Mueller, Trump and Tariffs …..


Mueller Probe

The reports are that Mueller has reportedly told the President’s attorneys that he is not a criminal target of his probe, but he still wants to interview him to wrap up his investigation into possible obstruction of justice.
We wonder is that from that ill fated plan on Air Force One to say the Russian meeting with DJT Jr. was about adoptions; or was it the Comey meetings and firings?
Also, is it obstruction if the President wanted to end the investigation on collusion that never existed?
Maybe Trump simply wanted this behind him because there was no Russian collusion. We’ve asked before, can you obstruct in a crime that never occurred?

Trump and Putin

It still strikes us as odd that the President seems to attack every opponent, but never does Putin. It happened again this week as he held a press conference with three Baltic State leaders. He said that “probably nobody’s been tougher on Russia than Donald Trump.” He mentioned the 60 diplomats he forced out versus other countries doing four or five. He talked about drilling and America being energy independent and how that hurts Russia. But the man who has names for everyone like “Rocketman” only said this about Putin’s Russia. We want to be able to get along with Russia. If we got along with Russia, that would be a good thing, not a bad thing. And just about everybody agrees with that, except very stupid people”.

Why has he never attacked or said negative things about Putin? He attacks his own cabinet, party leaders and friends. Strange isn’t it?

The WSJ on Trump

An interesting story in the WSJ on Trump now establishing himself in the job. Here’s a recap:

Mr. Trump yesterday appeared to be a president freed of the forces last year that pushed him toward a mainstream Republican agenda. The president declared that he wants to bring U.S. troops home from Syria and wanted to use U.S. troops to guard the U.S. border with Mexico, and detailed $50 billion worth of Chinese goods on which it plans to slap a 25% tariff. Never was there a more clear sign than Tuesday that Washington has moved into the period of Trump Unbound”.

Speaking of Tariffs

Well the Chinese reacted and that spooked the market early yesterday. It came back by days end, but there is more to go on this. Negotiations are underway, and if the countries agree on a deal we will avoid a trade war that no one will enjoy. Trump has a point on the goods we import over export. Past leaders did make bad deals. He has a better point on the stealing of intellectual property. Keep a watch on this, it will impact you on everything from prices for things you buy to jobs and investments.

AMAZON, TRUMP AND THE POST OFFICE

The President has declared war on Amazon and it has impacted their share price. (down over 250 dollars per share).
First, remember Amazon is owned by an anti Trump person (Jeff Bezos) who also owns the very anti Trump Washington Post. So we start with that.
Then add Trump’s business is building and his friends are builders. Amazon is hurting brick and mortar stores more than anyone with its online and delivery services. So Trump hears from them how this is hurting them.
All the pieces are there for an attack.

Then comes the deal Amazon made with the post office to deliver the products and you have it all. What about that deal?

First understand the post office has lost $60 billion since 2007.
It expects to lose $6 billion more this year.
The Postal Service has had one profitable quarter in the last five years.
Think about those numbers – this is a monopoly.
It is $120 billion behind in pension and retiree health expenses.
Now:
Since 2007, the Postal Service has been required to allocate 5.5 percent of its fixed costs to package delivery and to incorporate that into its pricing. Today, 25 percent of the Postal Service’s business is package delivery.
Thanks to features of the Amazon deal – such as Sunday delivery, grocery delivery, even delivery from fish markets to local restaurants – the expenses have climbed.
So:
It is estimated that they should be charging Amazon $1.46 more per package than the $2 or so it does now.
Thus:
The President has a point about the postal service and it’s costs.
We expect in the end the postal service will raise its price when it can, but it cannot be outbid by any other delivery option. They need the volume to cover their fixed costs.
The President can impact this but his buddies must realize the convenience of shopping online and having the goods delivered to your home is going to grow –not decrease.

The Ratings

BELOW ARE DAILY RATINGS SATURDAY THROUGH MONDAY
RATINGS FOR THE WEEK OF MARCH 26
QUARTERLY RATINGS FOR FIRST QUARTER OF 2018

Total Viewers SATURDAY.
Fox wins another Saturday beating others combined.

  • Total day: FNC: 1.020 | CNN: 575 |  MSNBC: 625 | HLN: 279
  • Prime time: FNC: 1.261 | CNN: 516 | MSNBC: 575 | HLN: 275
4p: 5p: 6p: 7p: 8p: 9p: 10p: 11p:
FNC NwsHQ:
691
NwsHQ:
738
NwsHQ:
673
Report:
790
Watters:
1.347
Pirro:
1.211
Gutfeld:
1.224
Watters:
999
CNN Nwsrm:
584
Nwsrm:
584
Smerc:
469
AxeFiles:
585
Kennedys:
524
Sex:
527
Sex:
498
Kennedys:
412
MSNBC News:
613
News:
648
Hayes:
523
Maddow:
502
O’Donnell:
571
Wlms:
551
Wallace:
602
Hardball:
527
HLN Files:
325
Files:
271
Files:
277
Files:
261
Files:
251
Files:
286
Files:
287
Files:
329
 

Total Viewers SUNDAY. Fox edges CNN despite Kennedy and Pope series. 

  • Total day: FNC: 870 | CNN: 697 | MSNBC: 558 | HLN: 277
  • Prime time: FNC: 983 | CNN: 956 | MSNBC: 473 | HLN: 318
4p: 5p: 6p: 7p: 8p: 9p: 10p: 11p:
FNC NewsHQ:
524
Futures:
581
Report:
732
FNSunday:
934
LgndsLies:
1.002
Hilton:
945
Levin:
1.001
LgndsLies:
648
CNN Nwsrm:
530
Nwsrm:
590
Nwsrm:
576
Nwsrm:
588
Kennedys:
622
Kennedys:
1.371
Pope:
875
Kennedys:
626
MSNBC News:
509
News:
522
MTP:
621
KasieDC:
670
KasieDC:
607
Headlinrs:
441
Hope&Fury:
372
Cont.:
381
HLN Files:
217
Files:
271
Files:
261
Files:
238
DthRow:
309
DthRow:
339
DthRow:
305
DthRow:
383

Total Viewers MONDAY. Fox edges MSNBC.

  • Total day: FNC: 1.518 | CNN: 745 | MSNBC: 1.203 | HLN: 191
  • Primetime: FNC: 2.160 | CNN: 853 | MSNBC: 1.905 | HLN: 216
4p: 5p: 6p: 7p: 8p: 9p: 10p: 11p:
FNC Cavuto:
1.200
Five:
2.055
Baier:
2.116
MacCallum:
1.909
Carlson:
2.601
HannitySpcl:
2.189
Ingraham:
1.688
Bream:
1.097
CNN Tapper:
824
Blitzer:
836
Blitzer:
841
Burnett:
938
Cooper:
1.020
Cooper:
810
Lemon:
728
Lemon:
674
MSNBC Wallace:
1.378
MTPDaily:
1.329
Melber:
1.391
Matthews:
1.678
Hayes:
1.755
Maddow:
2.122
O’Donnell:
1.838
Wlms:
1.429
HLN Michaela:
56
Cupp:
77
Banfield:
133
Banfield:
175
Killer:
164
Killer:
190
Files:
296
Files:
356

The week of March 26

 
Fox won the week for the 12th week in a row. Fox had 8 of the 25 most-watched cable telecasts. TBS covering the NCAA basketball games won the week in primetime.

Basic Cable Top 5 – Prime Time (Total Viewers)

  1. TBS (2,364,000)
  2. Fox News (2,076,000)
  3. MSNBC (1,730,000)
  4. HGTV (1,446,000)
  5. ESPN (1,324,000)

Basic Cable Top 5 – Total Day (Total Viewers)

  1. Fox News (1,249,000)
  2. MSNBC (958,000)
  3. Nickelodeon (928,000)
  4. HGTV (825,000)
  5. TBS (792,000)
Quartly Rankings
 
Fox was the most-watched cable network for Q1 2018, both in prime time and in total day. That’s now 7 straight quarter victories in total day.

In prime time programming Sean Hannity was the most watched show.

QUARTERLY RATINGS FOR THE TOP FIVE PROGRAMS IN CABLE NEWS:

Total Viewers: Hannity (3,196,000), Rachel Maddow Show (2,993,000) Tucker Carlson Tonight (2,908,000), The Ingraham Angle(2,487,000), Special Report with Bret Baier (2,361,000)

QUARTERLY NUMBERS FOR CABLE NEWS:

TOTAL DAY
FNC: 1,445,000 total viewers
CNN: 713,000 total viewers
MSNBC: 1,008,000 total viewers

PRIMETIME: 8-11PM/ET
FNC: 2,479,000 total viewers
CNN: 985,000 total viewers
MSNBC: 1,859,000 total viewers

 

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