Calendar for 11 April to 13 April 2017

8 April, Saturday  – Congress leaves D.C. to spend quality time with family and constituents while on a two-week hiatus from the swamp.

• Monday, 10 April to 11 April – Lucca, Italy. ¹G7 Foreign Ministers Meeting (not to be confused with the G7 Summit in May). Secretary of State Tillerson will represent the US at the G7 ministers’ meeting whose focus will be “Foreign Affairs.” The meeting will determine the focused agenda for the G7 Summit which will be attended by President Trump.
• Tuesday, 11 April – National Pet Day!
  • The UN Special Envoy for Syria, Steffan de Mistura, is on McMaster’s calendar for today. Spicer relayed Monday that de Mistura would meet “for consultations with the State Department and with National Security Advisor McMaster here at the White House, among others.  He has been overseeing the political talks among Syrian parties in Geneva.”
  • 10:45 am – President Trump’s Billionaires Club, aka “Strategy and Policy Forum” meet again with many of the same players to pair with their Cabinet Secretary counterparts. In February the Forum’s organizer, Steve Schwarzman, gathered the group “to cover some of the immigration things. We’re going to cover regulatory, I believe. We’re going to cover tax and trade, women in the workplace, infrastructure and education.  And in each of those areas, we’ll get suggestions, ways to make things happen, happen faster to improve the country.” Per Sean Spicer’s Monday press brief, “The Cabinet-level participants will be Secretary of Commerce Ross, Secretary of Education DeVos, EPA Administrator Pruitt, OMB Director Mulvaney, and Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao.”
  • 2:00 pm – Trump to meet with Secretary of Homeland Security, John Kelly.
  • 4:00 pm – Trump to meet with National Security Advisor LTG H.R. McMaster and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn.
  • 6:30 pm – Trump will talk over dinner with senior military leaders in the State Dining Room.
• Wednesday, 12 April – National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day! 
  • Secretary of State to meet with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow. Given Assad’s April 4 sarin attack on his people and the US response Thursday night, the interaction between the two officials may alter from the State Department phone presser hours before US retaliation. Topics: Russia’s influence on Syria; Russia’s INF violation; Ukraine, Minsk commitments; US commitment to Crimea; Korea and Afghanistan.
  • Mid-day. President Trump is set to host NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House. I’m pretty sure Trump’s oft repeated phrase “pay their fair share” will dominate the conversation. However, the NATO leader may also press for agreement on Ukraine’s sovereignty. The two leaders are – on paper – in agreement with the US response to Syria’s attack on Syrians.
  • 4:30 pm – A joint press conference will take place for President Trump and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
• Thursday, 13 April – Happy Birthday President Thomas Jefferson!
  • Maundy Thursday. The Last Supper of Jesus Christ.  John 13: 14 – 17  ¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. ¹⁶ Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. ¹⁷ If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
  • President Trump and family will spend the Easter weekend at Mar-a-Lago. He will return to D.C. on Easter Sunday.

¹The ministerial is attended by the seven countries (EU is represented by President of the European Commission) who “are the seven major advanced economies as reported by the International Monetary Fund: the G7 countries represent more than 64% of the net global wealth ($263 trillion).”

Hello, RedStaters. Welcome to the WaterCooler! It’s RedState’s only Daily open thread. Did I miss an event? Care to comment on the calendar above? Please do so below. Enjoy!