A little nuclear tourism
by digby
Governor Eddie Baza Calvo shared a video of his call with President Trump on Facebook, in which the President assured Mr Calvo the US was behind the remote Pacific island “1000 per cent”.
Pyongyang said this week it is planning to launch four missiles into waters near the coast of Guam, which is a major US military hub with a population of 163,000 – all of whom are technically US citizens.
“I just wanted to pay my respects [and say] you are safe,” Mr Trump began the call.
“You’ve become extremely famous,” he told Mr Calvo of the global news coverage following North Korea’s threat. “All over the world they are talking about Guam, and they are talking about you.”
“I can tell you this — tourism, you’re going to go up like 10-fold with the expenditure of no money so I congratulate you,” he added.
Mr Trump praised the scenic beauty of the island, which is roughly 3379 kilometres southeast of Pyongyang.
“It just looks like a beautiful place,” Mr Trump said.
Mr Calvo responded by agreeing his home was “paradise” and had “99 per cent occupancy”.
“You just went to 110 I think,” Mr Trump joked.
The Guam leader thanked Mr Trump for his efforts and said he had “never felt more safe”.
“As an American citizen I have never felt more safe or so confident with you at the helm,” Mr Calvo said.
“With all the criticism that’s going on over there, from a guy that’s being targeted, we need a president like you.”
Mr Trump agreed that, “They should have had me in years ago … frankly you could have said that for the last three presidents.”
He then reassured Mr Calvo, who he describes as a “hell of a guy”, telling him the US military is “rock solid”.
“We are the best in the world by a factor of five,” he said.
I’ll just leave that there…