Um, maybe because NK hasn’t made a single concession yet, you giant orange bag of custard.
But the part that gets me isn’t the grumbling over the deal — it’s that the Trumpies and their media hack allies are out there claiming that Donnie deserves credit for at least easing tensions with NK. Um, assholes? Donnie was the one ramping up those tensions. “Hey, I’ve stopped acting like a war-mongering lunatic having a temper tantrum toward NK for 2 seconds — don’t I deserve credit for stopping the problem I was creating???”
Poor baby!! He did not get credit for solving the Korean conundrum. Maybe that is happening because everyone knows that this “deal” isn’t anything more than a publicity stunt by Spanky to take some of the heat of Mueller’s investigation off Spanky. Sorry, it didn’t work, all he did was yet again demonstrate his incompetence and stupidity.
Those are plastic, it would be fun watching Spanky try to eat them.
He’s so needy.
“I work and I slave for all of you and what thanks do I get? I have no time for myself at all. I’ve spent the best years of my life making life easier for you ungrateful wretches.”
Like a Welsh mother if she were a narcissist and insane.
There is no verification process or timeline or even a description of what this supposed deal entails. For this you made huge, unilateral concessions, including an impromptu one for which you asked nothing that throws askew our entire Asian alliance system. You’ve validated and strengthened one of the most brutal, repressive regimes on the planet in the process. The deal did not ratchet down war tensions so much as it was a product of a rapprochement between the two Korean governments that you didn’t have much to do with bringing about other than scaring everyone in the region half to death by ratcheting up the war tensions in the first place. But since the mere lessening of war talk in a volatile region is a step in the right direction, you deserve this much: fuck you.
He isn’t getting praise because there are very few people in America who think he did anything more than hold an initial meeting. That might be Trump’s biggest fault, he doesn’t know the difference between a deal and a photo-op.
Hurrah, the orange narcissist actually managed to get through the whole summit (at least what we saw of it publicly) without falling over his own shoes! That is indeed a major accomplishment. (Other than that, meh.)
He’s not getting enough praise because there hasn’t been a deal yet. He has a photo op and a signed statement to ‘Be Excellent to One Another’.
Put together a deal and we’ll applaud. A team of experts hammered out details of the Iran Nuclear Accord for 20 months.
As with the LieFest yesterday
Same thing
All the talking heads blabbing about it
Distracted from the Trump Foundation Grift-O-Rama
Pompeo lashed out at a reporter who asked how the U.S. would verify the North’s compliance with the deal.
“I find that question insulting and ridiculous and, frankly, ludicrous,” Pompeo said.
“No fiddle! No fiddle! You’re the fiddle!”
If you’re fair, when I came in, people thought we were probably going to war with North Korea
Yes. Because we thought you were that crazy and stupid. And we still do. At this point we consider ourselves lucky it hasn’t happened yet.
And now he wants to do the same thing With Putin
Jebus Tapdancing Christ I am sick of that asshole
Childish. Piggy. Pathological.
Which one? Both?
For the most part, donald, Americans don’t bow and scrape.
The challenge of defending the agreement became apparent this past week when Pompeo lashed out at a reporter who asked how the U.S. would verify the North’s compliance with the deal.
“I find that question insulting and ridiculous and, frankly, ludicrous,” Pompeo said.
Oh, he said more — or rather, less — than that:
POMPEO: Just so you know, you could ask me this – I find that question insulting and ridiculous and, frankly, ludicrous. I just have to be honest with you. It’s a game and one ought not play games with serious matters like this.
QUESTION: But how will it be verified? Did you discuss that? Do you have –
POMPEO: Oh, we’re – they’re – the modalities are beginning to develop. There’ll be a great deal of work to do. It’s – there’s a long way to go, there’s much to think about, but don’t say silly things. No, don’t, don’t. It’s not productive. It’s not productive to do that, to say silly things. It’s just – it’s unhelpful.
QUESTION: Well, I think –
POMPEO: It’s unhelpful for your readers, your listeners, for the world. It’s – because it doesn’t remotely reflect the American position or the understandings that the North Koreans have either.
So, if we are to take his “serious” verbiage seriously, the question of how NK’s “complete denuclearization” will be verified does not “remotely reflect the American position or the understandings that the North Koreans have either.”
And that’s quite apart from the fact that NK has “committed” itself to “complete denuclearization” many times over the decades, all the while advancing its nuclear-weapons program.
I’m glad to see this. Politico/Morning Consult has some bs poll about the NK event. They asked a loaded question to have voters evaluate the ‘deal’ when there literally is no deal. A plurality smartly selected ‘don’t know’.
Still, I think the US media and the foreign policy establishment have only captured about half the story. It’s not just that the US gave up concessions without getting anything concrete in return, or that the meeting was style without substance. Those 2 things are true, but there is more to it than that.
First, I think this summit profoundly damaged the US-AsiaPac alliance which was already reeling. In 2017, Trump cracked the alliance’s continuity by threatening to unilaterally strike NK without any regard for SK’s safety. That prompted Moon to cut his own deal with Kim as he could no longer on the US for protection and cooperation. Trump damaged and broke that alliance further with this summit because it further demonstrated America’s unpredictability. In addition, the concessions offered at this meeting: ceasing military exercises, withdrawing US troops from the Korean peninsula, were all done without allied consultation and are to China’s benefit. This means that SK and Japan (and others in the region) cannot rely on the US. They will have to formulate their own strategies which means the alliance breaks apart and China dominates. Think, for example, what China will do in the shipping lanes without the US guarding the fort to keep them honest. They are the new Don in Asia.
Second, virtually no one is focusing on the bribery angle here. This was not a Trump-Kim summit. This was a Trump-Xi summit with Kim as the Chinese intermediary. Kim even used a Chinese plane. They were on speed dial with each other. Nuclear weapons were not seriously discussed. However, what was seriously discussed were two things key on China’s wish list: ceasing US-SK military exercises + removal of US troops from the Korean peninsula. Russia also favors this agenda and suggested a lot of what Trump discussed. Most of Trump’s talking points are straight out of the Putin handbook. Why was Trump so eager to please China? Well, he got over $1 billion in financing and potential revenue from China. He is receiving the benefit of nearly $1 billion in investment from a Chinese state backed entity to build out a development in Indonesia which will house several Trump branded properties. Ivanka got her Chinese trademarks approved which will have untold economic value to that brand in the world’s largest consumer market. Let’s not forget the Trump Tower Vancouver project, which is under a FBI counterintelligence investigation and where one of the financiers is a wealthy Malaysian. It’s quite possible that Chinese interests are also involved in that property. Chinese interests have also worked with Kushner on various things. There’s a lot of money changing hands to build relationships with Trump. In exchange, the Chinese were able to get their big ticket items on the agenda and get a favorable response from Trump.
Since then, he has sent out tweets and messages, peaking with his Friday visit to the White House driveway for the impromptu press availability.
“Press availability” … hmmm.
I don’t generally inflict Fox Pravda on myself, but yesterday I was stuck in an airplane watching it (no sound, fortunately) and the on-screen text said, so help me, “Trump holds court on White House lawn”.
Did King Donald deign to speak to any of his subjects other than Fox Pravda?
Press?
Available?
Maybe not so much.