I just noticed that the Times David Leonhardt has written a more elegant version of the argument I tried to make on Friday: If President Trump devised a plan to break up the Western alliance and advance the strategic interests of Russia, the plan would look pretty much like what we’re watching unfold in front of us. Why he’s doing this doesn’t really matter. That he’s doing it is the only thing that matters. And he is doing it. Read More
“Aleman-Bendiks, the public defender, said several of her clients have told her their children were taken from them by Border Patrol agents who said they were going to give them a bath. As the hours passed, it dawned on the mothers the kids were not coming back. ‘It’s incredible,’ she said. ‘I just can’t believe what’s happening here.'”
From The Boston Globe.
As I’ve explained my thinking on the US-North Korea summit in a series of posts. Let me share a few more thoughts as we get underway. Read More
Not to put too fine a point on it. But there’s every reason to expect the Russian role in the NRA’s 2016 efforts will turn out to have been the same as the Russian role supporting Brexit.
Interesting information here. Reservations for ad runs show where the parties at least think the battle for control of Congress will be fought.
Larry Kudlow, President Trump’s economic advisor, has reportedly suffered a heart attack and is at Walter Reed Medical Center. It’s been reported broadly. But all reports seem to work off the President’s tweet from roughly 10 minutes ago. There doesn’t seem to be any additional reporting on his condition or other details.
We have a dramatic relaxation of tensions between the United States and North Korea. That is an unambiguously good thing. The summit yesterday was basically a photo op. I expected little and there was even less than I’d expected. The diplomatic communique was basically diplo-speak for “be excellent to each other” — a non-binding agreement to work towards “denuclearization” — while accepting that both sides define the term in dramatically different ways.
North Korea has made immense sacrifices to achieve a viable nuclear deterrent. Yesterday’s summit was more than anything else a testament to the power of that achievement.
President Trump showed Kim Jong-un a fake movie trailer about their mutual greatness. The trailer begins: “Seven billion people inhabit planet Earth. Of those alive today, only a small number will leave a lasting impact. And only the very few will make decisions or take actions that renew their homeland and change the course of history.” President Trump went on to tell Kim about the opportunities for luxury real estate developments: “They have great beaches You see that whenever they are exploding the cannons in the ocean. “I said, ‘boy, look at that view. That would make a great condo. I explained it.’” Watch the faux-trailer here, along with denial from the guy who allegedly made it that he made it.
There’s a lot in this exchange with George Stephanopoulos (emphasis added)…
GS: What other kinds of security guarantees did you offer, did you put on the table?
Trump: Well, we’ve given him, I don’t wanna talk about it specifically, but we’ve given him, he’s going to be happy. His country does love him. His people, you see the fervor. They have a great fervor. They’re gonna put it together, and I think they’re going to end up with a very strong country, and a country which has people — that they’re so hard working, so industrious. I think if you look at South Korea, someday, maybe in the not too distant future, it will be something that.
Nicole Lafond packed together all President Trump’s praise for Kim Jong-un and his style of repressive government in one place. It’s jaw dropping.