The Jason Stapleton Program

If you remember, back in February, on this very show I reported on a little-known statement by Secretary of Defense Mattis that the US had "no evidence" Assad used chemical weapons against his people.

That didn't stop them from launching an attack on a Syrian airbase just after Trump took office.

Today we find out the US is again accusing Assad of using chemical weapons and again has no evidence to back it up.

Apparently, there was an attack on a rebel-controlled area of Syria as Assad works to root out the last vestiges of resistance, but there appear to be no evidence the attack used chemical weapons.

Even Fox News is being cautious, referring to an "alleged chemical attack."

And let us not forget, this accusation comes on the heels of a meeting between Turkey, Iran, and Russia over how best to stabilize Syria.

From the beginning, the US has been anything but a good faith actor, and this latest accusation is far too convenient to dismiss out of hand.

If you've been listening to this show for the past few months, yesterdays announcement did not come as a surprise.

Let's review the history...

- Trump decides to impose $50 Billion in tariffs as retaliation against Chinese intellectual property theft.

- China immediately responds with $50 Billion of new tariffs on US goods including soybeans and cars.

- Trump responds by asking for an additional 100 Billion in tariffs on Chinese goods.

So what's next? Well, you can expect China to respond in kind. America has no leverage. It's the reason none of the tariffs have gone into effect yet. China knows this. The question is, who's going to blink first?

If nobody blinks, we'll be looking at an all-out trade war, and both parties are doing a lot of saber-rattling.

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Did you know there is a real person who was raised by wolves? I had no idea. I found the story interesting and since it's Friday I thought I'd share it with you.

Finally, The DJI is off almost 600 points as of this writing and Trump thinks all this pain will be good for us. Let's hope he's right.

Jason

It appears Trump realizes the error of taking on China alone, so he's working to assemble a coalition of nations to fight his trade war with him.

Larry Kudlow is out carrying the president's water, making the case that this is all China's fault for abusing the US for years.

It doesn't matter who's to blame, the one thing you can be sure of is this war will hurt everyone. Remember, nobody wins a trade war.

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As I've discussed recently on the show, Putin has been shoring up his relationships with American adversaries. Most recently with China. Now, he's sidling up to Turkey and Iran.

The goal is to solidify ties between the three nations to exert influence over Syria and the Middle East.

While America is making enemies of friends, Russia is doing the opposite.

Jason

It's not hard to tell what today's show is going to be about. I happened to go to the DMV yesterday to get a new Drives License. It turns out; I didn't even make it in the door. The line was down around the block at 3 in the afternoon.

No private company would survive if it treated it's customers the way the DMV treats its citizens. It's pathetic and the perfect example of what a government protected monopoly looks like.

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Jason

I wish that headline was clickbait, but it's not. The Russians and Chinese governments have now met to both announce their solidarity with one another and inform "western powers" that their militaries are close.

The news seems to be focused on Trumps decision to put troops on the border until his wall is built. We're going to discuss that as well, but I think the major news story is the new political alliances that are forming as America moves quickly towards nationalism.

This new deepening of ties between Russia and China is a direct result of Trump's actions against China and NATOs actions along the Russian border.

Is Trump playing a Regan era game that will end with a stronger America or is he setting us on a course toward another world war? I don't know. But I don't think this will end the way Trump wants.

Jason