Great interview segment between Lou Dobbs and Michael Pillsbury discussing the status of the U.S-China trade conflict. Pillsbury notes how the Chinese analysts likely fell into the trap of believing what most western financial media were saying about domestic opposition to President Trump’s policies.

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One of the aspects to President Trump that bears a continual reminder is the importance of actual economic victory over optical political victory. President Trump is primarily focused on the former, and only concerned about the latter as it relates to his goal:

….to fundamentally restructure the way the American economy interacts with the global community. Economic security is national security.

That’s what President Trump cares about. President Trump’s outlook on economic security is only superseded by one measure: his willingness to use the U.S. military to protect U.S. persons from physical threats of harm.

Withdrawing the tentacles of global exfiltration of American wealth; vis-a-vis the structural reset of the U.S. economy and how it engages with the global trade systems; is the pinnacle focus of President Trump. All other issues are ‘less than’; and the internal politics within Washington DC is far, far, less than in this set of priorities.

It may be uncomfortable for many to see and/or admit, but all other priorities held by supporters of President Trump fall below his primary economic objective. American economic priority is the stuff Donald Trump has discussed, shared, considered and sought counsel on for over 30 years.

Any ancillary policy or issue that intersects with Trump’s focus on the U.S. economy gets priority [See: Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP); Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP); and Paris Climate Treaty as examples]. However, all issues which fall farther away from the economy are downstream priorities.

Within the small dot, disproportionately emphasized by pundits, lays the internal politics of DC. President Trump has spooky good political instincts, yet his valuation of politics is proportional to the necessity of politics in achieving the economic transformation.

Everything else is less-than.

Everything.

Trump may cede ground on specific issues that make his supporters angry; but he will never cede ground on an issue that intersects with his global economic realignment.

It’s worth keeping that in mind.

Apparently China did not know that.