of Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general, but they won nothing. Trump’s replacement nominee, former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi, will work just as hard as Gaetz to shake up the Department of Justice. As one of Trump’s attorneys in his first impeachment trial, she has intimate knowledge of how the Deep State can aim the full force of the federal bureaucracy on an individual to destroy him or her.

It’s no accident that the Trump transition team has declined FBI background checks on his nominees and appointees. Remember, this is the same FBI that entrapped Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn in the early days of his first administration. Not to mention the FBI that let President Trump be impeached for questioning Joe Biden’s role in Ukrainian corruption, even though the agency was in possession of Hunter Biden’s laptop that would have vindicated Trump if it had been released.

You can bet that Bondi, assisted by Trump’s criminal lawyer Todd Blanche in the role of deputy attorney general, will remove any Justice Department employees who pursue charges against anyone for political purposes. Those days are over.

But that’s just the beginning, and although the Justice Department overhaul may bring the most significant changes immediately, the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of Health and Human Services could result in long-term changes of even greater impact.

Anyone who has noticed the prevalence of advertising for wonder drugs on cable news probably can understand the concern that Big Pharma has an outsized impact on the health narrative being told in mainstream media. Multiply that concern by a dozen when you measure the influence that drug companies have not just on Congress and health regulatory agencies but on the medical industry itself.

Bobby Kennedy has no fear of Big Pharma or the scientific establishment and he is willing to demand accountability for the kinds of policy decisions that led to our disastrous COVID policies four years ago. Is he right about everything? No, but he asks the right questions – questions that until now no one in power has dared to raise.

What about national security? There are problems everywhere, none bigger than China, which has been the missing link in U.S. foreign policy for the past four years. Does President Biden even have a China policy? You would be hard-pressed to find it, unless it is appeasement. No response to the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. No response to the cold war with the Philippines or the creation of Chinese naval bases in the South China Sea. No response to the increasing pressure tactics employed against our crucial trading partner, Taiwan. No response to China cracking down on human rights and free speech in Hong Kong. No response to China’s creation of a spy base in Cuba in violation of the Monroe Doctrine. No response to China’s predatory trade practices using slave labor.

You can expect the silence from the State Department to end when Sen. Marco Rubio is approved by the Senate as the new secretary of state. China is on notice, but other hot spots around the globe will also be addressed by Trump’s national security team, which includes former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence and Rep. Michael Waltz as national security adviser. Trump promised to negotiate a settlement to the frightful war in Ukraine, and by appointing Gen. Keith Kellogg as special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, Trump is signaling that the killing has to end.

National security and the economy overlap in at least two crucial areas – illegal immigration and Trump’s plan to use tariffs as a tool to tame our allies and confound our adversaries. Treasury Secretary-designate Scott Bessent has made it clear that he will work with Trump to use tariffs to reshape the global economy and lessen the national debt.

That will be a key ingredient as Trump’s national security team works to deport the millions of illegals who have developed a dangerous symbiosis with the labor economy. Trump knows we can’t merely overlook the lawbreakers without surrendering our moral superiority, but the trick will be to find economic resources to make whole the industries like agriculture that will need to reinvent themselves with a legal work force.

In the first Trump administration, the response to Trump’s plans for massive change was “Why?” But now the response is “Why not?” As Trump asked black voters in 2016, “What do you have to lose?” Now that question is being posed to the entire nation, which has been sleepwalking toward the abyss for too long. If we don’t solve illegal immigration, the national debt, and the corporate stranglehold on our regulatory agencies and Defense Department, then there won’t be anything left to lose. That’s why nearly 60% of Americans support Trump’s transition, despite the fear-mongering of Rachel Maddow, the New York Times, and Biden’s White House.

In one last parallel between the cinematic “Wild Bunch” and Trump’s political variation, it is worth noting that Trump and his team know exactly what they are getting into. The Deep State isn’t going to take kindly to the president turning off the spigot of easy money for lobbyists, Big Pharma, and the military-industrial complex. But don’t expect Trump to back down.

In a crucial scene in the film, as the outlaws plot their revenge, Ernest Borgnine warns William Holden that “They’ll be waitin’ for us.”

Holden responds: “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Neither would Trump or any of the 77 million deplorables who joined his gang on Nov. 5.

Yeol made the declaration during an unannounced Tuesday television address where he accused the country’s opposition Democratic Party of sympathizing with North Korea and of intending to incite a “rebellion,” which lawmakers later voted to block and overturn the measure within hours. The CNN panel claimed this event should be a warning bell for Americans as Trump is about to take office, citing his statements to use the military to stop rioting in the streets.

“Obviously, we around the table should talk about why this should be an important thing for Americans to pay attention to, particularly given that Donald Trump is about to be president in a number of weeks, who has said wants to use the military to go after his own enemies,” CNN White House correspondent MJ Lee said.

Trump said during a Fox News interview in October that he would support deploying the National Guard or the military if necessary to stop “outside agitators” who would have potentially caused violence in the streets on Election Day. Democrats and the liberal media accused him of preparing to use the military to arrest his political opponents he deems as an “enemy of within,” including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic California Rep. Adam Schiff.

“You talked about, shocking, the parallels of January 6, just the image of a democracy facing this kind of crisis, I think people are scared about or sort of Democrats are scared about when they think about Trump’s return,” Punchbowl News co-founder John Bresnahan said. “Because he has encouraged the use of force to achieve political goals or try to achieve a political goal on January 6 or at least played with it. And he’s talked about now pardoning some of these folks on January 6, the rioters, insurrectionists, whatever you want to call them.”

The liberal media, Democrats and the White House all attempted to paint Trump as a threat to democracy and accused him of being a “fascist” before the 2024 election in large part due to the events that took place at the Capitol riot. Despite the messaging, Trump won all seven battleground states and became the first Republican presidential nominee to win the popular vote since 2004.

The now-president-elect stated in June 2020 that he would deploy “all available resources” including members of the military, to tackle the violent riots roaming across Washington D.C. and other major cities in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death. He urged governors throughout the U.S. to deploy the National Guard to counter the rioters, looters and lawlessness dominating the streets.

Colorado, Maine and Illinois attempted to remove Trump from the 2024 Republican primary ballot citing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, as they accused Trump of engaging in an insurrection in the aftermath of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. The Supreme Court later overturned in March by ruling that a state does not have the power to enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

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These plants only started buying Iranian crude this year after receiving guidance from the US State Department that sanctions wouldn’t be enforced by the Biden administration, according to a note from the industry consultant, which didn’t name the refiners. If confirmed that would be the latest foreign policy scandal by the captured and corrupt Biden admin, which has made a mockery of sanctions enforcement, especially if the alternative is sharply higher oil and gas prices.

In any case, with the imminent arrival of Trump, the Chinese refining sector will be under significant pressure to consolidate and the government might be “willing to sacrifice the teapots to score some easy points against Trump by clamping down Iranian imports.”

Limiting access would raise the cost of feedstock and slash margins for teapots and help Beijing to trim capacity.

Activity by independent refiners has picked up in the spot market, with a number of plants securing barrels from the Middle East in recent trades, on top of WAF grades purchased two weeks ago. These were all unsold, discounted barrels from the previous cycles.

With Iranian oil set to become extremely scarce, China’s independent refiners have snapped up barrels from across the Middle East and Africa as offers of Iranian oil remain scarcer and more expensive than usual, in part due to broadening US sanctions.

In a separate Bloomberg report, we learn that a large Chinese processor bought about 10 million barrels of grades from Abu Dhabi and Qatar, according to traders who asked not to be identified. The cargoes are for loading in December and January, and helped to clear an overhang of unsold crude from previous trading cycles, they added.

China’s independent refiners, known as teapots, typically favor cheaper Iranian crude and take around 90% of the OPEC producer’s exports, but a slowdown in the amount of oil available to purchase has forced a change in buying habits. The incoming Trump administration has also led to some large processors backing away from Tehran’s crude due to their exposure to US banking, according to Energy Aspects.

Traders and shippers put the scarcity of Iranian supply down to the broadening of US sanctions in October to include more dark fleet tankers plying the Iran-China trade. That move has crimped the number of vessels available for ship-to-ship transfers, tightening supply and driving prices higher (see “Satellite Analysis Shows Enormity Of Secretive Oil Shipping Hub Funneling Iranian Crude To China“).

Flows of Iranian oil to China have dipped more than 10% this month compared with October, according to Kpler. Meanwhile, the volume of West African crude is at the highest on a monthly basis in at least two years, partly driven by the spike in Iranian oil prices, Sentosa Shipbrokers wrote in a report.

Beijing’s move to issue more import quotas to teapots has also spurred buying activity, traders said. Refiners were asked to submit requests to purchase more crude a few months ago and were provided verbal approvals this week, but some started buying ahead of the confirmation, they added.

Refiners in Shandong province collectively sought an allocation of about 3.8 million tons, or 28.5 million barrels, which will be valid until the end of the year, according to traders.

The initial build-up of Middle Eastern oil was spurred by bumper trading activity in contracts linked to the Dubai market in recent months. That led to the delivery of cargoes that ultimately went unconsumed and had to find buyers at a later date, traders said.

President-elect Donald Trump has already rattled the market with the threat of tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico, and investors are closely watching to see how his administration will approach Iran. Sanctions on the OPEC producer are expected to tighten, according to Energy Aspects.

Key concerns include the possibility dark fleet tankers will be sanctioned en-route to their destination, a move that would spook the ports waiting to receive the vessels and lead to cargoes being stranded at sea.

We previously discussed how ship-to-ship transfers off Malaysia are also set to face more scrutiny, a process used to mask the origin of Iranian cargoes by re-labeling them as Malaysian oil.

He went full Beast Mode.

As he posted on Truth Social:

The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the Dollar while we stand by and watch is OVER. We require a commitment from these Countries that they will neither create a new BRICS Currency, nor back any other Currency to replace the mighty U.S. Dollar or, they will face 100% Tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. Economy. They can go find another “sucker!” There is no chance that the BRICS will replace the U.S. Dollar in International Trade, and any Country that tries should wave goodbye to America.

100% tariffs. That’s essentially a death penalty for pretty much any nation that relies on exports because the United States is by far the world’s largest consumer. Critics will say that such tariffs will increase costs for Americans, but they’re missing the point. This isn’t about raising tariffs. It’s about preventing the collapse of the U.S. Dollar.

President Trump just announced that he will impose a 100% tariff on all products from countries that join BRICS or try to replace the U.S. dollar in international trade.

This is about to cause worldwide panic.

AMERICA IS BACK BABY! pic.twitter.com/HR0k3ePoSU

— George (@BehizyTweets) November 30, 2024

De-dollarization has been on the horizon since the Biden regime weaponized SWIFT against Russia following their invasion of Ukraine. But the Ruble only suffered temporarily before becoming stronger than ever. The move prompted many nations to seek a safer alternative; if the United States was willing to use control of international commerce to punish another nation, then an alternative needed to be found.

This move by President Trump changes the calculus completely.

For decades, Andreessen has supported Democrats, including Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton. However, a troubling spring meeting with Biden administration officials caused major concerns. During the meeting, officials explained their plan to control AI through government regulatory capture—a strategy reminiscent of Communist policies in China.

“We had meetings [Biden officials] this spring that were the most alarming meetings I’ve ever been in. Where they were taking us through their plans, and it was – basically just full government – full government control – like this sort of thing, there will be a small number of large companies that will be completely regulated and controlled by the government, they told us. They said don’t even start startups – there’s just no way that they can succeed – there’s no way that we’re going to permit that to happen.” 

In mid-July, Axios reported that Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz had donated to President-elect Trump’s campaign. At the time, their support was attributed to Trump’s pro stance on crypto and AI regulation. It’s another telling example of just how far-left Democrats in the White House spooked Silicon Valley heavy hitters, such as Elon Musk.

Back to the podcast, Rogan asked Andreessen: “When you leave a meeting like that, what do you do?”

Andreessen responded: “You endorse Donald Trump.” 

X user Ben Averbook condensed Rogan’s three-hour podcast into a series of the most important highlights:

Biden's administration laid it all out:

Only 2-3 AI companies would be allowed to exist.

Complete control over development. pic.twitter.com/HEz8pAWXq5

— Ben Averbook (@benaverbook) November 26, 2024

Andreessen told Rogan about the federal government’s rogue “Operation Choke Point.” He described it as a move by the Department of Justice that initially targeted marijuana businesses and gun manufacturers. He said under Biden, it was then weaponized to destroy political opponents, tech founders, and the crypto community.

They’ve uncovered a new way to destroy companies:

30 tech founders were secretly debanked.

No warning. No explanation. No appeals.

Pure, silent government power. pic.twitter.com/iKPn9XmI82

— Ben Averbook (@benaverbook) November 26, 2024

Rogan and Andreessen discussed the government workforce dilemma.

The government workforce has been exposed:

• Half never returned to the office after COVID.
• Some show up just one day a month.
• Yet, they still collect full DC-level salaries. pic.twitter.com/MCzNZJIC6x

— Ben Averbook (@benaverbook) November 26, 2024

Andreessen spoke about Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and how they may have devised a plan to reduce the government workforce.

However, @elonmusk and @DOGE might have the solution:

“You can work from home… just not for the federal government.” pic.twitter.com/CaukJjmkY5

— Ben Averbook (@benaverbook) November 26, 2024

They spoke about national security threats.

Our national security is hanging by a thread:

• 90% of US military drones are Chinese-made.
• FAA regulations wiped out American manufacturers.

Each drone has the potential to be a weapon—or a spy platform. pic.twitter.com/tldx5xuVOJ

— Ben Averbook (@benaverbook) November 26, 2024

The Make America Healthy Again movement.

They’ve already tested this level of control on our food system:

• The USDA promoted high fructose corn syrup everywhere.
• Created the infamous upside-down food pyramid.

Now, they’re aiming for the same dominance over tech. pic.twitter.com/bIYzapFJCw

— Ben Averbook (@benaverbook) November 26, 2024

Silicon Valley’s political views are fracturing.

Silicon Valley is breaking under pressure:

One side blindly follows every NYT narrative.

The other sees the truth.

“We’ve even split into two kinds of dinner parties.” pic.twitter.com/dwaI909RA0

— Ben Averbook (@benaverbook) November 26, 2024

AI censorship.

"If you thought social media censorship was bad, AI control will be 1000x worse. It's going to be the control layer for everything:

Your kids' education, your loans, your front door." pic.twitter.com/7oVksN6zR8

— Ben Averbook (@benaverbook) November 26, 2024

First’ Twitter Files’… YouTube files next?

.@pmarca tells @joerogan that it's highly likely there will be a YouTube Files: "This new administration is probably going to carve all of this stuff open." pic.twitter.com/7NcwHMp9Z4

— CAPITAL (@capitalnewshq) November 26, 2024

There was talk at the time of the two leaders falling “in love”—however, the past couple years of Biden’s Pentagon parking a nuclear submarine at a South Korean port has done much to undo these good will displays. Washington has requested that Pyongyang abandon its nuclear weapons development, while Kim has demanded nothing less than full sanctions relief.

What will the policy be under the second Trump White House?

“US president-elect Donald Trump’s team is discussing pursuing direct talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, hoping a fresh diplomatic push can lower the risks of armed conflict, according to two people familiar with the matter,” South China Morning Post and Reuters report Tuesday.

While Trump’s transition team has said nothing official on the issue as yet, insider sources say a return to direct diplomacy is hopeful:

Several in Trump’s team now see a direct approach from Trump, to build on a relationship that already exists, as most likely to break the ice with Kim, years after the two traded insults and what Trump called “beautiful” letters in an unprecedented diplomatic effort during his first term in office, the people said.

As for the North Korean side, it doesn’t seem in any hurry, or at least is building leverage in anticipation of potential near-future Trump overtures.

The Wall Street Journal summarized Kim’s reaction as of last week as follows:

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appeared to rebuff the prospect of reviving his nuclear diplomacy with President-elect Donald Trump, according to his first public remarks about disarmament talks since the election.

North Korea’s state media reported Friday that the 40-year-old dictator called the U.S. a superpower that operated by force rather than a will to coexist and belittled the value that previous talks had for his cash-strapped regime.   

Kim was quoted in a speech days ago as saying, “We have already explored every possible avenue in negotiating with the US.”

He cited Washington’s “unchanging aggressive and hostile policy” toward North Korea, which has included stepped-up joint US-South Korean military exercises on the peninsula.

Earlier on the Trump campaign trail…

Trump says Kim Jong-un probably misses him pic.twitter.com/iGJ10hlbAK

— Kolja Barghoorn (@MitAktien) July 21, 2024

It’s possible that if Trump is able to oversee peace in Ukraine, which he is pledging to begin in earnest from day one of entering the Oval Office, things could stabilize with US-North Korea relations as well.

But looming large as a complicating factor is North Korea’s sending some 10,000 of its troops to Russia, where they are reportedly assisting Moscow forces in pushing back Ukraine’s occupation of the southern Kursk region. Kiev has used this to decry the ‘internationalization’ of the war, despite NATO having injected billions of dollars and heavy weaponry on Ukraine’s side.

Dr Jay Bhattacharya is a famous critic of the NIH and the COVID-19 policy they put forth. Bhattacharya has advocated for a major shakeup of the NIH and accused former NIH leaders Francis Collins and Anthony Fauci of suppressing scientific debate and research during the pandemic.

To support Robert F Kennedy Jr, President Trump has also announced the nomination of Jim O’Neill to serve as Deputy HHS Secretary. O’Neill comes from the stable of Peter Thiel a billionaire ally of RFK Jr and Elon Musk. O’Neill was CEO of the Thiel Foundation.

Jim O’Neill held several roles at HHS during the George W. Bush administration including principal associate deputy secretary.

— Read More: theconservativetreehouse.com