January 28, 205

Permission to republish original opeds and cartoons granted.

Trump Takes On China On Trade After Biden Dropped The Ball 

By Rick Manning 

President Donald Trump declared five years ago: “China’s pattern of misconduct is well known. For decades, they have ripped off the United States like no one has ever done before. Hundreds of billions of dollars a year were lost dealing with China, especially over the years during the prior administration. China raided our factories, offshored our jobs, gutted our industries, stole our intellectual property, and violated their commitments under the World Trade Organization.”     

Unfortunately, this concerted effort by Beijing to undermine American industry and leadership only increased in the last four years under now former President Joe Biden. As President Trump works hard to usher in a manufacturing renaissance during his second term, we must remain vigilant against Chinese actors working in parallel to undermine America’s resurgence.  

China is aggressively moving to achieve global dominance in industries such as automotives, construction materials, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, retail, and technology. China strives to unseat our position as the world leader in producing and exporting goods and services across the globe.  

Manufacturing is the backbone of the American economy, and our innovative, high-quality goods and services are in demand worldwide. But in the last four years, China has made strides to erode our strength, leveraging manufacturing and trade as economic weapons. Now is the time to fortify our industrial base before it is too late.  

While the issue of China came up repeatedly across virtually every confirmation hearing this week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio put perhaps the finest point on what is at stake, saying “If we don’t change course, we are going to live in the world where much of what matters to us on a daily basis from our security to our health will be dependent on whether the Chinese allow us to have it or not.” 

A successful revitalization strategy must start by ensuring US manufacturers can easily access the building blocks for products, without vulnerability to the whims of China and other foreign enemies. We must not let China capture the market for advanced manufacturing materials impacting all industries – such as sealants, specialty coatings, polymers, plastics, and stabilizers. If we fail to support American manufacturing of advanced production materials, China will fill the gap. 

We’re already seeing the early stages of this as China continues to flood the U.S. market with things like cheaper plastics that are not made to the same safety and environmental standards as U.S. products. Given how much innovations in plastics have transformed construction, packaging, cars, trucks, medical equipment, aerospace, even the clothes we wear. 

If we do not heed Secretary of State Rubio’s warning, this behavior will only intensify, giving them not only the ability to withhold supply and put a chokehold on American manufacturing, but also jeopardize tens of millions of American jobs.  

Revitalizing and maintaining a strong American industrial base means building supply chain security and resilience. We must never depend on China for our basic production needs.  Our trade balance, economic prosperity, and national security depend on it. 

Rick Manning is the President of Americans for Limited Government. 

To view online: https://dailytorch.com/2025/01/trump-takes-on-china-on-trade-after-biden-dropped-the-ball/  

NewsTalkSTL: Rick Manning on “The Battle for the Soul of America” 

To listen online: https://omny.fm/shows/newstalk-stl/rick-manning-on-the-battle-for-the-soul-of-america 

Trump Gets Honeymoon As Presidential Approval Comes In At 51 Percent After Historic First Week 

By Robert Romano 

President Donald Trump is off to a good start say the American people according to the latest average of presential approval polls compiled by RealClearPolling.com, showing Trump starting off his second term with a 51.3 percent approval rating, with only 43.5 percent disapproving, after just a week in office again. 

That’s way better than former President Joe Biden, who left office with a dismal 39 percent approval rating, with 57 percent disapproving.  

In truth these are the highest approval ratings Trump has ever had his entire political career, which began in 2015 including during his first term of office even after getting elected.  

In 2017, as president, Trump’s approval averaged 40.5 percent, in 2018 it rose to 42.5 percent, in 2019 it rose to 43.4 percent and 2020 it was at 44.4 percent. 

In other words, Trump is more popular now than ever. 

Presidential honeymoons come and go, but what it usually means is that after a popular mandate is given to a new president—Trump was the first Republican to win the national popular vote in 20 years — he can expect things to move through Congress and get on his desk. 

Besides getting his Cabinet selections confirmed — so far, five have been confirmed, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent and CIA Director John Ratcliffe — the House and Senate led by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) are quickly getting to work on the budget reconciliation bill that is expected to include an extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts, border security funding and other items. 

Although for Republican presidents, deference only seems to go so far, with Senators Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) all voting against Hegseth on the floor of the Senate — Vice President J.D. Vance had to cast the tiebreaking vote.  

Generally, some amount of moderate Senate Republicans deferred to every single cabinet choice by former President Joe Biden no matter how controversial they turned out to be, giving a safe margin for confirmation, with no Democratic Party defections.  

In other words, some Republicans in knee-jerk fashion offer deference to Democratic presidents who they campaign on disagreeing with on Cabinet choices, but not for presidents of their own party. Are they really Republicans?  

So too could there be some difficulty on the horizon in getting the budget bill or bills done in a timely fashion as usual party factions start pointing their knives at one another. Generally, the budget bill or bills are still expected to pass. A better question might be what gets stripped out of legislation to get to the majorities needed for passage.   

For example, in 2017, a Republican attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare was defeated in the ostensibly GOP-controlled Senate and Trump had to settle just for his tax cuts and getting rid of the Obamacare individual mandate.  

However, that outcome should be weighed against Trump’s current approval ratings compared to 2017 and whether Senate Majority Leader Thune wants to garner a reputation of his chamber either being helpful or hurtful to Trump, especially with the Congressional midterms next year. 

In midterm elections dating back to 1906 through 2022, the party that occupied the White House lost seats in the House 27 out of 30 times, or 90 percent of the time, and in years with losses those averaged 34 seats. On the Senate side, the White House incumbent party lost seats 20 out of 30 times, almost 67 percent of the time, and in years with losses those averaged 6 seats.  

In other words, midterms are hard enough — the opposition party’s voters are usually more motivated than the incumbent party’s voters — without party infighting. 

Chances are, we’ll eventually get to that, but for now, with the American people behind Trump, he appears to get his honeymoon. The question is whether Congress will fully accept that. Stay tuned. 

Robert Romano is the Vice President of Public Policy at Americans for Limited Government Foundation.  

To view online: https://dailytorch.com/2025/01/trump-gets-honeymoon-as-presidential-approval-comes-in-at-51-percent-after-historic-first-week/