During a February interview which broadcast just before the Superbowl, President Trump recalled riding with former President Barack Obama to the Inauguration on Jan. 20 when he asked Obama to list the three greatest issues America was facing.

[…] “I asked him what you think our biggest problem is and he told me,” Trump said, recalling the limousine ride to the U.S. Capitol with Obama. “I can’t tell you,” Trump said after O’Reilly interrupted to ask about specifics. “But it’s a problem, its a military problem with a certain place. No, it’s not China. But it is – he did mention, cause I did ask him what would you say our number one, two, three problems are and the number one problem that he felt – I was a little bit surprised, but I fully understand.” (link)

Almost every mainstream political pundit and political observer believes the concerning country within that conversation was North Korea. Indeed, if you were to evaluate the comment in isolation, against the backdrop of world media headlines, N-Korea seemingly becomes a natural conclusion.

However, CTH does not believe North Korea was the country of concern. President Obama viewed and acted upon all foreign affairs through the prism of ideological belief. Every action taken by the Obama administration was in furtherance of an ideological world-view that was personal to the small circle of like-minded fellow travelers.

Outgoing President Obama would not respond to such a question from an abject detachment to the same ideological road-map that drove his foreign policy positions.

No, if it was a country of concern to Obama it would have a personal element to it; North Korea just doesn’t fit.

President Trump went on to say he did not believe Obama would mind if he had shared his answer, but said he did not want that country to know it is viewed as the number one concern to the U.S.

Businessman Trump is President Trump and in both roles Trump has shown through action a keen forward approach. Trump games-out long term objectives and strategies.

Often by the time you see a visible Trump action there has been months of pre-planning.

The President Xi Jinping visit with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago is one example that people are only just now beginning to understand. Trump seeded the objectives of the meeting with President Xi months before their April 6th and 7th meeting (emphasis mine):

[…] “You gotta work on North Korea,” Trump told a Chinese official on February 27, the senior administration official said, apparently pointing to a brief meeting at the White House between Trump and Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi, the highest-ranking Chinese official Trump has met with since taking office. (link)

In the events surrounding Syria and Russia President Trump also had mapped out a long-term strategy. Instructions that did not come from Trump’s team, but rather from President Trump personally.

Back in January, before taking office, President Trump told his National Security landing team to approach the intelligence communities and request “outside the box” solutions to Syria (Via Russia/Iran), as one regional issue; and North Korea (using China) as another.

The responsibility for assembling the information fell upon the administration’s IC liaison Deputy NSA Advisor KT McFarland.

The media do not talk about President Trump having the acumen to approach global issues with specific personally generated strategy. The MSM obviously prefer to sell Trump’s approach as reactionary or emotional; however, as we have seen from the results so far, nothing could be further from the truth than the media’s false narrative.

So where does that bring us?

Well, considering everything outlined above; and considering the location of the MOAB as utilized; and considering the location where President Trump directed his National Security Advisor to go…

Well, I would make an argument the Obama-Trump conversation was about a tenuous nuclear country who hid Osama Bin Laden for ten years, Pakistan.

National security advisor H.R. McMaster, left, with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad on April 17. /Reuters

(Via World Tribune) […] McMaster visited Islamabad on April 17, a day after holding talks with Afghan leaders in Kabul. He delivered a public message to leaders in Pakistan, whom Afghan officials accuse of permitting Taliban jihadists to establish sanctuaries and conduct attacks into Afghanistan with the help of Pakistan’s intelligence agency, Voice of America reported. “As all of us have hoped for many many years … that Pakistani leaders will understand that it is in their interest to go after these groups less selectively than they have in the past and the best way to pursue their interests in Afghanistan and elsewhere is through diplomacy not through the use of proxies that engage in violence,” McMaster said. The Pakistani government said in a statement that the U.S. delegation included Lisa Curtis, a researcher with the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington, who McMaster has hired to oversee South Asia affairs. In February, Curtis co-authored an article calling for Washington to “levy heavy costs on Pakistan for policies that help perpetuate terrorism in the region.” In his first trip to the region since being named national security adviser, McMaster met with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his top foreign policy aides before holding talks with the country’s powerful military chief, Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa. (link)

Syria (via Russia), North Korea (via China) are, in large measure, diplomatic matters with clear White House objectives and political goals. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been intensely successful so far in handling all of these regional issues with exceptional diplomacy and international support.

President Trump, T-Rex and to a lesser extent Nikki Haley, have aptly navigated through the issues surrounding Syria and China; and with ongoing diplomatic endeavors continuing Vice-President Pence is dispatched as a sincere, stable and trustworthy closer.

However, Pakistan is an entirely different kettle-of-fish. Pakistan policy currently involves higher priority intelligence community and military efforts; ergo, McMasters doing the advanced recon, and a rather noisy knock at the door just prior to arrival.

[…] This is the majors now. Trump has to outwit world-class adversaries and “frenemies” by defining the deals that they will agree to. One minute they will think Trump is their friend – the next minute, a cunning, bitter foe. And he has to do this with evil cheerleaders like Warhead, Linderace, Dipsy Dowd, Maggie Haterman, and Fake Yapper trashing him or praising him alternately, no matter which way he goes. They can’t keep up, either. Neither can many around him. I think that half of the problem with advisers crashing into each other is they don’t realize what Trump is doing. And people will trash you, and they will trash me. Get used to it. I’ve already caught plenty of people mocking me. Well, just wait a week in Trump time. Look stupid and conned by Trump one minute, and you look like a sage three days later. Trump will not find perfect solutions. He will find OPTIMAL solutions. We cannot ask for more. Trump has stood by and watched Perfect murder Good for 8 years – maybe longer. He’s not gonna do it. He’s going to deliver the best outcome possible, and he’s not waiting for us to feel relaxed about it. […] Trump is Jupiter moving through the asteroid belt. He is going to pull people into his orbit. A few will get slung off into space, but most will come along for the ride of their lives. (more)