Trump and Kim just allowed Singapore government TV cameras into their lunch but not WH pool. Trump said to Host TV: “Are you getting a nice photo… So we look nice and handsome and beautiful and perfect?"
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 12, 2018
Today in “pictures that clearly won’t be used for North Korean propaganda or come back to haunt the US”
(?: AP Photo/Evan Vucci) pic.twitter.com/yuJuegi0qZ
— Hayes Brown (@HayesBrown) June 12, 2018
First report was a paraphrase. The exact full Trump quote appears to be: "We'll be tremendously successful. It's my honor, and we will have a terrific relationship. I have no doubt."
— Anthony Zurcher (@awzurcher) June 12, 2018
Kim: "I brought a portable toilet!"
Trump: "I brought John Bolton and Stephen Miller!"
Kim: "I see we are on equal terms." https://t.co/SehVruNAhc— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) June 11, 2018
The fact that I am having a meeting is a major loss for the U.S., say the haters & losers. We have our hostages, testing, research and all missle launches have stoped, and these pundits, who have called me wrong from the beginning, have nothing else they can say! We will be fine!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 11, 2018
That moment when you realize that Trump will tout an agreement with Kim to "halt all missle testing" and then Kim will be all "Psych! We didn't say we'd stop developing 'missiles'!" https://t.co/F4BFD3ge5D
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) June 11, 2018
I’m not sure it’s possible to capture an entire era in one image, but Dennis Rodman running a cryptocurrency grift on live TV from the North Korea summit while wearing a MAGA is a serious nominee https://t.co/Qs7aQ4w6n8
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) June 12, 2018
Dennis Rodman, who famously calls Kim Jong Un “a friend for life,” got emotional talking about the North Korean leader's historic meeting with Trump today: "I knew things were going to change. I knew it." pic.twitter.com/MykOCf1DD4
— POLITICO (@politico) June 12, 2018
CNN talking heads just now: look Dennis Rodman is our best resource for understanding Kim Jong Un
— Alexandra Petri (@petridishes) June 12, 2018
What makes everything so stupid is not that this is obviously false but that it is perhaps true. https://t.co/3NtVfaqbuf
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) June 12, 2018
— Essential Consultant Pass Through LLC (@barricko_bama) June 12, 2018
WH Press Secretary Sarah Sanders called Dennis Rodman to thank him for his effort in Singapore and his support of President Trump, according to Rodman’s agent, Darren Prince.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 12, 2018
If you‘re Kim Jong Un and your entire experience w America is Donald Trump & Dennis Rodman, would you give up your nukes?
— Philippe Reines (@PhilippeReines) June 12, 2018
Platonailedit
stoped?
Illiterate thug.
Villago Delenda Est
Before the end of the week the NK state TV will be blasting this shit continuously as proof that NK is now a peer of the United States.
They will NEVER give up their nukes, and Donald has been very badly played.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
And the sad part is Trump’s worshippers will still think he’s a genius. They’ll just say Kim “back stabbed” Trump and lied to him. He will never fail in their eyes. It would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic and scary.
Platonailedit
bbc
Millions of dollars spent just for ego fluffing of world’s two worst insecure narcissists.
M4
Honestly this is going much better than I expected so far.
Adam L Silverman
@Platonailedit: Don’t forget “missle”.
Frankensteinbeck
@M4:
Naah. Remember, Trump’s specialty is doing not a god damn thing and claiming he did. I never expected anything out of this summit at all, in immediate terms. It’s a photo op for Kim Jong Un.
M4
@Frankensteinbeck: I expected some sort of proactive fuckup.
Platonailedit
@Adam L Silverman: For a narcissist, surprising the thug left out the i.
Adam L Silverman
@M4: @Frankensteinbeck: @M4: They’re on their way to sign something. Which the President says everyone will find out about in a few minutes. It is unclear if this is just signing the pre-agreed to communique or something they agreed to during one of the sessions so far today.
Frankensteinbeck
@M4:
I’m sure if we were there for the meeting, it would be clear he did a dozen totally stupid things. That’s why he doesn’t let anybody see. He’s figured out that he gets mocked whenever the public gets to see him negotiate.
Adam L Silverman
@Platonailedit: He got one “i” in there. And that’s all he needs.
jl
@Adam L Silverman: Trump is tired of your low energy spelling.
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: @Platonailedit: Best we can hope for is that Trump spent the initial one-on-one BSing and gassing away and nothing of substance transpired. And if we get that far, then Kim has the good sense to backtrack at precisely the pace at which Trump is prepared to move the goalposts to declare success. Drag things out for a few months until we can begin to recover an honest government.
M4
@Frankensteinbeck: Oh for sure, although I’m not sure about the level of self awareness you allege.
Frankensteinbeck
@M4:
It’s not self-awareness. It’s simple behavioral modification level learning. “People find out what I said” > “I am publicly mocked” > “Don’t let people find out what I said.” A four year old could think their way through it.
M4
@Frankensteinbeck:
Yes, that’s the problem.
Mike in NC
Funny how Fat Bastard wastes no time in lashing out at “haters & losers” on Twitter while he burns up millions of dollars per day on his idiotic travels.
Anne Laurie
@Platonailedit:
I’m named after an obsolete pop song, but my mom insisted the “i” be left out of the first part (because she thought “Annie” was “common”). When I was old enough to ask her why, though, she told me, “I figured you’d need all the available “I”s for talking about yourself.”…
So, obviously, old-school Trump is hoarding those precious vowels for fear of a “I” shortage!
Frankensteinbeck
@Adam L Silverman:
If he’s on his way to sign something, dollars to donuts Trump didn’t negotiate it. Although I might go so far as ‘Kim Jong Un brought it ready to sign, and just talked Trump into signing it.’ If so, Kim Jong (Both words are the family name, is that right?) is going to find out real fast that Trump will sign any agreement and then sit on his ass and not follow up.
Except I’m pretty sure Kim Jong Un knows exactly what to expect from Trump, and has a plan to turn Trump walking away from his promises to North Korea’s advantage.
Platonailedit
hellslittlestangel
The deal will be a Trump Hotel in Pyongyang and a Kim Internment Camp in Laredo, TX.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: He’s going to have to get in line behind about three or four dozen of the regular commenters here.
Platonailedit
That’s an insult to third graders.
prostratedragon
… the words F!0! no!! whipped through my mind like a runaway live wire …
Adam L Silverman
@Frankensteinbeck: Usually the press is in the room when this stuff is signed so they can report on it accurately. The press is not in the room for this signing. Whatever it is that they’re signing.
cain
What a fucking clusterfuck. So this is what it was like when Nero took over. What a pleasant feeling!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Frankensteinbeck:
Nope, Kim is the family name, Jong Un is his given name. There are no middle names in Korean.
Platonailedit
cain
@hellslittlestangel:
Laredo? He’ll give them Gitmo.
Adam L Silverman
Well done everyone!
Aleta
We will be fine!
Republican Party, 2018
The nation is becoming ever more prosperous!
Party of Mao, 1958-61
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.)
I keep hoping nothing comes of this. The best outcome is nothing. I fear Tяump is going to let himself get conned though. God knows what he might commit us all to.
Adam L Silverman
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I thought his sister’s name was Kim Yo Anna Maria Helena Francesca Elizabeth Jong.//
M4
@Adam L Silverman: hopefully that ages better that Rumsfeld and Saddam.
Frankensteinbeck
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.):
Trump is not big on holding up his side of a contract. That’s the only reason I’m allowing he even might sign something. He considers contracts to be meaningless paper – or rather, declarations of what the other person has to do for him, while he is never obligated to provide anything to anyone. As I mentioned last thread, that’s what ‘fair’ means to him.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: Sometimes Koreans will use an English name, Grace is popular.
But usually only one, but she is Dear Leader’s daughter so exceptions may apply.//
?BillinGlendaleCA
@hellslittlestangel: They’ve got an empty hotel in Pyongyang just waiting for some branding. Tallest building in the country.
jl
@Frankensteinbeck: Trump and Kim are a perfect match. Kim is more artful at reneging. Though, IMHO, due to GOP bad faith at previous attempts at deals, the history is too murky to diagnose.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Frankensteinbeck:
The Kim’s of Pyongyang don’t have a strong record there either.
TenguPhule
@M4:
I have no problems with Trump winding up as Saddam did. Unwashed and filthy as he was dragged from his hidey hole. And then having his hanging botched for the most painful end possible.
Suzanne
I felt Cletus’ pain/economic anxiety….can we now send the manbabies home and give the country back to the adults? Kthxbai.
TenguPhule
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
To be fair, the Kims actually keep their word on occasion. Which make them more trustworthy then Trump.
/crawling over the bar set here in the ground, I know
TenguPhule
@Frankensteinbeck:
All oaths Trump makes are broken as soon as the last word leaves his lips.
jl
@TenguPhule: Calm down and stop typing things like that.
I think that comment should be taken down.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
Our IC has a lot to answer for. They can destablize other countries but one fucking home grown idiot is beyond their ability to curtail.
Aleta
TenguPhule
@jl: The Nazis are not going to go quietly or peacefully.
Corner Stone
@jl: Shut up.
Aleta
Calouste
@Aleta: If you show that picture of a black man advertising something drugs related wearing a MAGA hat to Jeff Sessions, his brain is going to melt down. Maybe that was the purpose.
Platonailedit
@Aleta: A murdering dictator is a man after the traitorous twitler’s own thuggish heart. No surprises there.
Aleta
@Calouste: Maybe CNN should ask him to comment on Sessions instead.
Raoul
What the actual f–k does that second part mean? We’re just gonna say “bygones” over everything up to now?
This B movie horror flick has the absolutely worst writers.
Dman
Sitting here listening to some Billy Bragg
https://youtu.be/ht_kphHDe7I
NotMax
In a stunning coincidence, both Kim and Dolt 45 weigh in at exactly 239 pounds. //
@BillinGlendaleCA
But “Hotel of Doom” is so evocative.
lamh36
All these folks talking bout the parents of the American man that NK killed and how they must be feeling…correct me if I’m wrong , but they hated Obama didn’t they? are Trump supporters or are they not? as we have already seen trump supporters will rationalize anything he does…so why would the parents be any different than the rest of the Chump bas ?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax:
Branding, NotMax, branding.
tobie
Jonathan Cheng of the Wall St. Journal has the most up-to-date twitter posts on what’s in the letter Kim and Trump signed. (Alas I don’t know how to link to or excerpt from twitter.) The four points are all generic stuff (commit to peace, to good relations, to identifying and repatriating remains of POWs/MIAs). The big point seems to be:
As many have noted, “committed to working toward complete denuclearization” is not a pledge to reduce weapon stocks or to denuclearize. The whole summit was a PR exercise, and in the polarized US that’s enough to make FOX viewers jubilant.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@lamh36: You’re correct.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@tobie: Adam has pointed out a number of times, and I think he’s correct, that what Trump thinks in denuclearization and what KJU thinks are two different things.
Shalimar
Huge success. Biggest success ever. No one predicted how successful this would be.
For someone who cultivates a reputation as unpredictable, it is incredibly easy to script Trump’s narratives and lies in advance.
tobie
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I trust Adam and Cheryl on all this. What’s stunning is just how generic the communique is. There is no there there. The one consequence of this summit is that North Korea is no longer a pariah nation. That’s it. Trump elevated NK to a world player. I hope the Democrats settle on talking points soon and hammer home just what a defeat this summit has been in terms of actual substance (i.e., we got nothing but we managed to integrate NK into the world community).
Quinerly
Forgive me if discussed. I fell asleep. Kudlow had a heart attack. ?
Raoul
tobie
@Raoul: Glad to see McFaul has hit the nail on the head. Good, succinct summary. Stick to the talking point, Dems. McFaul’s tweet is it in a nutshell.
M4
Manxome Bromide
@tobie:
I realize this is the Learned Helplessness Open Thread, but exactly which nations are going to take this as NK being a non-pariah nation? KJU got a propaganda opportunity for his own subjects, but not one nation or organization in the EU, Africa or the Americas is going to start trading with North Korea as a result of this summit.
I’m not feeling obligated to legitimate North Korea amongst the community of nations as a result of this summit. Are any of you? If any actual treaty language came out of it, I’d be pushing the Dems to block the treaty from being ratified, because they are numerous enough to do so. I would not want them treating capitulation as a fait accompli.
tobie
@Manxome Bromide: I can think of a few nations which will have an easier time including North Korea in discussions about various issues in the Pacific Rim in the future. China, Russia, South Korea and Singapore immediately come to mind. Perhaps Pakistan can now have open talks about the technology transfers they’ve had with North Korea for some time. Maybe other two-bit dictators like Duterte and Erdogan can form a club with KJU. Thanks to Trump’s efforts NK has now had its coming out party on the world stage. This is a big deal even if no trade agreements are immediately forged. (Don’t know what NK has to sell except nuclear and missile technology.) I’m not feeling helpless at the moment. I’d actually say I’m feeling rather emboldened now that Trump’s summit has been exposed as a PR stunt and nothing else.
M4
@tobie:
They have a gazillion dollars in unexploited minerals.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@tobie: I’m just relieved that Trump didn’t trade California for branding on the hotel in Pyongyang.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@M4: You’d think the Chinese would have already exploited that. It’s a bit closer than Africa.
tobie
@M4: Didn’t know that. Thanks for the info. I’ve been offline a lot of late. Did you change your screen name?
@?BillinGlendaleCA: As McFaul said, we can be happy for many things in this agreement but that’s because we set such a low bar. Anyhow, happy I can still visit CA.
Mai naem mobile
@Quinerly: he really really doesn’t want to work for Trumpov after Sunday.
M4
@tobie: ever since the WordPress upgrade, my phone browser won’t persist my info here, and I never did get the autocomplete working right with email (something to do with iCloud I think). I got tired of typing Major a lot. Thinking I might get something slightly longer.
patrick II
North Korea has already launched a icbm that will reach most, if not all, of the U.S. What is left to do is a heat shield that will stand up to the temperatures of re-entry. They can work on and test that out of sight (by re-creating re-entry temperatures to test on). So, they can sign a treaty saying no missile testing and it would be very difficult to know if they were continuing work on a re-entry shield.
Kim’s main goal is alway dynasty protection, but
a list of Kim’s sub-goals might include:
1. Acknowledgment of North Korean government as an equal.
2.Hold off Bolton and other hawks from an attack now/regime change strategy until they have their re-entry shield.
3. Economic incentives.
4. Removal U.S. troops.
5. Not have to spend quite so much on military now that they have a serious number of nukes.
6. Friendlier relations with South Korea (who now knows they will get nuked if they are seen as too aggressive.)
7. lacing up the jordans and getting to play a little b-ball with dennis as long as he is in town.
tobie
@M4: M4 has an English, spy world ring to it. Like MI5 or 007. I think it’s a good screen nym.
Platonailedit
Twitler thug’s stupid pen dick move and how a sister act thwarted the moron.
Shalimar
Richard Engel on MSNBC just made the most unintentionally hilarious statement I have ever heard. He declared Trump one of the three winners in this because he set a meeting and showed up. In other words, Trump is giving himself a participation award and wants praise for it.
EBT
If ever there was a time to demand to roll to disbelieve, it is now.
Amir Khalid
@NotMax:
A tiny question: how does one “veil” a 105-storey building in the first place?
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
Hire a wanna be Christo?
;)
Another Scott
@tobie: Agreed that there’s nothing of substance (at least that I’ve heard) so far.
But we shouldn’t minimize the benefits that this meeting has provided to the region and the world.
For years (many) in the US have talked about “preventing” the DPRK from getting a nuclear weapon and ICBMs, red lines, “it won’t happen”, nuclear war, and the like. Looking at it rationally, it was all bluster. An attack on the DPRK would have huge costs and little assurance that it would actually achieve the goal of ending their ICBM and warhead capabilities. There was the potential for thousands – or more – civilian deaths in exchange for the USA keeping its “word”.
There are big benefits to the region and the world to have that bluster – on both sides – end; to have the weapons and ICBM tests end; and to actually be talking.
I really don’t care about the “optics” and “Kim being treated like an equal”. Let them play BMOC for a few days. We tried (with notable exceptions) to isolate the Kims and punish them with sanctions and embargoes and the like for decades. It didn’t make them bend to our will. We can talk to him without ending all the economic punishments. We can even do some trade with them to encourage them to open up and liberalize. It doesn’t have to be a binary – we’ll bomb you back to the stone age vs. here, join the first world and sign a mutual defense treaty – relationship.
I too have no confidence that Trump knows what he’s doing. He just wants the pomp, the parades, the medals, and the happy tweets. But this long overdue meeting was a good thing.
What comes next is hugely important, of course… Presumably Congress can stop anything too insane – if not immediately then after January. We’ll see.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Vhh
@M4: North Korea is way smaller than a bunch of US states, not to mention Russia, Kazakhstan, Brazil, etc. What they do have are millions of impoverished, frightened slaves who work hard for 1500 calories per day and a mattress.