Free Republic

Likely President Trump can wait to address most issues on his agenda until his inauguration on 20 January 2017. One issue will not wait until January –ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). Of the many issues of direct interest to Australia, the TPP is the most important and with the likelihood that that the Obama administration will push for ratification of the deal before the end of his term during a four-week period known as a lame-duck session, it is certainly the most immediate. At present passage of the TPP in the United States appears unlikely. The vigorous opposition...

  One of the more complex nuances to understand in this election cycle is the construct of the DC UniParty.   When it comes to substantive legislative priorities the Republican and Democrat parties are ideologically aligned. It has been this way for decades and until recently almost everyone ignored the evidence.  Donald Trump’s campaign for the presidency is the first time anyone has ever challenged the modern UniParty, essentially presenting a second party option. Donald Trump has revealed and exposed the UniParty.  He has left them naked to their enemies, and their enemy is US. The UniParty tricks people into believing there...

The Clinton campaign privately fumed that one of its surrogates told supporters that Hillary Clinton planned to betray labor groups by adopting the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal after the election, according to emails published by WikiLeaks. Labor Outreach Director Nikki Budzinski told senior campaign advisers on November 3, 2015 that labor leaders were complaining to her about Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D., Texas). The congresswoman, an early Clinton supporter, privately told supporters that Clinton had no intention of opposing the TPP free trade deal once she was president, according to a memo circulated by Budzinski after a meeting with AFL-CIO...

Re: TPP Statement From:mfisher@hillaryclinton.com To: john.podesta@gmail.com Date: 2015-10-07 16:53 Subject: Re: TPP Statement Printing! On Wed, Oct 7, 2015 at 2:52 PM, John Podesta wrote: > Can you print for me. > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: "Dan Schwerin" > Date: Oct 7, 2015 2:37 PM > Subject: TPP Statement > To: "John Podesta" , "Christina Reynolds" < > creynolds@hillaryclinton.com>, "Brian Fallon" , > "Nick Merrill" , "Jake Sullivan" < > jsullivan@hillaryclinton.com>, "Jennifer Palmieri" < > jpalmieri@hillaryclinton.com>, "Kristina Schake" < > kschake@hillaryclinton.com>, "Robby Mook" , > "Mandy Grunwald" > Cc: > > STATEMENT > > > I’m continuing to...

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman says Congress has the votes to pass the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement if it is brought up for a vote. Hillary Clinton was a vocal proponent of the TPP–having reportedly praised the deal at least 45 times–and played a “leading part in drafting” the deal before she was eventually forced to distance herself from her prior support for political reasons. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has previously argued that Clinton only says she’s against the TPP because she was “shamed” into doing so, and has warned that, if she is elected President, Clinton “will immediately approve it [TPP] if it is put before...

Wikileaks: Soros Memo Accused Obama of Fueling Radical Islam to Push TPP by Frances Martel24 Oct 2016 A March 2016 email published Monday by the organization Wikileaks reveals that George Soros, in anticipation of a meeting with Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, requested Podesta read a memo accusing President Barack Obama of emboldening radical Islam in Malaysia in order to get the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) passed. Podesta received an email in March 2016 from Soros spokesperson Michael Vachon. “I have attached a memo on TPP and Malaysia, as it may come up when you see George and Alex [Soros,...

In the second presidential debate between Clinton and Trump, aired live Sunday, Clinton was  asked about some of her leaked speech transcripts published by WikiLeaks. In particular, the Democrat candidate was asked about a remark she made that “you need both a public and a private position.” Clinton brushed it aside as if it were taken out of context.The relevant portion of the speech transcript does not allow Mrs. Clinton’s interpretation, but that did not stop the left-leaning moderators of the debate from letting it slide. In the transcript from Clinton’s April 24, 2013 speech for the National Multi-Housing Council...

Where have we heard this before? Oh. Right. Same Lurch. This is the same crap he pulled with the Iran deal. Having gone to the leaders of another nation on his own and made assurances he could not back up, John Kerry then came back to the United States and threw a snit before Congress because they saw what he didn’t – that the deal Kerry negotiated was bad for the United States. But . . . but! You have to pass it! America will look bad in front of other world leaders if we don’t! I said we would!...

The reporter asks White House spokesliar Josh Earnest questions regarding the determination of Hussein Obama to force through what should be titled the Corporate Government Fascism Enablement And Benefits Act, what is deceptively marketed as a trade agreement, TPP. The Trans-Pacific Partnership is strongly opposed by Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton claims to have flip-flopped her position and now be opposed to it. That’s a point that Donald Trump made in the first debate, that she was initially in favor of it and her newfound dedication to its defeat is tepid at best. He also voiced his belief that if...

Shortened title. Full title: Exclusive — Mook Spooked: Clinton Campaign Manager, Other Top Dems Dodge Questions on Whether Hillary Wants Obama to Withdraw TPP Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager Robby Mook and other top Democrats refused to answer whether Clinton wants President Barack Obama to withdraw the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) from consideration before Congress during interviews with Breitbart News in the spin room after the first presidential debate here at Hofstra University on Monday night. The fact that Mook, Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon, and Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairwoman Donna Brazile each refused to answer the simple question that...

Hillary Clinton once called TPP the 'gold standard.' Here's why, and what she says about the trade deal now. to the bottom: “I still believe in the goal of a strong and fair trade agreement in the Pacific as part of a broader strategy both at home and abroad, just as I did when I was secretary of State,” she said in a statement.

During their first debate face-off, Donald Trump hit Hillary Clinton over her support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Trump slammed the former first lady, who originally supported the massive free trade agreement, for calling it the “gold standard” of trade agreements. The issue of trade provided Trump with a window to launch the first significant attack against her last night—and yes, Clinton did describe TPP as such. Clinton tried to wiggle her way out of this endorsement of a trade agreement the Trump says will bring about the death knell to American manufacturing. DONALD TRUMP: You called it the gold standard....

We can discuss the polls to determine the victor from last night, and we'd be left with a huge number that say Trump won and a few that say Clinton won. Or, we could look at little, non-scientific groups that networks gather called ‘focus groups’ and we can wonder how any American doesn't realize that a dozen people isn't even vaguely representative of the 320 million Americans. Americans aren't that stupid. Sadly, the media thinks we are. We can look a demeanor, and we'll note the deer-in-the-headlights look of Clinton for the first two-thirds of the debate, or we'll note...

Obama needs to ensure he gets well compensated after leaving office for a job well done protecting, defending and further enriching the global oligarch class. This is precisely why he’s so adamant about passing the TPP during the upcoming lame duck session of Congress, when he knows “representatives” who no longer face reelection can be coerced or bribed into voting for this monumental public betrayal. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) ins’t really a free trade deal, it’s a way for global oligarchs to consolidate, grow and protect their enormous wealth. The investor-state dispute settlement system (ISDS) is perhaps the most nefarious...

Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich went to the White House on Friday to stump for a top priority item for President Obama and Wall Street — and to undercut Donald Trump. If the irate reaction from Republicans when New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie simply embraced Obama in the wake of Hurricane Sandy in 2012 is any measure, Kasich is in for a torrent of intense criticism from members of his own party. In the bizarre and unprecedented move, Kasich appeared at a White House press briefing to advocate for Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact.

Hundreds of thousands of Germans took to the streets Saturday, in protest of pending trade deals with the United States and Canada. The deals in question are the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the U.S. and the European Union and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) for the Canadian-EU relationship. Neither free trade agreement has been ratified yet, but popular outcry has been growing for the last few years. The demonstrations took place in seven cities throughout Germany: Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Cologne, Leipzig, Munich and Stuttgart. Organizers told CNBC that the official estimate is 320,000 demonstrators across...

If the government prevented people from shopping outside of their own town or state, they would be outraged and recognize it as limiting their freedom. If Michigan businesses were prevented from buying or selling their products to people from other states, most people would understand that to be economically destructive. Yet when it comes to the issue of foreign trade a lot of people from both sides of the political spectrum are opposed to allowing a similar free flow of products and services between countries. That’s why the two main presidential candidates are able to run their campaigns with antitrade...

Jonathan Chait, you are absolutely right. Last October, Chait wrote in New York magazine that "Hillary Clinton Pretends to Oppose Pacific Trade Deal." And as further proof of Hillary Clinton's pretense on this issue, we have verification today from Politico in an article written by Doug Palmer. Of course, Palmer wanted the readers to believe that Hillary was really really sincere in her supposed opposition to the Trans Pacific Partnership. Unfortunately for him a line buried in his story overturned his premise about Donald Trump and Hillary being equally opposed (snicker!) to the TPP. So let us now join Palmer...

Despite the sovereignty-destroying Trans-Pacific Partnership being so unpopular that both major parties' presidential candidates are campaigning against it, the Obama White House notified Congress that legislation to approve the globalist “free-trade” regime was on its way. It seems that the establishment is hoping to ram through the deeply controversial regional-governance scheme during the “lame-duck” session of Congress — after the election and after voters lose their chance to remove elected representatives for at least another two years. Critics in Congress and beyond from all across the political spectrum, though, are speaking out forcefully. Opponents noted that one way to stop...

Trade: On the campaign trail, both Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton have become increasingly anti-free trade. Free traders may be in for a nasty surprise. Right now, given current polls, Clinton seems most likely to be the next chief economic policy maker. If so, she will be the most anti-free trade leader of a major party since World War II. In recent days, Clinton has criticized trade deals that she says hurt jobs... ...she promised to "ramp up enforcement" of trade laws and to even appoint a "chief trade prosecutor." Criminalizing trade. Really? Economists largely...