Patterico's Pontifications

5/24/2018

Trump Cancels North Korea Summit

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:13 am



I have no time for analysis. Consider this an open thread.

321 Responses to “Trump Cancels North Korea Summit”

  1. ikes this kinda shines something of an unforgiving spotlight on how the sleazy incompetent mattis military has nothing remotely approaching a plan b

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  2. Those with memories longer than a gnat realize the time was not propitious, the Vienna summit for instance was a bad move, had JFK checkmated lruskchev

    narciso (95d175)

  3. Chump rhymes with Trump; putting the no in Nobel since 2018.

    Game, set, match, Kim. Well played, sir.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  4. You are the Chuck barris of punditry.

    narciso (95d175)

  5. Don’t raise expectations. It weakens your negotiating position.

    Who doesn’t know this?

    noel (b4d580)

  6. I have no time for analysis…

    LOL, neither did Trump.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  7. Kims leverage was his test site thR was trashed like thanos did zandar.

    narciso (95d175)

  8. Obviously whatever deal or framework that was being discussed was not to the Presidents and the broader Nat Sec communities liking.

    Good on him for walking away from the table. If there is a deal to be made, I hope we can make it. I’m still optimistic that this can get done. But IF it’s going to happen, it will advance US interests first. No need to enter a bad deal *cough* Iran *cough* just to say that we did something.

    The Norks need this more than us. We got our hostages back. While I doubt that they REALLY destroyed their testing site, the calculation for us hasn’t changed. The Norks has changed. Sanctions in place, more possibly to come and the Chinese are going to be less likely to help their pit bull because we still have plenty of options to punish the ChiComs economically.

    Look for the Treasury Department to go after Chinese bankers

    Carlton (303315)

  9. An igNobel moment for our dear president.

    Having taken that shot, my belief is that this is a good move. The USA has been, and continues to be, played for chumps. If nothing else, this move tempers this diplomatic reality.

    Ed from SFV (b95465)

  10. @8. Pompeo was Walrus Gumboed.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  11. And now, back to our previous hyperbole….. threatening nuclear rain on the Munchkin!

    noel (b4d580)

  12. Oh, that’s right. “EVERYONE thinks I deserve the Peace Prize”. DJT

    Noooo. You don’t look desperate. Nope.

    noel (b4d580)

  13. Would the Paris conference have prevented the Berlin matter, no because the Russians were confident then with sputnik they held the high ground in Cuba they have thrust into our front yard, in Munich they had iced Bandera their long time advedrsary.

    narciso (95d175)

  14. Conversely in the 80s Reagan didn’t feel the need to communicate with the Soviets in the early part despite the nuclear freeze maskirovna

    narciso (95d175)

  15. If the Nobel committee treated Trump as they did Obama he’d already have the Peace Prize for simply being elected.

    harkin (2fa2ca)


  16. neontaster
    @neontaster
    I mean, we got three prisoners back, the Nork’s just destroyed a testing facility, and we were the ones who pulled out of the summit. I’m not sure how that constitutes North Korea playing us.

    harkin (2fa2ca)

  17. Good move. Let the Chinese and Kimchi come begging again as we ramp up the sanctions.

    I confess, I was worried for a while that Trump would give away the store for good press and I am happy to have been shown wrong.

    nk (dbc370)

  18. I’m sure that President Trump would like to win the Nobel’s prize. I’d like a Nobel Prize in Econ, but I’m just a lowly banker. Anyone here I’m sure would LIKE to win one.

    Would the President strut around like a peacock if he won the Nobel Peace Prize? No doubt

    Would the President take every opportunity to call attention to his REAL Nobel Peace Prize vs the one that President Obama won? You’re darn skippy he would.

    Would President Trump show up to the Nobel ceremony, wearing a MAGA hat, Def Leppard t-shirt and eating straight from a bucket of KFC while giving his speech? I could only pray.

    If President Trumps ONLY concern was his self aggrandizement in THIS instance, he would’ve taken any deal on the table. But he didn’t. He walked. I for one commend him on it.

    But the concern trolling on his lost Nobel……. I would think he doesn’t really actually care.

    Carlton (cfdd5a)

  19. #17 NK.

    I have ALOT of faith in Pompeo and Bolton. They are, I believe giving him good advice on this situation. Good on the President for taking it.

    Carlton (cfdd5a)

  20. He got the hostages released and got North Korea to blow up their own nuclear site, but I guess he got PLAYED by those wily Asians because now he’s been denied the pleasure of an extended overseas meeting in Singapore.

    Tellurian (b07080)

  21. Kim feared that a deal to give up nuclear weapons and associated delivery systems would give his father’s hardline generals all the excuse needed to depose him and rule the Hermit Kingdom as a military junta.

    Consequently, Kim escalated his harsh rhetoric (largely for domestic consuption) but failed to build a sufficiently healthy relationship with both South Korea and the Trump Administration strong enough to endure his verbal belligerency.

    Kim now knows he must secure his dictatorship by removing dangerous hardliners before he can again approach the West in an attempt to duplicate China’s successful accommodation to the world economy.

    Kim’s future and that of the North Korean people depend it.

    ropelight (0b27dc)

  22. Was the peace treaty formally adopted by all parties, ending the conflict of the 50s? Or, is there some technicality remaining which enables the DPRK to continue to dangle a “peace” as an enticement for any further negotiation? Thanks for any reply.

    Ed from SFV (b95465)

  23. Not far from there, but can Duterte top this?

    http://www.cnn.com/2018/05/24/asia/australia-malaysia-maria-exposto-intl/index.html

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb)

  24. And it would have been an epic summit too. The Munchkin vs. the Manchurian.

    noel (b4d580)

  25. There’s a good article (that means I like it) by Joseph Bosco on The Hill. http://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/389125-trump-may-have-given-kim-an-offer-he-dares-not-refuse-despite-Beijings-objections It discusses how denuclearization should be tied in with rehumanization and China’s decades of crapweaselry and in the present instance.

    nk (dbc370)

  26. There never was a peace treaty, only a cease fire. Technically the a state of war is still in effect

    ropelight (0b27dc)

  27. There was no peace treaty, Ed from SFV. Only a ceasefire. Technically we are still at war with North Korea. Believe it or not, it’s one of the bases for the President being able to impose tariffs without further Congressional action.

    nk (dbc370)

  28. Heh!

    nk (dbc370)

  29. Wonder if Morgan Freeman getting #MeTooed overshadows this:

    “The female former employee at Revelations told CNN that Freeman was flanked by a group of men on the set of “Through the Wormhole” when she met the actor for the first time. He “looked me up and down,” she said, and then asked her, “How do you feel about sexual harassment?””

    well with a movie title like that…..

    Tellurian (b07080)

  30. And apparently he’s going for an insanity defense, Tellurian. https://twitter.com/mjfree/status/999650882735280129

    nk (dbc370)

  31. I shouldn’t have called Trump a Manchurian. Sorry. It was about 60% joke.

    noel (b4d580)

  32. According to the bio that is ‘not the actor’.

    Well, guess we should get a leg up on the Morgan Freeman movie title edits in any case:

    Screws Almighty

    Pile Driving Miss Daisy

    Tellurian (b07080)

  33. Noel, what would you have preferred the President to do at this point?You seem to be Pro North Korea, but maybe I’m reading it incorrectly.

    BuDuh (78888e)

  34. In Flanders’ letter, he thanked Simpson for the gracious gesture of returning his own weedwacker, lawn mower and hedge clippers Homer swiped a few years ago and hopes he’ll consider writing or calling again to discuss the lawn sprinkler and who gets hosed.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  35. Now, I am pro-North Korea?? OMG

    I have never complimented the little Kim in my life. That was someone else.

    noel (b4d580)

  36. I have ALOT of faith in Pompeo and Bolton…

    Devil worship.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  37. Now that the ‘summit’ is off, there’s plenty of freed up time for our Captain to meet w/Mueller before June 12, eh, Rudy!?

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  38. Trump’s latest tweet on the failed meet-up with Fat Kim.
    https://twitter.com/realGollumTrump/status/999662330542723074

    Paul Montagu (e6130e)

  39. It seems like Trump is using the promise of a summit as a negotiating ploy, and that makes sense. Both sides got something — Kim got a trip to China and probably aid, while Trump got the returned American hostages. This can go on awhile.

    It is funny to see Trump complain regarding the “tremendous anger and open hostility” in recent statements from Pyongyang.” Most of the statements have been negative comments about Pence, calling him a political dummy and his comments stupid. Trump has said far worse about many Republicans.

    DRJ (15874d)

  40. Was the right move to walk. Not the end of the world. It’s a process.

    Anonymous (d41cee)

  41. trashy-ass Republicans have said far far worse about President Trump than President Trump has ever said about them that’s for sure

    look at Meghan’s coward daddy for example he can’t shut his useless incontinent coward-mouth and Jeff Flake, who raised disgustingly racist children, is equally bitter and foul-mouthed

    this is not good number one our president, President Donald Trump, is a stout fellow, stalwart and true, and he likes to free the hostages and make the good deals

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  42. number two President Trump’s averse to the kind of vulgar gutter-talk Meghan’s coward daddy engages in with such unfortunate frequency

    President Trump’s making the good decisions, and that benefits *everyone* if you ask me

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  43. Morgan Freeman has needs

    sexual needs

    this is why he likes to molest the hot young things even when they don’t do consent

    this is obvious to anyone who is willing to do the analysis

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  44. The President defending the Vice-President is funny?

    BuDuh (fc15db)

  45. No one would want a prize that Obama has stained. Obama has ruined dang near everything he touches. Look at the yeti he married.

    mg (9e54f8)

  46. Technically we are still at war with North Korea.

    Technically we were never at war with North Korea. It was a “police action”.

    Dave (445e97)

  47. Morgan Freeman has needs

    sexual needs

    this is why he likes to molest the hot young things even when they don’t do consent

    Think he’ll run for president?

    Dave (445e97)

  48. @16, @34 As far as we know, there wasn’t a pallet of unmarked US bills or 5 terrorists freed from Guantanamo to grease the release of the three Americans.

    pete (a65bac)

  49. next on a special episode of madame secretary,

    narciso (d1f714)

  50. this was the precursor event, I was speaking of:

    http://www.brightreview.co.uk/ARTICLE-Bandera.html

    narciso (d1f714)

  51. bandera was unfortunately the company’s fair-haired boy, vouched for by general gehlen,

    narciso (d1f714)

  52. Trump’s obsequious letter is hilarious:

    Kim Jong Un
    Chairman of the State Affairs Commission
    of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
    Pyongyang

    Dear Mr. Chairman:

    We greatly appreciate your time, patience, and effort with respect to our recent negotiations and discussions relative to a summit long sought by both parties, which was scheduled to take place on June 12 in Singapore. We were informed that the meeting was requested by North Korea, but that to us is totally irrelevant. I was very much looking forward to being there with you. Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting. Therefore, please let this letter serve to represent that the Singapore summit, for the good of both parties, but to the detriment of the world, will not take place. You talk about nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used.

    I felt a wonderful dialogue was building up between you and me, and ultimately, it is only that dialogue that matters. Some day, I look very much forward to meeting you. In the meantime, I want to thank you for the release of the hostages who are now home with their families. That was a beautiful gesture and was very much appreciated.

    If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write. The world, and North Korea in particular, has lost a great opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth. This missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history.

    Sincerely yours,

    Donald J. Trump
    President of the United States of America

    Dave (445e97)

  53. It’s like he’s writing to a crush who backed out a prom date or something.

    Dave (445e97)

  54. Well, apart from the passive-aggressive threat of nuclear war, anyway.

    Dave (445e97)

  55. I think it’s a very good letter. The Greek expression is “knifing him with cotton”. What is a similar expression in American?

    nk (dbc370)

  56. Oops! We’re overstocked!!! WH Gift Shop having sale on North Korean-U.S. summit commemorative coin and ornament.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  57. yes the mailed fist, inside the velvet glove,

    narciso (d1f714)

  58. settle down, chuck,

    narciso (d1f714)

  59. @44. Man boobs.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  60. Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting. Therefore, please let this letter serve to represent that the Singapore summit, for the good of both parties, but to the detriment of the world, will not take place. You talk about nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used.

    Yes. Obsequious. Yes. Obsequious indeed.

    Skorcher (5b282a)

  61. @59. Makin’ bacon when the pig iron is hot:

    The White House gift shop has already discounted the commemorative coin it made for the now-canceled summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un

    ‘President Trump’s decision to cancel his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un led to a stock market drop and dashed the hopes of anyone who thought he could made a nuclear deproliferation deal with the dictator.

    It also apparently led to the White House gift shop discounting the gifts it made to commemorate the summit… One ornament, originally priced at $85, is now available for $59. The other gift, a coin with a retail price of $24.95, can now be purchased for $19.95. Get them while supplies last!’ – source, http://www.thisinsider.com

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  62. “…….letter is hilarious.”

    As hilarious as giving them nuke tech and telling US citizens it would never be used for weapons?

    As hilarious as secretly giving billions to a terrorist state?

    But but he had a coin struck!!

    harkin (2fa2ca)

  63. “Morgan Freeman has needs

    sexual needs

    this is why he likes to molest the hot young things even when they don’t do consent

    this is obvious to anyone who is willing to do the analysis”

    Happyfeet is SLANDERING a prominent African-American individual, Morgan Freeman TOTALLY ASKED IF THEY WERE OKAY WITH SEXUAL HARRASSMENT before harrassing them, he did the conversational equivalent of ‘filling out the paperwork’ and ‘checking the boxes’ and ‘dotting the eyes’ ‘crossing the tease’ and before he went ahead and did Diligence in the Hollywood trailer park.

    Tellurian (b07080)

  64. “One ornament, originally priced at $85, is now available for $59. The other gift, a coin with a retail price of $24.95, can now be purchased for $19.95………”

    Andrew McCabe’s table has been marked down to $50,000

    “Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, who was fired for lying under oath, spent $70,000 in taxpayer dollars on a conference table. The FBI also redacted the conference table’s steep price tag from documents that members of the Senate Judiciary Committee requested, in an apparent attempt to hide it from Congress.”

    harkin (2fa2ca)

  65. Regarding his letter to Fat Kim, Trump is highly educated, he knows words, he has the best words. I know that because he told us so.

    Paul Montagu (e6130e)

  66. that is twice what ben carson’s table cost, oddly the times didn’t make much of that,

    narciso (d1f714)

  67. National Soros Radio is wetting their panties cause Jeffrey Tambor yelled at some hollywood skanks

    which gives rise to this amusing locution

    Aside from those accusations, Tambor says in the Hollywood Reporter story that he yelled at creator Jill Soloway until they told him they were afraid of him (Soloway uses they/them pronouns), and that he yelled at a female executive producer until he made her cry. “I was mean,” he says. But, he maintains, he never sexually harassed anyone.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  68. otoh, we are talking about easy reader, from the electric company,

    narciso (d1f714)

  69. btw, the expanse may be going to amazon, for the fourth season,

    narciso (d1f714)

  70. So Tambor really is Hank Kingsley?

    Hey now!

    harkin (2fa2ca)

  71. What? You guys own ZTE stock or something? Trump let the Chinese save face on American farm products — they had nowhere else to buy them from before they started starving — but ZTE is not final yet. He’ll make Xi squirm for playing games with the summit.

    nk (dbc370)

  72. a side note, freeman, just became the voice of Vancouver public transit, awkward,

    narciso (d1f714)

  73. I hope the coins cost less than Obama Olympic Dreams.

    The International Olympic Committee on Friday dealt a severe blow to President Barack Obama, rejecting Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympics on its first ballot. The IOC selected Rio de Janeiro, Brazil after a second round of ballots.

    IOC members turned down Chicago after Obama traveled to Copenhagen to lobby personally for his adopted hometown to win the Summer Games. This was the first time a sitting U.S. president made a personal pitch for an Olympic bid by his country.
    http://thehill.com/homenews/news/61351-2009-10-02-15-36-53

    What a failure. And his legacy?

    The city is on the hook for about $140 million in principal and interest on the purchase of property for an Olympic Village to house athletes, and it was saddled with costly, 10-year union contracts that were hammered out to ensure labor peace during the Games.

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-olympics-chicago-2016-met-20160715-story.html

    BuDuh (fc15db)

  74. that’s good news Mr. narciso it’s a bingey little show, sharply written gorgeously art-directed and with a solid cast

    i think once it circles back on itself (long tail) it’ll have a nice little audience

    the first season is hard though for people what haven’t read the books

    syfy dropped the marketing ball in a big way, and Amazon’s team is kinda-sorta still feeling their way forward

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  75. I liked Jeffrey Tambor in Hellboy II. Moreover

    Tambor has adult daughters from earlier relationships, while he and his wife Kasia have son Gabriel Kasper, younger daughter Eve Julia, and twin sons Hugo Bernard and Eli Nicholas, born on October 4, 2009.[14]

    In 2007, Tambor was reported to be a Scientologist.[15] However, in February 2008, Tambor expressed concern about “Internet reports” about his alleged involvement with Scientology and stated that he “took some Scientology classes at one time, studied Scientology for a while, but no more. I have nothing against it, but I am no longer a Scientologist.”[16]

    I guess it’s true what they say: Lie down with trannies, wake up with fleas.

    nk (dbc370)

  76. Good for Amazon, picking up The Expanse. Looking forward to Season 2 of Goliath.

    Paul Montagu (e6130e)

  77. I was referring to whatever may have been formalized when Kim visited the ROK recently.

    Everyone acted as if that were an armistice.

    EdfromSFV (a7ac12)

  78. my feels is they should go back and do a season-one made for tv movie what takes a closer look at the space zombies on eros and gives them a chance to do some better exposition for people

    everyone likes zombies and space zombies are the very very best kind of zombies, so this project could attract new viewers as well as people who’d maybe just sampled

    this is obvious to anyone who is willing to do the analysis

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  79. meanwhile the country that got the games, probably with a little bribe to mr, blatter, is on fire, it may elect a fmr paratrooper, who makes trump seems altogether too moderate, among other things he praised the real torturing head of the anti guerilla paramilitaries,

    narciso (d1f714)

  80. 53:

    You’re way too interested in the optics of it and if it makes Trump look good/bad. International relations takes time and if you are too obsessed with achieving near term victories for political PR, it hurts your position.

    I wouldn’t even look at it as a Trump thing (ha, ha, he looks bad) but just part of the dance that countries do over time. It’s a different frame.

    Anonymous (d41cee)

  81. What is a similar expression in American?

    “brown-nosing”.

    Although I understand that in the business world, it’s also referred to as “dropping your drawers”.

    Dave (445e97)

  82. Too gay.

    ropelight (a9cc11)

  83. It takes BRASS BALLS to make a deal with the Norks. Go and do likewise, gents. Denuclearization is out there. You pick it up, it’s yours. You don’t, I got no sympathy for you. You wanna go out on those sits tonight and close, CLOSE. It’s yours. If not, you’re gonna be shining my shoes. And you know what you’ll be saying — a bunch of losers sittin’ around in a bar. ‘Oh yeah. I used to be the leader of the free world. It’s a tough racket.’ These are the new leads. These are the Glengarry-Pyongyang leads. And to Trump they’re gold, and Trump doesn’t get them. Why? Because to give them to him is just throwing them away. They’re for closers. I’d wish him good luck but he wouldn’t know what to do with it if he got it. And covfefe is for closers only.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  84. notwithstanding the tendentious spin from the propaganda sluts at the hill, brucey-pickles couldn’t be more charming:

    “The Republicans need the most work when it comes to our issues, I get that. I would rather work from the inside. I’m not the type of person who is going to stand on a street corner with a sign and jump up and down. No, I’m going to go have dinner with these people.”

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  85. Pressure to close is absolutely the worst classic way to deal with this sort of negotiation with anyone, let alone a communist (they have a classic style of negotiation to try to exploit need of counterparty for PR win).

    I agree that Trump should not have hooped this thing up but still don’t think that is a big deal in the grand scheme of things (not like we gave them money or a concession…just a minor embarrassment).

    Anonymous (d41cee)

  86. hooping it up and then canceling is very counter-intuitive to the tiny asian commie brain

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  87. @anonymous 86

    Spot on. The embarrassment (if there is any) is temporary. 1 maybe 2 news cycles.

    However. We gain several things out of this.

    1. We don’t get into a bad scenario where we have made concessions to the Norks (money, tech, support). The sanctions are still in place, and we are back to where we were 6 months ago. Negotiations.

    2. A signal is sent to the Iranians that THIS US government won’t sign any old treaty that is presented for a short term political win.

    This is a longer process that we are looking at here. Even the Iran deal (which I’m not a fan of) wasn’t wrapped up in a six month period of time.

    This is a hiccup. And when the Norks come back to the table, they will have to make greater concessions

    Carlton (ab2866)

  88. Narciso number 4… that’s a winner, my friend!!!

    Colonel Haiku (e208fd)

  89. 16… harkin!

    Colonel Haiku (e208fd)

  90. Time for Dennis Rodman and Jimmuh Carter to save teh day!

    Colonel Haiku (e208fd)

  91. Fathead with teh fly hairdon’t… he gonna be so ronery now…

    Colonel Haiku (e208fd)

  92. It’s like he’s writing to a crush who backed out a prom date or something.

    Dave (445e97) — 5/24/2018 @ 9:42 am

    ConDave with the faculty lounge take…

    Colonel Haiku (e208fd)

  93. 62… dingleberries for teh Chuck Barris of Punditry…

    Colonel Haiku (e208fd)

  94. “Purchases made through this search function benefit this site, at no extra cost to you”.

    Careful Patt, this sort of language just got Legal Insurrection‘s Amazon deal rescinded with no appeal plus money owed withheld.

    On Saturday morning, April 28, 2018, I woke up to an email in my inbox from Amazon Associates telling me our participation in the program was terminated, our account closed, that the decision was final and there was no appeal. On top of that, Amazon was holding back any accumulated money it owed us…….

    ……Moreover, as I explained in writing to Amazon, stating that a customer can support us does not actually violate the Operating Agreement, which permits disclosure that we earn a fee.”

    They’re watching, be careful.

    harkin (2fa2ca)

  95. Game, set, match, Kim. Well played, sir.

    All the commies are rooting for their team.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  96. The only correspondence that Trump should have with the Novel Committee is “Where do I send back the Boobie’s Prize?”

    Kevin M (752a26)

  97. *NoBel

    Kevin M (752a26)

  98. “In early January 2017, then-President Barack Obama, SHMOTUS Joe Biden, and a small sub-group of the national security team began their transition to what’s commonly called the “Deep State.” Based on the footprints they left behind we can tell that they took time from their real jobs of running the country, this proto-deep state planned, coordinated, and leaked a timed media burst of articles about Trump and Russia. Each of the stories was leaked to different outlets. Each story was published between the 10th and 12th of January. This was the turning point when the Obama Administration became the deep state.

    At NRO on Tuesday, Andrew McCarthy came to an important conclusion about the Trump-Russia investigation. It has been increasingly clear that the investigation – to the extent we may call it that – started quite a while before 31 July 2016, the date long given for its formal launch. McCarthy suggests it began in the early spring, probably around the end of March.”

    https://lidblog.com/obama-administration-deep-state/

    Colonel Haiku (e208fd)

  99. Trump has insulted former Presidents, Vice Presidents, Senators, and Governors so I doubt he cares about Pence’s honor, but it is funny to see Trump complain about negative statement (insults) since he uses them so often. Hypocrisy can be sad or funny or both, but this one strikes me as funny because it is so ironic.

    DRJ (15874d)

  100. Chant it with me: No-bel Prize! No-bel Prize!

    Sir Cecil Spring Rice, the British ambassador to the U.S. from 1912-1918, fondly remarked of President Theodore Roosevelt: “You must always remember that the president is about six.” That it was a fond remark is proved by the fact that TR was godfather to Spring Rice’s son. Despite his ebullient nature and short attention span, however, Teddy Roosevelt actually made peace between the Russians and the Japanese. TR accordingly became the first American to win any Nobel Prize, specifically the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1906 — and he deserved it.

    TR knew how to close. TR had all the covfefe he wanted.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  101. Presidents should let dictators insult Vice Presidents?

    BuDuh (fc15db)

  102. This week’s SNL open writes itself, doesn’t it?

    Beldar (fa637a)

  103. Kim got a trip to China and probably aid, while Trump got the returned American hostages. This can go on awhile.

    Actually it can’t. The moment Kim has a bomb he can put on an ICBM that can hit the US west coast (anywhere), it’s game over for the negotiations, a unified Korea, the people of North Korea and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  104. Beldar,

    You really don’t have to jump on the bandwagon. If you actually believe that Trump was doing this for a Nobel Prize (which YOU have a better chance of winning), then you’re not the guy I take you for.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  105. the other hostages are still there though: all our hapless tatters sitting like stupid momo ducks on the kimchi peninsula like they had good sense

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  106. Theodore Roosevelt was brilliant at leveling insults, not only directed at his political adversaries, but often directed at his political allies.

    https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4976512

    BuDuh (fc15db)

  107. This week’s SNL open writes itself, doesn’t it?

    Your material is about par for their course.

    BuDuh (fc15db)

  108. The npt is a joke, does any signatory really abide by it.

    narciso (95d175)

  109. you’re not supposed to do proliferate on the nuclear

    even if food stamp says it’s ok and wants you to do genocide on israel that’s still not an acceptable excuse

    and if you’re close to where you can nuke japan it’s even worse! (this is what the coward-ass limp-dick south koreans don’t understand – they think it’s all about them)

    cause japan is one of our best ally to where we don’t have to shovel monies at them all the time

    plus they’re an important culture in their own right unlike south korea (lame culture)

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  110. Kevin m

    It’s becoming clear that beldar and Company, are giving new readers the impression that they would prefer death and destruction for our fellow Americans, rather than show a united front because the candidate of their choice didn’t win.

    I don’t think they realize how badly they come across to a new reader.

    EPWJ (840999)

  111. @ Kevin M: Trump just gave away — for three hostages, which is not nothing, but is also not the basis for major diplomatic concessions in return from the world’s only superpower — something that no previous American President since Eisenhower has ever gotten close to giving away: He recognized the leader of the North Korean government as a co-equal entitled to sit across a negotiating table from a President of the United States.

    He’s also given the Norks something that unfortunately, every American President since Clinton has also given them: More time.

    Having pocketed the worldwide prestige and resumed hold on his ruling junta that accrues from both of these victories, Kim will blame Trump and the U.S. for walking away from the “peace and denuclearization process.” The Norks routinely make ridiculous claims, but this one actually will persuade some people in the world who are already hostile to Trump and/or the U.S.

    TR — despite his own instincts as a showman and crowd-pleaser, his own desire (in the words of daughter Alice) to be the corpse at every funeral, the bride at every wedding, and the baby at every christening — also knew how to speak softly and carry a big stick.

    Trump speaks loudly, encourages others to fawn over him, and uses his stick on porn stars.

    This is a major cock-up. Trump owns it. I’m disinclined to pretend otherwise, and I’m not optimistic at all that he can either reach (meaning: close on!) a deal, or lead America and a coalition of the willing into further action that will take the decisions out of Kim’s hands.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  112. Can you imagine Teddy Roosevelt in the Twitter Age? I bet all the right people would be upset.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  113. @ EPWJ (#112): You just made something up and attributed it to me — a supposed preference on my part for “death and destruction for our fellow Americans … because the candidate of [my] choice didn’t win.”

    I call bullsh!t and call you an @sshold for lying about me. I defy you to quote anything I’ve ever said or written, here or anywhere, at any time, in which I’ve expressed or even implied a preference for “death and destruct for our fellow Americans.”

    You’re out of bounds, cowboy.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  114. This week’s SNL open writes itself, doesn’t it?

    It certainly could do no worse than the current gaggle of unfunny, wannabe comedy writers have been doing for several years running.

    Colonel Haiku (e208fd)

  115. He’s now riding dat ol’ Lickspittle Express…

    Colonel Haiku (e208fd)

  116. This is a major cock-up. Trump owns it. I’m disinclined to pretend otherwise, and I’m not optimistic at all that he can either reach (meaning: close on!) a deal, or lead America and a coalition of the willing into further action that will take the decisions out of Kim’s hands.

    I don’t see it that way. I see it as the “one last chance for peace” due-diligence effort necessary before taking active measures. That Trump might have trouble putting together a coalition has little to do with this (which I think helps, but not enough). Both the Senate Democrats’ refusal to honor the transfer of power and the ongoing full-court press from the #Resistance have done far more damage to Trump’s ability to lead than this negotiating impasse.

    So many people are acting like the 18-year-old who doesn’t understand why dad is haggling over their first car.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  117. “It’s becoming clear that beldar and Company, are giving new readers the impression that they would prefer death and destruction for our fellow Americans, rather than show a united front because the candidate of their choice didn’t win.

    I don’t think they realize how badly they come across to a new reader.”

    – EPWJ

    You remain a clown, EPWJ. Why don’t you take the next logical leap: if Beldar and Company “prefer death and destruction for our fellow Americans,” how concerned are you that they might throw a rock at you?

    Leviticus (efada1)

  118. Beldar,

    I didn’t take it like #112 either. Perhaps I read #104 wrong, but it had more LOL in it than your usual.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  119. McCarthy suggests it began in the early spring, probably around the end of March.”

    Just pure coincidence that a new campaign manager with known connections to KGB agents and Ukrainian Putinists started on March 29, I’m sure.

    On the main topic, I was no fan having a summit with Kim, so I’m glad Trump did this. And using what for him is tactful, diplomatic language.

    Kishnevi (6a5d3c)

  120. @tehTedMan…

    “To sit home on one’s ass, read one’s fave fish wrap, and scoff at the misdeeds of the men who do things is easy, but it is markedly ineffective. It is what evil men count upon and they can chortle my balls.”

    Colonel Haiku (e208fd)

  121. You are the Chuck barris of punditry.

    I don’t know what that means, but I am the pundit who is on vacation.

    Patterico (108de2)

  122. @ Kevin M: I recall George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush both going to Congress and to the U.N. as they assembled their coalitions of the willing for the Gulf War, the Afghan War, and the Iraq War. Each of them genuinely exhausted all diplomatic alternatives; opponents to war had no basis to argue otherwise, and both Bush presidents followed the Constitution scrupulously while also building public support, within and without America.

    I don’t recall any of them angling for a Nobel Prize en route. I don’t recall their press secretaries bragging that they were the “best negotiator in the world.” I don’t recall them running for office on promises that international relationships will be easy, that they were smart and everyone before them was stupid, and that they were the only one who could solve the nation’s problems.

    Trump is flailing around. He’s not up to this job. I don’t say that because I want death and destruction for our fellow Americans. I just want a POTUS who’s at least minimally competent and who can see the world beyond his own massive ego.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  123. He’d be a rascal, that guy!

    Colonel Haiku (e208fd)

  124. Trump is flailing around. He’s not up to this job. I don’t say that because I want death and destruction for our fellow Americans. I just want a POTUS who’s at least minimally competent and who can see the world beyond his own massive ego.

    No sh1t. So do I. What would you suggest?

    Kevin M (752a26)

  125. Yawn.

    Anonymous (ea5569)

  126. What were the diplomatic alternatives after Iraq invaded Kuwait?

    What were the diplomatic alternatives with Afghanistan after 9/11?

    The only country that there may have been diplomatic alternatives with was the Iraq war that Bush washed his hands of.

    You want a preemptive invasion of NK now?

    BuDuh (fc15db)

  127. 114…114…
    @tehTedMan…
    Nothing in this world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… especially for your enemies. You hear that, Wilson? I got yer woodie hangin’… right here.

    Colonel Haiku (e208fd)

  128. You want a preemptive invasion of NK now?

    You want to do it when they have H-bombs that can hit the west coast?

    Kevin M (752a26)

  129. @ Kevin M: Oh, I have a long list of things to suggest to Trump, starting with taking a sledgehammer to his damn cellphones. But I don’t have anything to suggest to you, me, or other readers here except that we be realistic and honest in assessing this. Pretending that this has been a step in the right direction is not constructive. But as your comment suggests, we’re all stuck with the fact that Trump is the POTUS we have, not the POTUS who could either make peace or lead us into war.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  130. 17.:

    Good move. Let the Chinese and Kimchi come begging again as we ramp up the sanctions.
    I confess, I was worried for a while that Trump would give away the store for good press and I am happy to have been shown wrong.

    Great minds think alike, or fools seldom differ. Bit of column A, bit of column B.

    I was pleasantly surprised to see this neat little bit of turnabout and such a charming little break-up note (the nuclear threat being notably off-key), from Trump of all people.

    Interesting times.

    JP (b39be7)

  131. DRJ, at 101: he isn’t insulting people, he’s just telling the truth, while the people who are insulting him are spreading fake news.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  132. 130,If I understand Beldar, we should wait until we are attacked, or invade in such an unprepared way that the entire region is thrown into long lasting chaos.

    I prefer giving actual diplomacy, with hard line language, a little bit of a chance, instead of raising a white flag and applauding a poorly written SNL takedown of our country.

    BuDuh (fc15db)

  133. I say replace Trump with Beldar. Beldar would have those commie running dogs and lickspittles whipped into shape in no time at all. Or he’d see ‘em in court. Take that, Fathead Kim!

    Colonel Haiku (e208fd)

  134. The problem here isn’t really Trump. It’s that the Democrats STILL refuse to accept they lost the election. The lock-step Congressional NO votes — even when YES would serve them better — tell me that they wouldn’t consider giving Trump an AUMF if Mexico invaded Arizona.

    THEY are willing to visit “death and destruction” on our fellow Americans, if Trump got hurt, too. The press continues to cover for them, too (made easier by Trump’s need to see his face on TV).

    Kevin M (752a26)

  135. Which modern Presidents have refused to use diplomacy with North Korea? I thought all of them have used diplomacy. It’s not as if Trump is the first to try or as if his efforts are likely to work out any better. I understand why he wants to try but he isn’t likely to have better results.

    DRJ (15874d)

  136. @ BuDuh, who wrote (#134):

    If I understand Beldar, ….

    You don’t. You’re not remotely close. You should stop trying to make stuff up and attribute it to me.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  137. Pretending that this has been a step in the right direction is not constructive.

    I believe that, in the abstract, bending over backwards to negotiate a way out is better than not. It seems that we are back where we were before, but not really. A box has been checked off the list.

    Now, could this play have been executed better? Let’s ask former SecState Tillerson.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  138. Good point, DRJ.

    Trump is using diplomacy.

    BuDuh (fc15db)

  139. I read Beldar as saying that we will need to act militarily and possibly unilaterally, AND that Trump’s [clumsy] attempt at negotiating made that harder. I disagree in the latter only, and say that no one will vote against Trump BECAUSE of this failure. They were already voting no.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  140. Trump sends mixed messages. He also seems to be itching for war.

    DRJ (15874d)

  141. Some describe his diplomacy as a word salad. Frankly I don’t think any President knows what to do with dictators like Kim. Ultimately we usually end up deposing them or helping a coup depose them.

    DRJ (15874d)

  142. The republican party is now populist and supports trump. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!

    newday (8c2a45)

  143. the jeff bezos propaganda sluts say salad is overrated (their word) (for salad) (because they’re fags)

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  144. NK was unable to commit to total denuclearization prior to this tumultuous week. Trump has sent zero mixed signals on that demand.

    NK tried a power play and failed. Trump checked them after they blew up their nuke site in front of CNN. Smart diplomacy in action.

    BuDuh (fc15db)

  145. we will need to act militarily

    lol the sleazy incompetent tranny-trash mattis military’s choking on afghanistan like they’re craving a heinie lick

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  146. DJT seems to have actually listened to Bolton. The dude who worships “The Deal” and wallowed in the praise from those who typically are his enemies when he boldly accepted Kim’s invitation, consciously chose to eschew such satisfactions.

    I would have bet, and was greatly concerned, that he would give away the store as so many previous U.S. potentates (we have emperors anymore) have done simply to assuage his ego. He is notorious for ignoring his assistants and advisors. He has craved the attention of the masses. Yet, he pretty much shut down an all-time opportunity to bask in the glow of a voracious media with a bottomless need for controversy and “new.” This was his “China” moment. And now it is not.

    I still don’t trust him.

    Ed from SFV (b95465)

  147. 113. Beldar:

    … something that no previous American President since Eisenhower has ever gotten close to giving away: He recognized the leader of the North Korean government as a co-equal entitled to sit across a negotiating table from a President of the United States.

    Not counting Jimmy Carter I suppose – presumably you mean “sitting” Presidents.

    JP (b39be7)

  148. Leviticus,

    Imagine a world with a global strike capable north korea

    EPWJ (326209)

  149. @ JP (#149): Yup, fair point. I was excluding disgraced ex-Presidents who can’t accept the fact that they got beaten at the polls like a rented mule for very good reasons, including his cataclysmic naivete in foreign relations.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  150. He was just turning our collective other cheek.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  151. Kevin M: what course of action would you recommend for someone in Congress who believes North Korea is a threat that we have to deal with, but who does not trust Trump’s skill or ability enough to believe that an authorization to use military force would be used wisely and/or believes that Trump would inevitably use such an instrument in a way that causes more harm to the country than it averts?

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  152. happyfeet, at 145: excuse me?

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  153. Trump sends mixed messages. He also seems to be itching for war.

    I am resigned to war and only the fact that Gen Mattis is in charge keeps me from despair. NK cannot be allowed to make a mockery of the NNPT. If the example is not made now, it never will be, and all those countries that got heavy water reactors as a result of signing will be released of their obligation not to pursue nukes. Any war we have now will be FAR better than the wars we have then.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  154. 151. Beldar:

    Yup, fair point. I was excluding disgraced ex-Presidents who can’t accept the fact that they got beaten at the polls like a rented mule for very good reasons, including his cataclysmic naivete in foreign relations.

    Point taken. It’s probably fair to say that Carter having chats with the Supreme Leader in his own backyard isn’t quite the same thing as formal, open negotiations, either.

    JP (b39be7)

  155. He is notorious for ignoring his assistants and advisors.

    Is he notorious because reporters report that anonymous sources say he is notorious or is there an actual verifiable list, post inauguration, of him ignoring his advisors?

    I remember him getting a lot of advice during the campaign on how to win that he ignored. Then he won.

    BuDuh (fc15db)

  156. what course of action would you recommend for someone in Congress who believes North Korea is a threat that we have to deal with, but who does not trust Trump’s skill or ability …

    Well, a Constitutional amendment reseating the powers of Commander-in-Chief would be one option. Somewhat easier would be impeaching him for incompetence and/or conduct unbecoming. I guess you could trump up some other “cospiracy” charges and impeach him on that basis but the collateral damage is terrible. And none of that leads to national cohesion.

    This is one of those situations where the parliamentary system is better, although you could attempt to have better candidates. This last election wasn’t exactly Jeb Bartlett vs Jack Ryan.

    Basically, you go to war with the president you have. And, assuming you never go to war when it’s unnecessary, you just have to accept suboptimum results. Presumably living with the “peace” is worse.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  157. @ DRJ, who wrote (#143):

    Frankly I don’t think any President knows what to do with dictators like Kim.

    For an American President to be successful at either diplomacy or war, he must first have earned and banked sufficient political capital, domestically, to be credible in his leadership abroad. Reagan was able to resist the Soviet Union successfully, and ultimately to win the Cold War, based on those defense budgets and key votes on things like intermediate-range nuclear missiles and Star Wars. The affirmative and bipartisan votes in Congress authorizing the use of military force in the Gulf War, the Afghan War, and the Iraq War gave Bush-41 and Bush-43 the constitutional and moral authority to lead the country to war.

    Obama, dealing with the Iranians, wasn’t committed to preventing them from getting nukes to begin with, so that deal was foredoomed from the outset anyway; but he certainly had less leverage at the table precisely because he’d gone to such links (with the connivance of some very foolish Congresscritters) to evade the Constitution’s requirement that treaties, to bind the U.S., must be ratified in the Senate, and because it was so obvious that Obama couldn’t deliver any such ratification, and neither was it backed up with any credible threat of force in the alternative to diplomacy.

    It’s fair to point out that Trump inherited bad situations in both Iran and North Korea. It’s fair to point out that even a brilliantly diplomatic U.S. POTUS, an honest Nixon or a George H.W. Bush, would have a very hard time overcoming domestic partisanship and accruing the necessarily political capital to spend in pursuit of either diplomacy or war. Indeed, that was all clear in 2016 — which was one of the principle reasons I couldn’t cast a vote for either Trump or Hillary, neither of whom I think are even minimally competent at international diplomacy.

    To his credit, Trump said today — contrary to what some of his supporters are arguing, here and elsewhere — that this was a “set-back” for both North Korea and the world. Acknowledging it as a set-back, and not as some brilliant oblique maneuver that’s going to result in some wonderful surprise right around the corner, is the minimum requirement for the Trump Administration going forward. That’s not the same thing as saying it’s all, or mostly, Trump’s fault.

    But his overselling and under-delivering hurts the United States.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  158. Whose Being firing off rockets for the better part of a year now. Now if attacked we will retaliate, to avoid an emp level event we might have to preempt.

    narciso (95d175)

  159. * gone to such lengths, I meant to write in #159

    Beldar (fa637a)

  160. Moons adviser Cheng really thought you could cross that bridge ultimately you can’t

    narciso (95d175)

  161. President Trump is good on America cause number one the norkers haven’t nuked anybody and number two we’re producing a lot of oil.

    Also the stupid Iran deal is completely over with and dead not unlike half the cast of Glee.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  162. I think Trump’s policy toward North Korea is one of pressure and engagement, essentially a carrot-and-stick policy. The carrot/engagement part is through diplomacy and the stick/pressure part is the military threat. This is not a new American strategy, and the only reason it seems new is that Trump’s rhetoric is often unpredictable and prone to showmanship.

    But Kim is unpredictable and prone to showmanship, too. Blowing up the tunnels at the nuclear test site was dramatic but also eliminated any ability to verify what was there and what NK gave up (if anything, since many think the facility had already been destroyed).

    DRJ (15874d)

  163. Beldar,

    To me, the important part is that the US and South Korea, et al, stand firm together. The worst thing that could happen (other than nuclear war) is that the North Koreans and/or the Chinese drive a wedge between the US and its allies in the region.

    DRJ (15874d)

  164. what course of action would you recommend for someone in Congress who believes North Korea is a threat that we have to deal with, but who does not trust Trump’s skill or ability …

    This is of course, why Obama never asked for an AUMF in Syria. After the debacle of Libya, when we could not topple a dictator after several months of effort, or even keep our ambassador alive, Obama’s abilities were suspect. Something confirmed by the metastasizing of ISIS.

    The ability of the Trump administration to kill ISIS in less than a year, when all Obama could do is wring his hands, gives me some confidence in his generals and Trump’s ability to let the generals run things. But I admit I would have no problem naming a dozen better CinCs.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  165. I appreciate the heads up on Trump’s “setback” statement, Beldar.

    Here is a video.

    https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10161042859025725&id=153080620724

    Sounds like our allies are still united with us.

    BuDuh (fc15db)

  166. I still don’t trust him.

    Ed from SFV (b95465) — 5/24/2018 @ 1:41 pm

    I came back and started backtracking, up from the latest comment and imagine my surprise to read you weren’t talking about the NoKo leader but about the POTUS.

    Colonel Haiku (e208fd)

  167. 104.This week’s SNL open writes itself, doesn’t it?

    It has to; they wrapped their season last week.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  168. I want to be the Gene Gene the Dancing Machine of punditry.

    I know who the Charles Nelson Reilly is…..

    harkin (2fa2ca)

  169. President Trump’s a baller i love how he makes it look so easy but actually it’s super-complicated to where everyone’s like oh my goodness i’m so perplexed at all the complexity.

    He’s such a baller!

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  170. 109 — it would be a great cold opening for SNL, except for the fact that SNL closed their season last weekend.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  171. This is a major cock-up. Trump owns it.

    Stormy testimony or merely coaching a witness.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  172. South Korea hasn’t had an erection since Maddy Albright shimmied throough in the mid-90s.

    They’re a loathsome self-loathing and cowardly state, not fit for being anyone’s ally, except perhaps the US Navy lol.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  173. ikes early 2000’s i guess it was

    Alexa says pappy horndog bush and herpes bill were president in the 90s

    thanks Alexa

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  174. @174. Moon got mooned, Mr. Feet; 99% certainty.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  175. someone should make a chart where they list all the foppish coward-ass useless US presidents in order

    i’d click on that

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  176. King’s X+Korn+Lynch Mob = Real Obama Parody KXM

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  177. oh my goodness that’s boisterous

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  178. It has to; they wrapped their season last week.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 5/24/2018 @ 2:54 pm

    Yeah, now it’s Rehab Season.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  179. look like someone got a case o’ the slims

    is this one of Natalie Portman’s side projects

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  180. Believe me, if something big enough anti-Trump goes down, they’ll not only bust out a new episode this summer, they’ll probably put it in prime time.

    harkin (2fa2ca)

  181. Sorry to disagree, Beldar. This isn’t “Glengarry Glen Ross”. It’s “300”.
    Trump: Surrender your nukes!
    Kim: Come and take them.
    Trump: We have so many missiles, they’ll hide the sun.
    Kim: Then you won’t see ours when they take out your West Coast.
    Trump:
    Kim:
    Trump:
    Kim:

    nk (dbc370)

  182. Believe me, if something big enough anti-Trump goes down, they’ll not only bust out a new episode this summer, they’ll probably put it in prime time.

    harkin (2fa2ca) — 5/24/2018 @ 3:21 pm

    There’s a very special episode where Jared takes a bath upstairs at the bike shop.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  183. lol nukes on the west coast

    that’s like doing terrorisms on a cable tv provider

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  184. There will be no closing unless it’s Iraq style and China won’t let us do that. The best that can be achieved is decades of spying up Kim’s (or his replacement’s) wazoo to make sure he is not building nukes in his basement while we feed him, allow him access to the West, and otherwise help him transform his dysfunctional dictatorship into a 1970s Chinese one.

    nk (dbc370)

  185. Sorry to disagree, Beldar. This isn’t “Glengarry Glen Ross”. It’s “300”.
    Trump: Surrender your nukes!
    Kim: Come and take them.
    Trump: We have so many missiles, they’ll hide the sun.
    Kim: Then you won’t see ours when they take out your West Coast.
    Trump:
    Kim:
    Trump:
    Kim:

    nk (dbc370) — 5/24/2018 @ 3:21 pm

    Trump could always drag Un behind a chariot around the walls of Pyongyang .

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  186. or we can pull our hapless tatters off the kimchi peninsula and see if maybe the limpdick sokos have some kind of latent survival reflex

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  187. @143. Some describe his diplomacy as a word salad.

    Well, we know how he feels about anything Macy.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  188. @ Pin: “The 300” is a pretty entertaining movie, alright, and I can see some parallels, but only if I spend 98% of my attention on suppressing visions of either Trump or Kim in those costumes.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  189. Would you like to look at a map? The Korean Peninsula is a very strategic place.

    nk (dbc370)

  190. That was to happyfeet.

    nk (dbc370)

  191. cowardly slutboy john mccain praises president donald trump, eats pudding, naps

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  192. the kimchi peninsula is no less strategic if the norks over-run the south and pillage all their starwars

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  193. @183. Our Captain is a TeeVee man; this isn’t Glengarry Glen Ross or 300; it’s Laugh-In— complete w/a joke wall.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  194. Well its between manchurian china and their former Japanese colonizers

    narciso (d1f714)

  195. @ nk (#186): I wish I could argue with your prediction, but I can’t disagree that you’ve probably described the best-realistic-case scenario that might yet be worked out, if Trump somehow (via China or otherwise) gets traction that’s probably not available short of regime decapitation and its ugly, bloody consequences.

    My “most-likely scenario” right now remains: Nothing happens to seriously restrain or stop either Iran or the Norks, and one of them will actually use nukes against us or our allies, which will trigger another 9/11-type reaction that will end with American tanks and troops in Pyongyang and Tehran for the next five decades or longer.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  196. in ww2 who comforted women the most?

    yes yes it was the Nippers!

    the sokos? Not so much.

    cause they’re a race of sexless eunuchs who make hyundais

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  197. DRJ

    What i heard was the number 2 of north korea said they were going to fire nuclear missles at us. They also violated the protocol agreed on by being silent, not attending meetings.

    EPWJ (0d53bb)

  198. @ DRJ (#164 & 165): Ditto, so stipulated.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  199. 171.President Trump’s a baller i love how he makes it look so easy but actually it’s super-complicated to where everyone’s like oh my goodness i’m so perplexed at all the complexity. He’s such a baller!

    More Stormy testimony or are you coaching the witness, too, Mr. Feet?!

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  200. baller
    A thug that has “made it” to the big time. Originally refered ball players that made it out of the streets to make millions as a pro ball player, but now is used to describe any thug that is living large.
    Pain is a part of the game when you’re a baller.

    Mmm, maybe.

    nk (dbc370)

  201. Bandera and stetko and lebed, mentioned up thread, only arose because the soviets crushed this fellow:http://www.ukemonde.com/murderbymoscow/petlura.html

    narciso (d1f714)

  202. i love him he’s my everything

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  203. don’t make fun

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  204. Just in, nk pleading for talks….

    Of course this is fox so take it w a grain or two, thrree, forty thousand…

    However gleeful celebrations by some that the efforts to protect ourselves failed maybe premature

    EPWJ (0d53bb)

  205. @180. Yeah, now it’s Rehab Season. Pinandpuller — 5/24/2018 @ 3:15 pm

    You ain’t kiddin’ PP; interviewed a SNL writer for a freelance project back in the day at CBS and the poor kid was all of 26 and completely coked out. “We burn out fast, there,” was actually part of her pitch.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  206. When i say nk, i mean nk, not nk. Both nk and nk have issues w trump, nk have their issues w trump, and nk has his own issues w trump. Theyre not the same issues

    EPWJ (0d53bb)

  207. lol Barbara moo-cow Bush the most cheated-on bovine in America

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  208. Trump has insulted former Presidents, Vice Presidents, Senators, and Governors so I doubt he cares about Pence’s honor, but it is funny to see Trump complain about negative statement (insults) since he uses them so often. Hypocrisy can be sad or funny or both, but this one strikes me as funny because it is so ironic.

    It’s sad that you can’t see the difference between the two cases.

    Anon Y. Mous (6cc438)

  209. 197 — if either uses them against a US allie, there won’t be a Tehran or Pyong-Pong to occupy.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  210. WaPo is reporting it, too, EPWJ. But I wouldn’t call it “pleading”. More like North Korean SOP: “We’re willing to talk but you fascist imperialistic warmongers want our blood.”

    nk (dbc370)

  211. For, like some Biblical genealogy, Bush I begat Clinton who begat Bush II, who would have begotten Clinton II were in not for Obama, who might have begotten either Clinton II redux or Bush III (Jeb!) were it not for Trump.

    nicely done

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  212. In point of fact, we already have missiles than can target north Korea, with the soviets it was predicated on some eAstern european disturbance (day after) others posited a. Middle east intervention (countdown to looking glass)

    narciso (d1f714)

  213. I remember that. Not that we couldn’t hit North Korea with Minutemen from North Dakota, but it’s important not to have the Russians think we’re attacking them when their satellites spot them.

    nk (dbc370)

  214. Therein lies a problem, but after a nuclear attack, all. Its are off.

    narciso (d1f714)

  215. Trump and his advisers are right that China changed North Korea’s position. Trump is wrong if he thinks this is all about money – that China (merely) wants to slow things down so they can get more comncessions on trade. But maybe north Korea can get really scared.

    Trump went back to warbning north Korea about the relative military positions of the United States and North Korea. Maybe taht’ll work. North Korea is are going a little back toward its position of a a weeks before.

    North Korea wants that summit. It doesn’t want steps taken to undermine the regime, or harm its military.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  216. 206.don’t make fun

    Is that how Stormy says ‘no’ to sex, Mr. Feet?!

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  217. Maybe North Korea will have to seriously diaarm (on China’s instructions) or the United States will figure out what China’s true goals are.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  218. Here is the statement that gave Trump reason to cancel with the NKs

    At an interview with Fox News on May 21, US Vice-President Pence made unbridled and impudent remarks that North Korea might end like Libya, military option for North Korea never came off the table, the US needs complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation, and so on.

    As a person involved in the US affairs, I cannot suppress my surprise at such ignorant and stupid remarks gushing out from the mouth of the US vice-president.

    If he is vice-president of “single superpower” as is in name, it will be proper for him to know even a little bit about the current state of global affairs and to sense to a certain degree the trends in dialogue and the climate of détente.

    We could surmise more than enough what a political dummy he is as he is trying to compare the DPRK, a nuclear weapon state, to Libya that had simply installed a few items of equipment and fiddled around with them.

    Soon after the White House National Security Adviser Bolton made the reckless remarks, Vice-President Pence has again spat out nonsense that the DPRK would follow in Libya’s footstep.

    It is to be underlined, however, that in order not to follow in Libya’s footstep, we paid a heavy price to build up our powerful and reliable strength that can defend ourselves and safeguard peace and security in the Korean peninsula and the region.

    In view of the remarks of the US high-ranking politicians who have not yet woken up to this stark reality and compare the DPRK to Libya that met a tragic fate, I come to think that they know too little about us.

    To borrow their words, we can also make the US taste an appalling tragedy it has neither experienced nor even imagined up to now.

    Before making such reckless threatening remarks without knowing exactly who he is facing, Pence should have seriously considered the terrible consequences of his words.

    It is the US who has asked for dialogue, but now it is misleading the public opinion as if we have invited them to sit with us.

    I only wonder what is the ulterior motive behind its move and what is it the US has calculated to gain from that.

    We will neither beg the US for dialogue nor take the trouble to persuade them if they do not want to sit together with us.

    Whether the US will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent upon the decision and behavior of the United States.

    In case the US offends against our goodwill and clings to unlawful and outrageous acts, I will put forward a suggestion to our supreme leadership for reconsidering the DPRK-US summit.

    And here is today’s statement, after Trump applied pressure, from a Korean news source

    North Korea is willing to talk with the United States anytime, a senior North Korean diplomat said Friday, in response to Washington’s abrupt decision to pull out of a planned summit between the two countries.

    Oh if only Trump could be more like GW. Oh woe is me! Oh clutch the pearls, he is being played. Oh whine, whine!!

    BuDuh (fc15db)

  219. Trump cancelled the meeting because he doesn’t want to waste his time. He’s not looking for another Reykjavík – or possibly thinks that will be slower than what can happen iif he cancels the meeting.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  220. Yes, all that name-calling of Pence was a test to see how much dirt we would eat in order to get them to talk to us, and Trump shoved it back in their faces and said “You eat it!” Well done, Mr. Trump!

    nk (dbc370)

  221. The comparison to Libya isn’t good, but the reason is not because the people might not revolt – this is maybe possible – but because North Korea still would have a threat without nuclear weapons, (artillery aimed at Seoul and U.S troops, for example) while Qaddafi was no threat to any NATO members without them.

    I don’t think promising that Kim could (stay in power?) if he denucleralized was very good – but you notice Trump didn’t actually say that: He said he could live very well. Like in exile in China? (if he escaped in time.)

    I think North Korea carefully studied his words. Trump didn’t say he could stay in power, even thoiugh the news media took it that way.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  222. One of Kim’s goals is surely to appear reasonable and accommodating to the South Koreans and convince them that the US is standing in the way of improved relations between the Koreas.

    Dave (445e97)

  223. 226… yes, good luck with that. I imagine that would be hard to pull off given Kim’s penchant for starving his subjects to death.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  224. You would think they would have other priorities:

    https://mobile.twitter.com/LahavHarkov/status/999638090598813697?p=v

    narciso (d1f714)

  225. What have you been up to, nk?

    “What the hell is going on in Chicago? What the hell is happening there?”

    — Donald Trump

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  226. The last time he was here it was during the primaries and he never got off his plane. He just took a look outside and took off again.

    nk (dbc370)

  227. I wouldn’t want to stand anywhere near happtfool’s Karma wheel.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  228. *happyfool’s

    damn typos.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  229. Nothing happens to seriously restrain or stop either Iran or the Norks, and one of them will actually use nukes against us or our allies

    Well, if Iran nukes the Israelis our only problem will be stopping the Israelis at 50 or so H-bombs. If the Norks hit South Korea, or God help them, Japan, our response will be less Biblical, but only because North Korea is smaller.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  230. Just in nk rekeasing more pleadings for talks anytime anywhere

    Stay tuned

    In other news heavy sanctions on nk and china are being relayed. All international acct which flow through the us are at risk

    EPWJ (0d53bb)

  231. Also trumps approval rating avg ties at this time the last two presidents at their first 18 months

    EPWJ (0d53bb)

  232. Therein lies a problem, but after a nuclear attack, all bets are off.

    And it is sooooo much easier to contain it when there are only a few nuclear powers involved. Suppose there were twenty.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  233. That is the buck Rogers up to date scenario in the incorporated man. A chemical attack prompts a nuclear response from Israel against Arab statesm

    narciso (d1f714)

  234. #221: So that’s where Brett Kimberlin works now?

    Kevin M (752a26)

  235. He’s not looking for another Reykjavík

    Why not? Reykjavik was probably the most successful meeting since WW2. Looking back, it marked the end of the Cold War.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  236. grandmama used to play the buck rogers theme for me

    but then i had to serve the bridge party

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  237. One of Kim’s goals is surely to appear reasonable and accommodating to the South Koreans and convince them that the US is standing in the way of improved relations between the Koreas.

    That worked so well for the East Germans.

    Kevin M (752a26)

  238. lol noko is just a game

    if it were serious our lickspittle mattis military surely would have prepare for it

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  239. ugh *prepared* for it i mean

    i been getting sneezy which means allergies which means mold … it’s been raining and overcast here for a lot of days

    mold and cats is all the allergies i got left i think

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  240. Why not? Reykjavik was probably the most successful meeting since WW2. Looking back, it marked the end of the Cold War.

    Kevin M (752a26) — 5/24/2018 @ 5:25 pm

    What about Stanley Ann and Barak I in Selma? That was pretty unlikely as well.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  241. to be honest those were always the major ones going all the way back to mcgovern

    the cat thing they call “dandruff” because science

    oh but my first allergist was in fargo

    fargo north dakota

    they made a movie but they cut all the parts about my allergist i guess

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  242. BuDah – DJT was notorious for going through executives like feces through a goose. There has been a fair amount of culling in the administration as well. Then again, in the case of Omarosa, it was way overdue.

    Ed from SFV (b95465)

  243. The last time he was here it was during the primaries and he never got off his plane. He just took a look outside and took off again.

    nk (dbc370) — 5/24/2018 @ 5:06 pm

    As I recall, there was a p*ssy riot.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  244. to be honest those were always the major ones going all the way back to mcgovern

    the cat thing they call “dandruff” because science

    oh but my first allergist was in fargo

    fargo north dakota

    they made a movie but they cut all the parts about my allergist i guess

    happyfeet (28a91b) — 5/24/2018 @ 5:38 pm

    I’d like to take a non Trump fan like David French, divide his back up into 300 squares, micro imprint Trump tweets in each square and see which ones he reacts to worst.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  245. yes yes and then they had that torture thing they called “the truck”

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  246. pretty sure my allergist was produced by eli roth

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  247. If you Chicago folks will hang a 40 from a tree in your yard it will tend to attract .22 Hornets away from your house.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  248. Your allergist’s Vanity Plate said BearJew?

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  249. Apparently they were allergic to the polls:
    https://www.texastribune.org/2018/05/22/texas-primary-runoffs-results-who-won/

    narciso (d1f714)

  250. @216. Not that we couldn’t hit North Korea with Minutemen from North Dakota, but it’s important not to have the Russians think we’re attacking them when their satellites spot them.

    And feelin’ groovy… sleep well.

    Airmen charged with protecting a US nuclear missile base busted for taking LSD

    WASHINGTON — One airman said he felt paranoia. Another marveled at the vibrant colors. A third admitted, “I absolutely just loved altering my mind.” Meet service members entrusted with guarding nuclear missiles that are among the most powerful in America’s arsenal. Air Force records obtained by The Associated Press show they bought, distributed and used the hallucinogen LSD and other mind-altering illegal drugs as part of a ring that operated undetected for months on a highly secure military base in Wyoming. After investigators closed in, one airman deserted to Mexico. “Although this sounds like something from a movie, it isn’t,” said Capt. Charles Grimsley, the lead prosecutor of one of several courts-martial. A slipup on social media by one airman enabled investigators to crack the drug ring at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in March 2016, details of which are reported here for the first time.

    Fourteen airmen were disciplined. Six of them were convicted in courts-martial of LSD use or distribution or both. None of the airmen was accused of using drugs on duty. Yet it’s another blow to the reputation of the Air Force’s nuclear missile corps, which is capable of unleashing hell in the form of Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs. The corps has struggled at times with misbehavior, mismanagement and low morale.’ -source, AP, airforcetimes.com

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  251. No David from provides a much large area for exploration

    narciso (d1f714)

  252. Well it was that bad in the carter years more bolivian import than home brew from Novartis parent company

    narciso (d1f714)

  253. Illinois

    Land of Lincoln

    KLNNZS

    BMW & Mercedes Benz of Skokie, Il

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  254. 257… Dolezal should hook up with that Talcum X, kishnevi.

    Colonel Haiku (e208fd)

  255. love how the propaganda sluts at the AP are shocked shocked shocked to find drug-addicted tatted-up losers in the US military

    pull the other one it has metaphorical bells on it, AP propaganda sluts

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  256. pinot noir

    myanmar

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  257. Mollie

    @MZHemingway
    Many many DC folks repeatedly said that Trump was going to get a bad North Korea deal because he was signaling he desperately wanted a deal. I’m shocked, shocked that they read that wrong.
    6:59 AM – May 24, 2018

    I’ve heard it’s not just the DC folks who took that line…

    Colonel Haiku (e208fd)

  258. Mr. Colonel the likeliest scenario is an agreement that allows Trump to declare victory, lifts sanctions, and accomplishes nothing verifiable.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  259. 260, it didn’t take outside of Ben Smith in ’99, considering a Thaksgiving pastime is the Jews vs. Hindus football game (of course they both stock up on black ringers from Rogers Park and SW Evanston).

    urbanleftbehind (d15944)

  260. Does anybody else have the impression that Trump is giving the world the impression that he does not give a sh!t about “world opinion”, and the aggressive panhandler guilt trips laid on by the Palestinians, the Iranians, and the North Koreans, that worked on past presidents, are not going to work on him?

    nk (dbc370)

  261. meanwhile what’s wrong with this 90-year-old repressed homo?

    vitamin deficiency you think?

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  262. Does anybody else have the impression that Trump is

    awesome?

    I did!

    I love this man.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  263. Doubtful, unless he’s got the skin C or …he was an avid surfer who now suffers arthritis

    urbanleftbehind (d15944)

  264. That’s dumb. Gays improve a neighborhood.

    nk (dbc370)

  265. “That’s dumb. Gays improve a neighborhood”

    And here I always thought gays were just like everyone else, good, bad and everything in-between.

    Which groups (race, ethnicity or sexual orientation) do NOT improve a neighborhood?

    harkin (2fa2ca)

  266. So this David Briley guy won the mayoral race in Nashville. Republicans are planning on running a candidate next time that will give them more name recognition in the Hispanic community. Some guy named Holmes.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  267. This like the o’rourke character that nash Jenkins in time magazine slobbered over.

    narciso (95d175)

  268. Does anybody else have the impression that Trump is giving the world the impression that he does not give a sh!t about “world opinion”, and the aggressive panhandler guilt trips laid on by the Palestinians, the Iranians, and the North Koreans, that worked on past presidents, are not going to work on him?

    nk (dbc370) — 5/24/2018 @ 7:09 pm

    Sounds like a good time to revive the Triangle Trade. You trade Palestinians for poppies and heroin for Palestinians.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  269. That’s dumb. Gays improve a neighborhood.

    nk (dbc370) — 5/24/2018 @ 7:29 pm

    Do you not recall me telling you what some men in SF inflate on their bodies with propane?

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  270. Except for the Palestinians that was operation Cassandra goal

    https://mobile.twitter.com/ThomasWictor/status/999842334396370944

    narciso (95d175)

  271. Rohrabacher is a jackass.

    nk (dbc370)

  272. To be fair, the lesbians next door could be demoing a non load bearing wall or getting more DV on their records before they take a road trip on the PCH.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  273. I always get him mixed up with B1 Bob Dornan.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  274. He was in a little known film straighter from 1964, his seat was stolen by the denser sanchez gal In 96

    narciso (95d175)

  275. Hey mr nk, would it be cost effective for the citizens of IL to build a wall and guard towers around your governor’s residence?

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  276. He was a,speech writer for Reagan, was a,supporter of the contras and the mujahadeen, in other words he was against the Russians when it mattered.

    narciso (95d175)

  277. They’re both like characters from a James Elroy novel.

    nk (dbc370)

  278. Starfighter, what does lgbt rights amount to now, call up memories pizza.

    narciso (95d175)

  279. An eight-foot chain-link fence should be enough. Governors are minimum security prisoners. A part-time guard to bring them their meals and exercise them.

    nk (dbc370)

  280. I think the dirt ocean rebellion is a bunch of hype – if its a blue shart instead of wave, Rauner squeaks back in.

    urbanleftbehind (d15944)

  281. Who do they have to challenge him that Kennedy whelp?

    narciso (95d175)

  282. No, the fat hotelier.

    urbanleftbehind (d15944)

  283. And hell yes im glad Aunt Ruckus lost, Nolensville Road can breathe easy, despite that toothless ley.

    urbanleftbehind (d15944)

  284. Como translate that for me, do you mean ives.

    narciso (95d175)

  285. No, Carolyn Swain in Nashville.

    urbanleftbehind (d15944)

  286. The pritzker cat, whose sister was the one that deepsixed superior bank, so mAke her commerce secretary.

    narciso (95d175)

  287. The fat hotelier is JB Pritzker (Hyatt scion).

    urbanleftbehind (d15944)

  288. And hell yes im glad Aunt Ruckus lost, Nolensville Road can breathe easy, despite that toothless ley.

    urbanleftbehind (d15944) — 5/24/2018 @ 8:44 pm

    Never the Swain shall meet. Lawd-ah glory!!!

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  289. end of day we know the trashy-ass weak-b!tch US mattis military is too weak cowardly and incompetent to take on north korea (they mostly just beg for money like tranny diabetes homeless so disgusting)

    end of day we know food stamp never tried

    end of day

    I love you Mr. President Trump

    keep fighting

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  290. Who can credit anything Clapper says from this point forward:

    Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper writes in his new book, “Facts and Fears” that he has “no doubt” the Russian influence campaign swung the 2016 presidential election to Donald Trump.

    MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow read a short excerpt from the book, available now, ahead of an interview with Clapper Tuesday night.

    “As a private citizen, I had no doubt they influence at least some voters. Looking at the savvy ways Russians targeted specific user groups — for instance, buying advertisements on Facebook promoting Clinton’s support of the Black Lives Matter movement and ensuring those ads ran only on the pages of white conservative voters in swing states… Looking at how they created lies that helped Trump and hurt Clinton and promoted these falsehoods through social media and state-sponsored channels to the point that the traditional US media were unwittingly spreading Russian propaganda… and at how they ran a multifaceted campaign and sustained it at a high level from early 2015 until Election Day 2016… Of course, the Russian effort affected the outcome. Surprising even themselves, they swung the election to a Trump win. To conclude otherwise stretches logic, common sense, and credulity to the breaking point,” Maddow read from Clapper’s book.

    “Less than eighty thousand votes in three key states swung the election,” the excerpt continues. “I have no doubt that more votes than that were influenced by this massive effort by the Russians.”

    In January 5, 2017, under oath before Congress, and only two weeks before he lost his ability to access and review raw intelligence, Clapper testified as follows:

    Sen. Cotton: Director Clapper, you said to Senator McCain earlier “the intelligence community cannot gauge the impact” on the election [of Russian activity]. Is that because that kind of electoral analysis is not a task that’s within the traditional responsibility and skill sets of the intelligence services?

    Clapper: That’s correct.

    Sen. Cotton: That’s something that’s more suited for someone like Sean Trende or Michael Barone or Nate Silver — election analysts that have written extensively on the election.

    Clapper: Well, it certainly isn’t within the purview of the intelligence community.

    That just happens to be the same day the IC chiefs briefed Obama on the IC’s assessment of the Russian efforts to influence the election.

    Liars gotta lie.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  291. Clapper is a doof. Doesn’t even seem like a smart guy.

    Anonymous (d41cee)

  292. Found this site with several good essays on Spygate.

    https://www.themarketswork.com/ (scroll down to “recent posts”…there are chronologies and such)

    Not perfect of course (hard with all the details), but all in all pretty sound and well done synthesis and analysis.

    Anonymous (d41cee)

  293. Anon #300 says, “Clapper is a doof. Doesn’t even seem like a smart guy.”

    Lets see……. Clapper is the former Director of National Intelligence. A career intelligence officer, Clapper has held several key positions within the United States Intelligence Community. He served as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) from 1992 until 1995. He was the first director of defense intelligence within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and simultaneously the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence.[3] He served as the director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). (Wikipedia)

    You must really be smart, Anonymous, to think that this guy is a “doof”. Wow. Congratulations.

    noel (b4d580)

  294. Bill Clinton is much smarter and a much more natural liar. Clapper can’t even keep his “least untruthful statements” straight. I imagine the secret of his success was knowing what to kiss and when, an indispensable trait for achieving general rank.

    nk (dbc370)

  295. 302:

    Being a flag doesn’t mean you are sharp–look at Tommy Franks.

    Schumer is a bright guy.

    Anonymous (d41cee)

  296. noel, if you have ever met a General, you would know that 100% of them are political, and 50% of them have any brains.

    Steven Malynn (1da71a)

  297. Umm…hey boys (and girl(s)?)…Heard on the radio driving in (can’t find any links right now though) that the Norks are now saying they’re willing to meet anytime, anywhere. It’s all a big miscommunication. Or that was the report anyway. Sounds like a cave-in. But unlike some people here, I ain’t omniscient. Can’t imagine the burden of responsibility one must have with powers like that.

    Skorcher (5b282a)

  298. Will there be a new Trumpalo open thread where we can have reasonable discourse on possible self writing SNL cold openings?

    BuDuh (fc15db)

  299. The answer is “yes.”

    BuDuh (fc15db)

  300. Who knows, Skorcher? NBC thinks it knows but we may never know:

    NBC: Trump Wanted To Pull The Plug On The Summit Before Kim Did

    DRJ (15874d)

  301. 307, methinks Trump wanted to be in the District when the Caps won the Cup.

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb)

  302. he’s looking like mikey in the life cereal commercials,

    https://twitter.com/PodSaveAmerica/status/999717335274610689

    narciso (d1f714)

  303. 299. shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 5/24/2018 @ 10:31 pm

    That just happens to be the same day the IC chiefs briefed Obama on the IC’s assessment of the Russian efforts to influence the election.

    Liars gotta lie.

    The original statement wasn’t a problem. Russia tried to influence the election but they have no idea what effect t=it had.

    Now, suddenly in his book:

    ‘they swung the election to a Trump win’

    Ofg course theer’s adifferenece between the IC coimmunity and Clkapper himself.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  304. methinks Trump wanted to be in the District when the Caps won the Cup.

    Methinks if Trump is a hockey fan, he’s no fan of a DC team. Go whatevs Vegas is called.

    Skorcher (8590af)

  305. I see Kim is willing to talk. Funny. He didn’t send anybody to Singapore to prepare the meeting. But, now that Trump did his thing….Kim’s willing to talk.
    Don’t you just HATE it when things work out?

    Richard Aubrey (10ef71)

  306. We have to let these things play out. International relations takes time. Something like this is much more about how things develop for our nation than little people in threads saying neener neener Trump looks bad. And the converse, I agree. Still MOST people should be willing to trade off Trump getting to brag, with situation improving on Korean peninsula (in case things do work out).

    Anonymous (d41cee)

  307. Anon. You sure about that last sentence? Best that happens is the eagerly awaited catastrophe doesn’t materialize, something useful happens….and……. and….. crickets.

    Richard Aubrey (10ef71)

  308. Yeah, but its likely the DC team with the least insufferable (to Trump) fan base (the REDSKINS may have the old school Vuhginians, but their balanced out by PGC).

    urbanleftbehind (53fff1)

  309. I still remember the Washington Post going after George Allen because he and Nixon got along.

    Anonymous (d41cee)

  310. Yeah, way to go Papa Bear Halas, we wouldnt have wasted the knees of Sayers and Butkus, pardon the source, Mr. P:
    http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/17/sports/la-sp-sn-gatorade-george-allen-20120517

    urbanleftbehind (53fff1)


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