President Donald Trump

[revo]

We were talking about him praising North Korea, not the other way around. Whether that yields anything remains to be seen, but I think it's fairly obvious his praise for them is strategic, vs. him actually thinking that North Korea's regime is, in fact, suddenly awesome.

Right. They presumably flattered him during the meeting, and Trump comes out after the meeting saying things like "hey, he's not such a bad guy after all!"

Meanwhile, there's a "special place in hell" for the Canadian PM....

[B-Fly]

The reaction by the left is comical to me. Amazing Trump wasn’t able to solve the regions problems in that meeting. And the audacity of him talking about downsizing our troops in the region. It’s almost like he’s a 1960s era Anti-Vietnam War Democrat.

I tend to agree with this. Imagine if Barack Obama had held this meeting with the same basic result. The right/neocons would have gone ballistic, and yes, the left probably would have praised it as an historic step forward. I'm going to choose to be cautiously optimistic and to be thankful that President Trump is pursuing diplomacy and aiming at demilitarization. But I thought Ben Shapiro had a balanced though skeptical take from his heavily right-leaning perspective:

https://www.dailywire.com/news/31740/trumps-big-north-korean-moment-either-masterstroke-ben-shapiro

[revo]

The reaction by the left is comical to me. Amazing Trump wasn’t able to solve the regions problems in that meeting. And the audacity of him talking about downsizing our troops in the region. It’s almost like he’s a 1960s era Anti-Vietnam War Democrat.

Where do you see this reaction?

The biggest reaction I'm seeing is that Trump has suddenly taken the North's stance that the war games are "provocative" and that he didn't consult with the South Koreans at all before making the statement that he's ending them.

[senorsheep]

Right. They presumably flattered him during the meeting, and Trump comes out after the meeting saying things like "hey, he's not such a bad guy after all!"

Meanwhile, there's a "special place in hell" for the Canadian PM....

I don't have the inside information from the meetings that you seem to think you have, so rather than make presumptions about who's tricking who with flattery and praise, I'll be content to withhold my judgments until something substantive happens.

[revo]

I don't have the inside information from the meetings that you seem to think you have, so rather than make presumptions about who's tricking who with flattery and praise, I'll be content to withhold my judgments until something substantive happens.

Ah, so it's OK to be snarky on this, but when you say "He's likely floating the idea as an enticement" where you're presuming, that's fine.

Anyhow, I think we're both on the same side of this, so it's OK to drop it.

[cardboardbox]

I tend to agree with this. Imagine if Barack Obama had held this meeting with the same basic result. The right/neocons would have gone ballistic, and yes, the left probably would have praised it as an historic step forward. I'm going to choose to be cautiously optimistic and to be thankful that President Trump is pursuing diplomacy and aiming at demilitarization. But I thought Ben Shapiro had a balanced though skeptical take from his heavily right-leaning perspective:

https://www.dailywire.com/news/31740...ke-ben-shapiro

Just that title was enough to turn me away. I dont see how anyone can already know so much to determine this was a masterstroke or a disaster. I guess everyone has to have a take on this today and wishy washy opinions like mine dont get clicks. There should have been a "To be continued" at the end of this episode. Right now we really dont have a good idea of what will happen next.

[Gregg]

I agree with you. Good start. Better than expected.

But just wait the slamming from the Dems that you described as GOP vs Obama will be here before noon.

It was hard for Repubs to give Obama credit for anything. It is equally hard for Dems to give Trump credit.

11:51

[nots]

11:51

Should have taken the under.

[nots]

You could just backscroll a few posts in here, or just read most any lefty columnist on real clear politics to get the 'Trump got played' narrative. Trudy Rubin on philly.com has an especially shrill hot take on Trumps massive summit failure--i am sure many in here will love it

[senorsheep]

Ah, so it's OK to be snarky on this, but when you say "He's likely floating the idea as an enticement" where you're presuming, that's fine.

Anyhow, I think we're both on the same side of this, so it's OK to drop it.

Praising a rival prior to and during a negotiation is a rhetorical tactic as old as time. I just find the fevered rush to bury him for doing it amusing.

I'm guessing he didn't consult his military-industrial complex friends before dangling the "troop withdrawal" carrot. I can't imagine the perpetual war machine was pleased to hear that.

[DMT]

Well, he didn't fuck it up so no reason to complain. But it is alarming how he is treating our democratically-elected allies in comparison to how he treats dictators.

[senorsheep]

But it is alarming how he is treating our democratically-elected allies in comparison to how he treats dictators.

Eh, Israel survived it, I'm sure South Korea will, too.

[Hornsby]

No, I imagine he'll want something in return before pulling the trigger on significant troop withdrawals. He's likely floating the idea as an enticement.

There's nothing concrete to get excited about yet, but did you really expect there to be after one meeting?

I had expected to be some sort of Quid pro Quo from NK, but nothing, because they didn't have to.

[revo]

On May 30, Dumb Donald tweeted out that his Big Pharma policy was going to work like crazy, that many major pharmaceutical comapnies were going to cut drug prices massively and voluntarily “within two weeks.”

Today, HHS Secretary Alex Azar told the Senate that drug cuts “were not imminent.”


Of course....

[Hornsby]

And now the US is making Propaganda films...for North Korea. You simply can't make this stuff up, you just can't. Turns out it's nothing more than a shitty real estate ad...

Reporters crowded into a Singapore auditorium Tuesday, expecting President Trump to walk out and announce the results of his historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Suddenly, two huge screens on either side of the empty podium came to life. Soaring music boomed over the speakers, and the reporters were bombarded with a montage portraying North Korea as some sort of paradise.

Golden sunrises, gleaming skylines and high-speed trains. Children skipping through Kim Il Sung square in Pyongyang. North Korean flags fluttering between images of Egyptian pyramids, the Taj Mahal and the Lincoln Memorial.

In a split-screen shot, Kim Jong Un waved to an adoring crowd while President Trump stood beside him with his thumb in the air. The pair appeared over and over again, like running mates in a campaign video.

The film went on like this for more than four minutes, with brief interludes of missiles, soldiers and warships interrupting the pageantry. Some journalists, unable to understand the Korean-language narration, assumed they were watching one of Pyongyang's infamous propaganda films. “What country are we in?” asked a reporter from the filing center.



But then the video looped, playing this time in English. And then Trump walked onto the stage and confirmed what some had already realized.

The film was not North Korean propaganda. It had been made in America, by or on the orders of his White House, for the benefit of Kim.

“I hope you liked it,” Trump told the reporters. “I thought it was good. I thought it was interesting enough to show. ... And I think he loved it.”

The crowd sounded skeptical. Some wondered if Trump had not, in fact, just provided U.S.-sanctioned propaganda to one of the country's oldest adversaries.

But as the president explained it, the video was more like an elevator pitch. It was the type of glitzy production that Trump might have once used to persuade investors to finance his hotels, and now hoped could persuade one of the most repressive regimes in the world to disarm its nuclear weapons and end nearly 70 years of international isolation and militant hostility to the United States.

The nearly five-minute movie even had its own Hollywood-style vanity logo: “A Destiny Pictures Production,” though a film company by the same name in Los Angeles denied any involvement in making it, and the White House has not yet responded to questions about it.

[‘Pretty historical’: Dennis Rodman reminds us of his effort to broker peace with North Korea]


“Of those alive today, only a small number will leave a lasting impact,” the narrator said near the beginning, as alternating shots of Trump, Kim and North Korean pageantry flashed on the screen. “And only a very few will make decisions or take actions to renew their homeland, or change the course of history.”

The message was clear: Kim had a decision to make. Then the film progressed from grim black-and-white shots of the United States' 1950s-era war with North Korea into a montage of rose-colored parades and gold-tinted clouds.

“The past doesn't have to be the future,” the narrator said. “What if a people that share a common and rich heritage can find a common future?”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/06/12/reporters-thought-this-video-was-north-korea-propaganda-it-came-from-the-white-house/?utm_term=.5e072baabb93&wpisrc=nl_politics-pm&wpmm=1