Zirka Witochynska : First of all, Paul REEN, how do you respond to these judgments?

Paul Reen : Typical Democrat slander and smear tactics. The Democrats are always guilty of what they accuse Republicans of, we call this “projection”. They are the ones that are intolerant and nasty but they accuse Republicans of this and even worse behavior. You know they have lost the intellectual argument as soon as they resort to personal attacks and name calling, because they have nothing else. In 2015/2016 Hillary Clinton lowered the decorum of rhetoric when she called Republicans “deplorable” and “irredeemable”  which is even a more serious slander for Christians. When the left wing media covered for her after she called  Republicans every word in the book – racist, homophobe, islamophobe, xenophobe, misogynists,white supremacists, etc, the Democrats realized they could get away with it so they never stopped. They have no decency, It’s what’s dividing and destroying America today.

Z.W. Describe to us, please, the economic situation in your country: employment, income, taxes, tax evasion, business creation.

P.R. COVID temporarily hurt the US economy causing over 20M Americans to lose their jobs but the economy has already regained 50% of the lost jobs and is actually on it’s way to the fastest recovery in the history of the USA. 

This is completely thanks to Donald Trump and his push to re-open the economy while Democrats want to keep it closed. Plus, because the economy was so strong before COVID, that many of the jobs are easy to refill once the shutdowns end. Democrats hate to talk about a quick recovery, they love that the US is in an economic recession.
They think that they can simply blame this on Trump and use it to their political advantage to win in November. The American people are smarter than the Democrats think and do not trust the Democrats to rebuild the economy like Trump can.

Z.W. Is it true that some states, led by Republican governors, are economically ahead of the democratic governors? If applicable, how do you explain it?

P.R. That’s what the studies show so I trust it. It makes sense. There are essentially two reasons:

1.  How the Democrat Mayors and Governors handled COVID. The Democrats, running the Blue States, have been using COVID as a political weapon against Trump and have been happy to shut down their economies and blame all the problems on Trump.. So logically, their economic situations will be worse. They shut down earlier and longer, but at the same time they have been having devastating riots for over 6 months, adding to economic issues – the riots have been burning down businesses in the city centers (SMB, small and medium businesses) that are typically owned by blacks and other minorities. Idiot ANTIFA and Black Lives Matter have been destroying their own livelihoods and the Democrat City Mayors and State Governors have been sitting back letting it happen because they all believe it is “ a good cause”. (Now they are demanding a huge 4th “COVID“ aid package that has little to do with helping COVID victims and everything to do with having ALL US taxpayers pay to rebuild their cities that their constituents destroyed. This is why the COVID 4th package has been stalled for months, Democrats don’t want to give Trump “victory” before the election, so have kept their emands ridiculously high (started at $3.5T to Republicans initial offer of $500B). Republicans have been willing to move up to $1.8T but Democrats still won’t agree. They will risk the livelihoods of Americans to try and blame it on Trump. 
2. The poor economic situation the Blue States were in before COVID Democrat cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, Detroit... have been in fiscal trouble for many years. They poorly budget for all the welfare programs that they have and routinely are in debt. They don’t implement conservative policies like lower taxes (revenue, homeowners, sales tax, etc) to put more money in the people's pockets and stimulate economic prosperity. They are constantly looking for more Federal financial assistance that doesn’t help growth.

Z.W. What is the difference between Obama's Medicare health measure and the reform of the social security system proposed by President Trump?

P.R. Obama care was based on Government mandated insurance packages for everyone and penalized, through a huge tax, anyone who continued to choose not to buy insurance. It helped a small number of low income Americans gain access to health care, but drastically increased the premiums on the vast majority of the rest of Americans. No one is happy with Obamacare. Obama and Biden lied to the American people that “if you liked your doctor, you could keep your doctor”, “if you liked your insurance coverage, you could keep it”, that it was “affordable” and wouldn’t raise your taxes. All these turned out to be lies and false promises.

Trump tried to “repeal and replace” but was shut down by John McCain's vote, before his death. McCain became an instant hero to the Democrats, so Trump has not been able to repeal and replace Obamacare during his first term.It is currently the law of the land.

But he has been slowly dismantling it and implementing many pragmatic, separate initiatives to lower the cost for Americans. He got rid of the individual mandate forcing everyone to buy insurance or get taxed by the IRS (Internal Revenue Service). But he couldn’t lower the premiums. So he has been striking deals to lower costs of prescription drugs for example.

He allowed generic drugs to be sold by Pharmacies and most recently allowed States to buy Prescription drugs (Px drugs) from foreign countries at much lower prices (starting with Canada). These additional choices should put pressure on Pharmaceutical companies to lower their prices of standard Prescription drugs. Plus, he worked on overhauling and improving the Veterans Administration (VA) healthcare plans for Veterans, who were dying by the hundreds of thousands under Biden and Obama just waiting in line for treatment. Veterans are required to use Va hospitals for their free coverage but the VA hospitals are overcrowded. Trump gave them CHOICE so that they could go to other hospitals for treatment and still NOT PAY, this has solved thousands of lives.
All of these examples are the advantages of free market enterprise vs State run healthcare. Free market gives you choices, creates competition, spurring innovation and lowering costs – WHILE MAINTAINING HIGH QUALITY. Obamacare and the new Democrat “Medicare for all” program do the opposite – they are state run healthcare programs that will not work in the USA – they are too costly, will put the STATE in between the doctor and the patient for critical life and death decisions (like surgery), will eliminate choice and hurt quality.
Republicans cannot introduce a health care plan until Obamacare is repealed (hopefully, on November, 10th) by SCOTUS - Supreme Court of the US; at which time, they will unveil a Plan that will include the pragmatic examples that Trump has already started to implement, plus add items like the ability to buy insurance across State lines, that will create more competition between insurance companies and lower premiums. 

Z.W. Covid-19: The United States is often placed at the top of the countries "affected by this virus". But what about patients who are tested or cured?

P.R. Yes, the US has the highest number of deaths, but also a low “case mortality rate” which is the rate of deaths versus the quantity of cases tested positive. The US is 2.7%, while France is 4% and the EU is 8.5%. In the US, the cases are high because we have created very fast and reliable testing and are testing many, many people, even in drive by areas similar to a drive in Mc Donald's. BUT the deaths, after a slight rise this summer, are actually leveling off 0 and decreasing. Because the US has many different therapeutics available now and is treating people quickly. The survival rate of people below the ages of 65 are 99%, the only people truly at risk are those that are aged AND already have comorbidities (heart disease, diabetes, etc). This is why Trump has been trying to tell people NOT to panic, that this is not as deadly, say as HIV, Aids, we can cure this, we can reopen the economy in a SAFE way, that the CURE (shutting down economy) must not be worse than the CAUSE! 

Z.W. Regarding the recent violence, committed in the United States of America, and his criticism of white supremacists, has there been an about-face by your president? After all, he needs the votes of the black community...

P.R. What do you mean by an ”about face” ? Trump has always been against white supremacists, KKK (Ku Klux Klan) and any form of racism. Trump has done more for the black community in 47 Months than Biden did in 47 years. For example, he has the following four major accomplishments:

1. Lowest unemployment ever recorded.
2. Criminal Justice Reform (reforming the terrible Biden crime bill of the 90s) – this lowered the sentences of prisoners who committed NON-VIOLENT crimes. Over 3000 prisoners have been affected to date, about 1/3rd have been released from prison already and the rest will be released soon. Over 90% are BLACK. This Reform is called the 1st Step – to reduce their sentences, and the 2nd step – to help them train and gain employment.
3. Trump secured Permanent Financial aid for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). They get government funding every year, but must request it every year. Trump INCREASED the amount that they get over and above what OBAMA allowed, then he made it PERMANENT so that they didn’t have to ask every year. 
4. Trump created Opportunity Zones, a system of tax incentives to encourage investors to invest in city centers' SMB (small and medium businesses) to help them grow and hire people.

This has not received any coverage by the media but has helped many minority owned small businesses grow. Typically Democrats receive about 98% of the Black vote. But Trump received 8% in 2016. He is expected to receive at least 16% in 2020, perhaps as high as 20%. Many blacks have realized that the Democrat party is only promises and no action. Obama did nothing for them, Trump is a man of action. BLEXIT is a movement in the US (inspired of course by BREXIT) of Blacks exiting the Democrat Party and moving to the Republican Party. This alone will make a huge impact on the election. Hispanics as well will be voting more for Trump. 

Z.W. As for the presidential election of November 2020, what are the stakes?

P.R. Everything is at stake. This is the most critical election in my lifetime. It is a contest between two Americas : 

1. one from the extreme radical Left that believes the USA was never a good country, that we were built on slavery and white supremacism and that we have never made progress in racial unity. That basically the US is an unfair and unjust country and that it needs to be completely torn down and rebuilt in the image of far left socialist utopian ideology,
2. versus the view from the right that American although not perfect, is a great country that provides the greatest freedom and opportunities in the world for ALL people of ALL backgrounds, colors, religions, sexual orientations, etc. We want to protect our Constitutional rights, especially FREE SPEECH which is under attack by the Left, religious liberties, right to bear arms, etc.

The left wing Democrats are completely coordinating with the mainstream media, big tech social media, academic professors, Hollywood, etc. to slander and censure the right wing voice. The left wing is intolerant and wants to CANCEL any opposing viewpoints. This is un-American, and Donald Trump is the only one standing in their way. This is why he MUST be re-elected. 

Z.W. I am thinking of the current estimates, but also of remote voting, the counting of votes...

P.R. Yes, this massive mail in voting is a disaster, there are many, many examples of fraud already, but the Left Wing coordinated mob denies them.
November, 3rd will tell whether there are legal battles on both sides to challenge the results of the election. Unless Trump wins in a landslide, I suspect there will be vote counting for days or weeks and legal challenges. This is the chaos the Democrats wanted to create. Don’t believe the polls that say Biden is winning. They are wrong.

Z.W. Let's move on, if you don't mind, to international issues. The various accusations made by his detractors: - Trump- "the hottie". What actions or treaties, initiated by President Trump, contribute to peace?

P.R. No new wars, troop withdrawal, helping allies like Israel, negotiating with adversaries and enemies through a position of strength. 4 new nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize of 2021:
1. UAE – ISRAEL
2. BAHREÏN-ISRAËL
3. SUDAN – ISRAËL
4. SERBIA-KOSOVO
Removing the US from the horrible Iran “Nuclear” deal actually contributed to peace in that it prevented a nuclear arms race to start in the Middle East. This race would have started now as the sunset clause on the Iran deal would have been in just 5 years – 2025, at which time Iran could begin the development of highly enriched Uranium leading to weapons grade nuclear capability. Saudi Arabia would then begin the same development and of course Israel would start preparing for war as Iran has constantly and proudly claimed that “they will wipe Israel off the map". Trump has built up the US Military after Obama defunded it so that it was in a terrible position. This military buildup has been on display for all to see – Russia, China, North Korea, Middle East.

Although he frequently states that he hopes to never use it, it allows him to negotiate from a position of force. Trump has successfully adopted the Reagan Doctrine of “Peace through Strength”.
As you know – he sent military equipment into Ukraine (tank buster missiles) when Obama only sent blankets. Troop withdrawals from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. No new wars – Obama started the war in Libya without US Congressional approval! Actually, the President is not allowed to start a war without US Congressional approval. And then left without a plan to maintain peace, resulting in the September, 11th (2012) attack on the US Embassy, the killing of the US Ambassador and 3 Americans trying to save him. Trump destroyed ISIS in his first two years - after Obama never took them seriously -, thus saving countless MUSLIM lives as well as Christians men, women and children. The American military forces, under the command of Donald Trump, succeeded in killing Al Baghadi (the leader of ISIS) and Soleimani (the leader of the Iranian National Guard and Iran's International Terrorist Network). And what, in comparison, did Biden do ???  Nothing. 

Z.W. - Trump- "the-polluter"? I am thinking, for example, of his position on the Paris Climate Agreement "Cop-21"...

P.R. I think that it's great that Donald Trump removed the USA from the PARIS Climate Agreement. And let's not forget that he would not have been able to do that if Obama had bothered to get the approval of the US Congress to sign the Paris Agreement. A US President is required to get the Congressional agreement that affects such a large part of the US economy. Because Obama decided to sign it on his own, Trump did not need Congressional approval to exit the Agreement. More importantly, the Paris Agreement was an attack on the USA and the US economy. Obama agreed to unfair and unrealistic CO2 emission reductions of 30% BEFORE 2030, while the other two leading global emitters of CO2 - China and India - only had to commit to voluntary CO2 eductions AFTER 2030.

The economic costs of the Paris Agreement would have been imposed in two ways: 

1. through extremely high carbon taxes on any energy companies using fossil fuels causing US taxes to increase and the price of energy in the US to increase, 
2. through a Green Climate Fund (GCF) set up by the UN to generate $100 B annually from "rich" countries like the US, to send to "developing" countries in order to help them transform their economies to green technology. Of course, all this money was to be sent through the UN who would determine how it should be distributed and to which countries. In fact, right before Obama left Office in 2017, he gladly transferred $1B of US taxpayer money to the UN for this so-called Green Climate Fund.

The Donald Trump Administration estimated that the PARIS Climate Agreement would cost the US $3T and 6 millions of jobs and rightfully removed the US from this Agreement in order to help grow, not destroy the US economy. But this does not mean that the US does not care about the environment.

Thanks to Donald Trump's policies of investing in the development of Natural Gas (through fracking), the USA has actually been reducing their CO2 emissions. Primarily in what is called the "power emissions" which are the CO2 gases emitted during the generation of electricity or used in heating. The US has been steadily transferring from coal to natural gas for the US power industry. In 2019 alone, the US reduced its CO2 by 3% despite having left the Paris Agreement. Thanks to the clean-burning of natural gas, power emissions in the United States are the lowest they have been in 35 years. This reduction will continue to grow as the US transfers more and more to natural gas.

Joe Biden and the Democrats' plan has been to ban all use of fossil fuels including natural gas. Biden has backtracked on banning natural gas (fracking) just recently as he's realized that this is a losing proposition for the election.

But most people suspect he will try to phase out fracking if he is elected. Although it is important for the US to continue to develop renewable energy sources like wind and solar, it's critical NOT to ban fossil fuels and rely too much on green energy. Green energy is not yet efficient enough to generate enough electricity for the entire country. 

The State of California learned this the hard way. They have relied too much on wind and solar and have been running out of electricity, causing blackouts throughout Los Angeles and other major cities. The California governor, Gavin Newsom, has recently admitted to this fact and pledged to use more natural gas immediately.

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Z.W. - Trump-the "pro-Russian traitor":

• yet Trump has granted lethal weapons to Ukraine in its defense against the Russian war of aggression - weapons refused by the previous Administration, 
• however, he was also opposed to the Russian political project of "North Stream 2" aimed at submitting Europe energetically to Russia... 

P.R. The Democrats have been accusing Donald Trump of being a Russian agent since before he was elected President and haven’t stopped for the past 4 years. They’ve accused him of treason for supposedly colluding with Russia to steal the 2016 election from Hillary Clinton and eventually impeached him for a call with President Zelenskyi.

All of these false accusations started from a phony “dossier” that Hillary Clinton actually paid for. The Democrats are the worst losers on the planet. They refuse to accept defeat so they continue to accuse Trump of working for Russia.

When Democrats are exposed for their illegal scandals of “pay for play”, they try to convince the American people that it’s all a complex strategy of Russian disinformation. We saw this with Hillary and her “Clinton Foundation” and now with the corrupt Biden family through Hunter Biden’s emails showing that Joe Biden not only knew but was a part of his son’s taking millions of dollars from both China and Russia. The American people now fully reject this ridiculous Russian deflection tactic and the constant corruption and  lies from the scandal-ridden Democrat Party. 

On the contrary, Donald Trump has been the major force fighting back against a radical left wing revolution in the US both domestically and in Foreign Affairs, specifically in regards to Russia.

Trump has been harder on Russia than any recent US President, doing more against Russia in less than 4 years that Biden & Obama did in 8.
Biden & Obama were too worried about provoking Putin to take the actions necessary to protect the Ukrainian people. They refused to send in military weapons to fight off the Russian threat and did nothing when Russia took over Crimea.

Trump, however, provided Ukraine with Javelin anti-tank missiles capable of destroying Russian tanks and recently approved the sale of America’s most advanced and fastest patrol boats to counter the Russian fleet. 

Trump threatened to leave NATO unless European countries increased their defense spending resulting in an additional $130 billion increase to NATO’s defense budget and enabled Ukraine to purchase advanced military equipment from NATO and other US-allied countries.

Trump also allowed military exercises in Ukraine with NATO forces to improve integration, and expanded sanctions on Russia. All these actions enhanced Ukraine’s national security – acts that the Biden/Obama Administration was either unwilling, or too weak to take against Russia.

Trump has also consistently opposed Russian's Nord Stream 2 pipeline which will double Russian energy supply to Europe, create further dependence of Europe on Russia, and divert critical passage of energy and revenue through Ukraine.

It was Biden & Obama who accelerated the move of the US to these extreme left wing, socialist policies. Today’s radical leftist movement  believes in a bigger and bigger “Nanny Sate” and that "because of our capitalist system, the USA is basically a bad and unjust country filled with inequalities, injustices and racism that only socialist policies can transform".

This movement also is completely intolerant to any opposing views and has started a war on free speech to censure and “cancel” any opposing viewpoints, which is fully supported by the media and Social Media Tech giants.

A Biden administration would continue with Obama’s vision of  radically transforming the USA into a socialist utopian yet tyrannical state.
This sounds all too familiar to the actions of the Soviet Union throughout Eastern Europe because, in fact, it’s the same.

We are facing what many Conservatives call a “war on reality” in the USA. The Left wants Americans to believe that "it is Democrats who are fighting Russian tyranny and disinformation around the world, that Democrats are standing up to Russia and protecting Ukraine, that Democrats are the decent and tolerant ones in America and that 'progressive' Socialism is the path forward for freedom and equality".

Luckily Trump and most Americans see this false reality for what it is and the actual dangers that it brings, and support the true reality that freedom, prosperity, justice, peace and the greatness of America can only be maintained by the re-election of Donald J. Trump.

Z.W. What do you think of the European Union's attitude towards the United States?

P.R. The EU is weak. They hate Trump because he has challenged them and upset their globalist, comfortable positions. I have already spoken before about how he threatened to leave NATO unless they started building up their militaries to contribute more to NATO. European leaders actually mocked him until they saw he was serious. Then he dropped the US out of Paris, and then the Iran agreement. Then he supported BREXIT. This is all sacrilegious to the EU. Trump has been right in all his moves. The EU has to stop criticizing Trump and recognize his chievements. Many of which I have already listed throughout this interview. ISIS destruction, Middle East peace initiatives, support to Ukraine, sanctions on Russia, etc. The EU bureaucracy is the main part of the UN and the UN has become a bloated, do nothing organization that occasionally writes a stern letter and nothing else. They have become anti-democratic, anti-Semitic and dangerous.
Trump speaks to them directly and Europe hates him for it. He also calls out other ridiculous globalist organizations like the WHO. The WHO completely sided with China at the start of the COVID crisis. Actually stating that China was transparent in their communications when China was actually hiding the fact that they spread COVID to the world and were jailing scientists and researchers who were trying to speak the truth. The WHO also was against Trump's decisions to ban travel from China to the US, which saved thousands of lives. Meanwhile, the USA is by far the largest financial contributor to the WHO, not China. 

Trump is right to threaten permanent removal of the US finances until the WHO changes. Trump will always support Europe, for example on the war on Islamic terrorism and other threats, but as a good family member should do, Trump uses “tough love“ to get Europe to change. 

Z.W. Finally, a few words about yourself, Paul: do you devote all your time to the presidency of the American Republicans in France, are you paid for it, why have you accepted this mission?

P.R. I am not paid, it is all volunteer work in order to defend Conservative Principles in a left leaning country such as France. Our group is a non profit supporter of the Republican Party.
Although time consuming, it is an enjoyable mission.

I have worked in high tech business my entire life in both the US and Europe as a Marketing and Sales Leader and  Strategist. I currently provide independent Consulting.

Z.W. Thank you for devoting your precious time to the Ukrainian Strategic News Portal "Narodnyi Ohladach". Your analysis will enrich the work of our Ukraine-USA Post-Industrial Research Center aimed at deepening our strategic alliance.

Zirka Witochynska, journalist 

[email protected]

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