BloggeRhythms

Today's one where the benefits of Trump’s business acumen can be seen on several fronts. Results of his analytical pragmatism gained from transactional experience is evidenced in his approach to filling cabinet positions. At the same time, foreign leadership is learning first-hand what kind of individual they are now dealing with.     

FoxNews.com reports that: “Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe became the first world leader to meet President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday, seeking reassurances over the future of U.S.-Japan security and trade relations. 

After meeting with Trump in New York, Abe said: “I do believe that without confidence between the two nations (the) alliance would never function in the future and (after) the outcome of today's discussion I am convinced Mr. Trump is a leader in whom I can have great confidence.” 

A reader, ratstew followed with an unquestionably correct assessment: “The democrats greatest fear:  that Trump WILL be successful, not that he won't.”  

Regarding Trump’s managerial approach, FoxNews.com reported: “Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer said Thursday on “Special Report with Bret Baier” that when it comes to figuring out who will be in the Trump administration "trying to read the tea leaves here is really quit fruitless."  

“Krauthammer went on to say that the criticism of how long it is taking Trump to pick a team is unwarranted.  

"I think criticism of the incoming administration has got is, as David Axelrod says, slightly unbalanced, said Krauthammer. “At the same point they had not made appointments and he said I don't remember being criticized."  

And then, Trump proved Krauthammer’s point about unpredictability whereas Antonio José Vielma @cnbc.com wrote: “Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will meet with Donald Trump this weekend to discuss the secretary of state position, a source close to the president-elect with direct knowledge of his thinking told NBC News. 

“In March, the former Massachusetts governor called Trump "a phony" and "a fraud" when discussing the then-candidate. Trump, who endorsed Romney in 2012, has called him a loser, adding that Romney begged for his endorsement and "would've dropped to his knees" for it. He has also said that he "choked like a dog" during his 2012 presidential campaign against President Barack Obama. 

“During the primaries, Romney campaigned with Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the Buckeye State. Last week after the election, however, Romney called Trump to congratulate him on his surprise win.” 

Evidently Romney’s congratulatory effort was taken quite well by Trump, considering the result.  

Romney wasn’t the only surprise yesterday however. 

Debby Wu staff writer @nikkei.com, reported that: “iPhones might one day soon carry "Made in America" labels.

Apple asked both Foxconn and Pegatron, two iPhone assemblers, in June to look into making iPhones in the U.S. "Foxconn complied, while Pegatron declined to formulate such a plan due to cost concerns." 

Foxconn, and its smaller rival produce more than 200 million iPhones annually from their massive Chinese campuses.

The probable stimulus for Apple’s actions is that “Trump may push the Cupertino, California-based tech titan to make a certain number of iPhone components at home.
 
Trump singled out Apple several times earlier this year to hammer home his point, and vowed to slap a 45% tariff on goods made in China.”

“The anxiety among Trump's mostly white working-class supporters in the Rust Belt of America is understandable. While Apple claims that it created and supports 2 million jobs domestically, U.S. think-tank Economic Policy Institute estimated that America had lost 5 million manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2014.”

Thus, only ten days after his presidential win, Trump has got a major manufacturer moving toward significant American job creation. A move that many others will surely 
follow. Reinforcing reader ratstew’s correct assessment above: “The democrats greatest fear:  that Trump WILL be successful, not that he won't.” 

Jobs, cabinet considerations and foreign policy gains weren’t the only elements of Trump’s agenda making news yesterday, as evidenced by an article @channelnewsasia.com, titled; “Trump fears push nations at Morocco talks to call climate action an 'urgent duty”

According to the text: “Fears that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will pull out of the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming pushed almost 200 nations at climate talks in Morocco on Thursday to declare action an "urgent duty". 

“Trump has called man-made global warming a hoax and has said he will withdraw from the Paris Agreement, which seeks to wean the global economy off fossil fuels this century with a shift to renewable energies such as wind and solar power. 

In a statement, the ministers at the meeting said momentum for cutting greenhouse gases was "irreversible" and reaffirmed their commitment to "full implementation" of the Paris accord. 

"We call for the highest political commitment to combat climate change, as a matter of urgent priority," they said in the Marrakesh Action Proclamation. 

"Our climate is warming at an alarming and unprecedented rate and we have an urgent duty to respond," it said. Delegates applauded, joined hands above their heads in standing ovation after the proclamation was read out.” 

Then the article finally reached the crux of the matter, whereas: “In the document, rich nations reaffirmed a goal of mobilising US$100 billion in climate finance, from both public and private sources, by 2020 to help developing countries. 

“Trump's election has cast a shadow over the Paris deal, which was agreed after more than two decades of deadlock about how to tackle global warming and entered into force in record time, on Nov. 4.” 

Meaning that if Trump stays true to his stated objective, that $100 billion will no longer reach the tills of those 200 nations expecting a windfall of U.S. taxpayers bucks.    

As far as the climate itself is concerned, Tony Heller @reaclimatescience.com, once again addressed the realities yesterday, writing: “NOAA claimed record heat in numerous locations is September, like these ones in Africa and the Middle East.

“This is a remarkable feat, given that they don’t have any actual thermometers in those regions. In fact, NOAA doesn’t have any thermometers on about half of the land surface.

“Satellite temperatures showed that September was close to normal in those regions which NOAA declared to be record hot.

“Not only is the land data fake, but much of the ocean data is fake too.

“The global surface temperature record is garbage. This is the 21st century, and it needs to be replaced by satellite temperatures which show little or no warming this century” 

Reader JRSTern wrote: “Don’t see how it could. The theory has always been that CO2 has immediate effects, and temperature been basically flat for 20 years now while CO2 has nearly doubled. The amount of warming seen, if any, is basically within the error bars. Baseline has to go back at least to 1960 to see if there’s any large pattern, that’s baseline of the data we do have, we don’t get to make it up.”

chicago860 added: “Keep in mind, CO2 increases lag warming rather than lead it. Increased CO2 is more an effect than a cause.” 

Which indicates that it’s likely that neither Tony Heller, JRS Tern nor chicago860 are among those expecting a share of that $100 billion about to be up for grabs.

And then, just a couple of moments ago, according to Keith Naughton @bloomberg.com: "President-elect Donald Trump suggested on Twitter that he convinced Ford Motor Co. to keep production of a Lincoln sport utility vehicle in the U.S. instead of moving it to Mexico. And the automaker doesn’t dispute that.

“Just got a call from my friend Bill Ford, Chairman of Ford, who advised me that he will be keeping the Lincoln plant in Kentucky -- no Mexico,” Trump wrote in a Twitter post.

"Ford builds the Lincoln MKC small SUV at its Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky alongside the Ford Escape SUV. Ford had never said it was considering shifting MKC production south of the border. But the company confirmed Friday that it had been “likely” to move the work to Mexico in 2019 when its current contract with the United Auto Workers union expires.

“We had planned to move the Lincoln MKC out of Louisville Assembly Plant," probably to the Cuautitlan factory in Mexico, Christin Baker, a Ford spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.

Trump has criticized Ford for planning to move all its North American small-car production to Mexico, where wages are 80 percent lower than in the U.S. Ford also builds the Lincoln MKZ sedan at a factory in Hermosillo, Mexico.

Ford, had expressed willingness to work with Trump since he was elected, saying in an email: "We are encouraged that President-elect Trump and the new Congress will pursue policies that will improve U.S. competitiveness and make it possible to keep production of this vehicle here in the U.S.”

Also on this busy morning, Trump has just selected Senator Jeff Sessions for attorney general, Retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn for national security adviser, and Representative Mike Pompeo for CIA director. Consequently, the New York Times will more than likely publish an article complaining that Trump's moving far too fast to make wise, considerate, presidential-like decisions for such critical positions. And therefore, the nation's at great risk.

As the new administration comes together, coupled with the news of American manufacturers committing to growing their businesses right here at home,  the New York Times looks more and more foolish, uninformed and purposefully hostile against the president-elect. 

In fact, if Trump's pace keeps up, the publication might very well publish themselves right out of the business altogether which their rapidly declining readership indicates quite clearly.

That's it for today folks.

Adios