According to the apex predators on K-Street, Stephen Miller doesn’t play the lobbyist game, and they call him an ideologue because he’s not transactional.  In other words, Miller doesn’t let lobbyists influence decisionmaking.

Now that Stephen Miller is the Chief of Staff, he has informed White House staff they are not allowed to meet with lobbyists on the grounds of the White House.

The informal relationship era of Susie Wiles is gone.

According to Politico – […] “The memo likely won’t shock lobbyists on K Street where Miller has few friends.

He eschews relationship-based favors. He doesn’t sway easily on issues. He’s ideologically driven and fiercely loyal to President Donald Trump. That makes his elevation to chief of staff difficult for lobbyists seeking to influence the administration in its last two years, a dozen GOP lobbyists told POLITICO.

“The thing with Stephen is, he’s not someone that a lobbyist goes in and has to crack or try to win over,” said Hunter Morgen, a lobbyist at Ballard Partners who worked with Miller at the White House during the first Trump administration. “He doesn’t operate based on relationships. He operates based on policy outcomes that will advance the president’s agenda.”

“President Trump’s loyalty is to the American people, not lobbyists. His team is dedicated to advancing the President’s agenda, not the agenda of D.C. lobbyists,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said. “All of the White House components continue to work in lockstep to implement President Trump’s America First agenda.”

[…]  “He’s impossible to lobby, no one can do it, not even the people that you would think are closest,” one of those lobbyists said. “I think he’s more reasonable than he’s being portrayed, but he’s not swayed by lobbying.”

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The first phase of site security updates is complete.  Hopefully no-one noticed any significant disruptions.

The Phase-1 security updates were done on the backside including the server container.  Again, I hope no-one encountered any device or browser compatibility issue.  The Phase-2 update will provide security enhancements to the Treehouse proprietary commenting system.  Phase-2 is likely over the weekend once I complete additional tests.

The combination provides additional layers of security, and I’ll explain in detail soon.

Thank you for your support and understanding,

Sundance

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When we were following the Volkswagen/BMW auto contraction story, CTH noted the issue was likely to expand to Mercedes, that has now happened.

As Mercedes enters negotiations with German labor unions, the union leaders have balked at a request by the company to expand the work week from 35 to 38 hours.  Against a stagnant economy and poor financial returns, Mercedes is now saying all future investment in Germany will be suspended and the possibility of plant closures and layoffs loom large.

The primary reason Mercedes cites for their financial struggle is declining sales in the Chinese market as consumers switch to less expensive brands of similar quality.  Again, this doesn’t come as a surprise since Geely, a Chinese auto company purchased a 10% stake in Mercedes ultimately to gain access to Mercedes engineering and supply chains.

The result is what happens with almost all companies who allow China to take a significant interest in their production line. China figures out a way to make the same or similar product at a less expensive cost.  This is the same outcome suffered by Volkswagen, and now China is positioned to sell Geely autos into the German market.

(Telegraph) – Mercedes-Benz has suspended all future investment in Germany, warning it may need to shut plants and relocate jobs.

The carmaker has suffered from shrinking sales and profits in recent years, triggering a wave of cost-cutting which has culminated in a decision to stop investing in its domestic plants entirely.

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Vice-President of the European Union, Kaja Kallas (Estonia), an unelected bureaucrat who has made her EU reputation based on opposition to Russia in general and President Putin specifically, told journalists today that she should be the leader from the EU who represents European interests in trilateral negotiations with Russia.

While Kallas does factually personify the characteristics of Europe, if anything resembling this turns out to be the collective decision it simply represents a reality that Europe doesn’t want peace between Ukraine and Russia.  Kallas is the DEI selection who has no clue how stunningly unqualified she is to negotiate such matters.  The other name we will likely hear is skinny suit-wearing Finland President Alexander Stubb (big teeth guy).  WATCH:

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As long as the Iran conflict continues, energy speculators have the justification for higher oil, gas, fuel and energy prices. Even if global oil and gas flows return to their pre-conflict levels, so long as the conflict itself is in place the market traders, speculators and manipulators have a justification for higher prices.  The center for this global financial matter is London.

If you are an EU minded ‘climate change’ ideologue having constructed decades of fabricated net-zero objectives, the Iran conflict now serves your interests.  The Iran conflict does not assist the interests of the people of Europe, but rather the interests of the political and powerful elite in finance control who benefit from higher prices of traditional energy.

The blame for higher EU energy costs now shifts from EU climate advocates to Trump.

Here’s where it takes a Machiavellian twist. One way to keep the Iran situation in place is to place ancillary pressure on the key to the solution, Russia.

So long as the EU keeps threatening Russia with expanded conflict, there is no motive for Russia to assist President Trump in the solution within Iran.  Solving the crisis within Iran is against Putin’s security interests, as long as the EU threat holds some reasonable possibility, because Iran -a Russian ally- can strike Europe with their remaining ballistic missile inventory.

What we see is the creation of a Gordian Knot.  You cannot resolve the Iran conflict so long as Russian security interests are threatened, and you cannot resolve the Russian security interests as long as the Ukraine-Russia conflict continues.

President Trump wants the Iran conflict resolved. Russia is the key; which is why President Trump has redirected diplomatic resources to resolve the Ukraine-Russia war.  However, that war underpins the justification for expanded conflict espoused by Europe toward Russia.  The EU take a hostile position toward Russia knowing a peaceful resolution is against their ‘climate change’ agenda.  There are trillions of pre-positioned interests at stake.

Ukraine President Vladimir Zelensky (correct name) tells his western supporters that President Trump is too favorable toward the position of Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin. {SOURCE} This is not fully accurate, nor is it entirely false.  The missing element is ‘why’.

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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.

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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 †

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The remarks by Zelensky, Kushner and Witkoff are below in the first 6 minutes of the video.

The main thrust from Ireland is for Europe to be actively involved in negotiating any agreement between Ukraine and Russia.  Considering the puppet status of Zelensky in this dynamic, the demands from the EU gnats makes sense, although it is annoying.

Kushner affirms he conveyed this request to Vladimir Putin in Moscow, and posits that Putin was open to talking about the larger security ramifications with Europe and Ukraine.  This should please the Europeans; however we should remind ourselves of the upcoming APEC summit which will bring Putin, Trump and Xi together.  That table is much more consequential than the net-zero gnats that puff their tailfeathers around Dublin.

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The arrogance and hubris of the European leadership is clearly evident in these remarks from French President Emmanuel Macron.

During the European Political Community (EPC) Summit in Dublin, Ireland, also attended by Canada because ‘reasons’, French President Macron is asked about the EU position toward Ukraine.  Within his response (prompted) you will note that Macron says Europe leads the coalition of the willing, with some support from Australia and Japan, but the U.S. is no longer an active supporter of the EU “coalition of the willing” standing.

This outlook underpins Macron’s justification that EU voices alone should determine the outcome of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.  Fair enough; however, this same Macron demands the United States to be the protector of Ukraine security measures because Europe cannot do it.

If Macron wants to be the EU to be the decisionmaker, then let the EU provide the security measures for the agreement they will determine.  The hubris here is quite, well, European and remarkably annoying.

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Stephen A. Smith sits down inside the White House Roosevelt Room with President Donald Trump for a wide-ranging interview on the post-midterm landscape.

Topics include the GOP’s electoral losses, the ongoing conflict with Iran, rising gas and grocery prices, and the economic impact of sweeping tariffs. The conversation also dives deep into Trump’s record with Black voters, HBCU funding, criminal justice reform, border security under Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Jensen Huang’s resignation from Nvidia.

Chapters:
0:00 Intro: Inside the White House Roosevelt Room
1:11 Analyzing the 2026 Midterm Election Losses
5:45 Ken Paxton, John Cornyn & GOP Primary Endorsements
8:47 The War with Iran, Nuclear Threats & Gas Prices
16:16 How Tariffs Are Bringing Back U.S. Manufacturing

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