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Month: June 2018

The Vino Vixen’s purge

Published by digby on June 13, 2018

The Vino Vixen’s purge

by digby


This is a form of Trumpism that takes McCarthyism to a new level. Even Joseph McCarthy wanted to purge the State Department of people he deemed traitorous to the country, not himself.

A senior advisor to the State Department appointed just two months ago has been quietly vetting career diplomats and American employees of international institutions to determine whether they are loyal to President Donald Trump and his political agenda, according to nearly a dozen current and former U.S. officials.

Mari Stull, a former food and beverage lobbyist-turned-wine blogger under the name “Vino Vixen,” has reviewed the social media pages of State Department staffers for signs of ideological deviation. She has researched the names of government officials to determine whether they signed off on Obama-era policies — though signing off does not mean officials personally endorsed them but merely cleared them through the bureaucratic chain. And she has inquired about Americans employed by international agencies, including the World Health Organization and the United Nations, asking their colleagues when they were hired and by whom, according the officials.

“She is actively making lists and gathering intel,” said one of the sources, a senior diplomat. Stull was named in April as a senior advisor to the State Department’s Bureau of International Organization Affairs, which manages U.S. diplomatic relations with the United Nations and other international institutions.

Her probing, along with a highly secretive management style, has become so uncomfortable that at least three senior officials are poised to leave the bureau, according to the sources. Officials there have warned some Americans employed by the U.N. to sidestep traditional meet-and-greet sessions with the department’s upper management to avoid drawing attention to themselves.

“She is gunning for American citizens in the U.N. to see if they are toeing the line,” the diplomatic source added.

Stull seems to have the support of her boss, Kevin Moley, who was appointed by the White House in January to head the bureau with the title of assistant secretary of state for international organizational affairs.

Stull cheered his appointment on Twitter at the time, proclaiming the “Global swamp will be drained.”

But over time, she has emerged as the most dominant force in the department. One diplomat said she seemed to outrank Moley in influence.

It remains unclear whether Stull’s activities have the backing of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and key policymakers in the White House, or whether she has taken the initiative on her own. But her brief tenure has alarmed colleagues at the State Department.

Three deputy assistant secretaries of state in the bureau, Molly Phee, the bureau’s principal deputy, Erin Barclay, and Nerissa Cook, are said to be on the way out — though some may simply move to other bureaus at State.

“Everyone is looking to bail,” said one State Department official.

But sure, this is fine.

You may have noticed that the GOP primaries are turning on loyalty to Trump as well. Senator Bob Corker said today that it’s becoming “cultish.”

Ya think? Some of us have been saying this since we watched the Trump rallies and the Republican convention in 2016 and saw the slavering freak show — of the crowd.

(Don’t mention this, though. Pretend that it’s all about him and his voters are just wonderful folks who are upset about their economic situation. They are very sensitive.)

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Bolton’s just waiting patiently for the tantrum

Published by digby on June 13, 2018

Bolton’s just waiting patiently for the tantrum

by digby

My Salon column:

Now that the Singapore dust has settled and we’ve all watched that bizarre White House produced propaganda film at least a half a dozen times just to be sure we weren’t dreaming, it’s worthwhile to look at the event with fresh eyes and ask ourselves if it really was as surreal as it seemed to be. As I wrote yesterday, the signed agreement certainly didn’t add up to much despite’s Trump’s predictably tiresome hype that it was the most spectacular deal any two leaders had ever made in the history of the world. It’s basically a watered down version of earlier deals that ultimately fell apart and a recommittment to the one that Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-In signed a couple of months ago.

Trump later said in his press conference that he was going to halt regional war games because they were unnecessarily provocative (for which received nothing in return) surprising Seoul and the Pentagon. It is still vague as to how and why that announcement happened but last January the Wall Street Journal reported this, which offers a clue:

Mr. Trump had an idea about how to counter the nuclear threat posed by North Korea, which he got after speaking to Russian President Vladimir Putin : If the U.S. stopped joint military exercises with the South Koreans, it could help moderate Kim Jong Un’s behavior.

It’s nice of President Putin to offer Trump such advice but any other US president would have been just a little bit skeptical of his motives since it serves the Russian president’s interests to drive a wedge between the US and its allies as well as hasten a withdrawal from the region. One imagines that Chinese president Xi Jinping was equally pleased to see Trump take that advice and seek nothing in return. Everyone’s happy but America’s allies.

North Korean state media reported that Trump offered the concession personally during their 45 minute unrecorded meeting which raises the question as to why it wasn’t included in the written agreement. But then North Korean State media is also saying that Trump told Kim that he’s going to lift the sanctions, which Trump said he did not do. And according to the Wall Street Journal:

The report quoted Mr. Kim as saying that, if the U.S. were to take “genuine measures for building trust,” then the North could reciprocate in a “commensurate” fashion—a clear suggestion that U.S. concessions would have to come before any North Korean move…The report also suggested that Mr. Trump had adopted the North’s preferred phased approach toward any denuclearization process, saying the two men had agreed to the “principle of step-by-step and simultaneous action.”

Trump indicated in interviews yesterday that Kim was rushing back home to start “de-nuking” immediately. He certainly didn’t say he’d agreed to a “principle of step-by-step simultaneous action.”

Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing what the truth is. Both leaders are untrustworthy liars and there is no record of their discussion. It’s entirely believable that the North Korean government just made the whole thing up as a propaganda ploy but it’s just as easy to believe that Trump gave all those concessions in a closed door meeting to please his new best friend. He has a habit of giving away the store to people he’s trying to impress.

It will be very interesting to see how the White House responds because the president spent the day extolling the virtues of Kim Jong Un as if he were the second coming of Honest Abe and Mahatma Gandhi. He even said, “His country does love him. His people, you see the fervor, they have a great fervor,” apparently having no clue about the repressive regime’s propaganda tactics.

Here are just a few of the glowing descriptions of his pal:

In an interview with Greta Van Susteran Trump made it clear that it’s all very personal:

“We had a great chemistry — you understand how I feel about chemistry. It’s very important. I mean, I know people where there is no chemistry no matter what you do you just don’t have it. We had it right from the beginning, I talked about that and I think great things are going to happen for North Korea.”

He told George Stephanopoulos, “I trust him and he trusts me.”

Most observers and experts are wary of making too many sweeping statements about this because the stakes are high and anyone with sense has to hope for the best. Perhaps Trump’s vaunted salesmanship and personal outreach to the North Korean dictator is worth a try since so many previous attempts at more formal agreements failed. Who knows? Maybe Kim really is anxious to build some Trump branded condos on the beach and open a McDonalds in Pyongyang. It’s understandable that all of us would be relieved that the inane insults about “Little Rocket Man” have given way to inane compliments if only to buy some time.

But as I watched footage of the summit, I couldn’t help but think about what National Security adviser John Bolton had said a few months back:

Bolton believes the US has to overthrow Kim Jong Un, period. He got himself into trouble with his comments that the US would insist on using the “Libya model”  and got sidelined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.  He stepped aside, said little and watched as the president kissed up to the North Korean dictator and basked in the glory of his delusional historic agreement. He’s just sitting back, waiting for the moment when Trump realizes he’s been betrayed.

Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) seemed to have a similar idea, only he seemed to want to play the role of Trump press agent and announce it to the world. He said,  “If you try to play Trump or back out, there’s going to be a war and nobody wants war. Look at what he said to Canada when he thinks he’s wronged.”

This was the danger in letting Trump do his elaborate photo-op and then go all over the media praising Kim as his very favorite new friend, telling everyone who will listen that they have “chemistry” and they trust each other. It’s very personal for him now and like the playground bully that he is, Trump will feel betrayed when he finds out that Kim didn’t feel the same way about their “special bond.” 

You can be sure that John Bolton has Plan B ready to go.

And the oscar goes to Harebrained Pictures

Published by digby on June 13, 2018

And the oscar goes to Harebrained Pictures

by digby

This is just so very … Trump:

The National Security Council has said that it made the video Donald Trump showed to Kim Jong-un at their Singapore summit on Tuesday in an unorthodox effort to persuade him of the benefits of denuclearisation.

The four-minute video in Korean and English was made in the style of an extended action movie trailer and portrayed Kim and Trump as men of destiny with the future of the world in their hands.

The video, which Trump showed to the press after playing it on an iPad for Kim, is credited to “Destiny Pictures Productions”, prompting a flurry of press inquiries to a film production company of that name in California.

Mark Castaldo, the company’s founder, said in an email it had “no involvement in the video”.

“Woke up to 100’s of e-mails and calls from all over the world. Crazy” Castaldo said in a tweet, adding that he was trying to find out “why they used my company name”.

Garrett Marquis, an NSC spokesman said in a statement: “The video was created by the National Security Council to help the president demonstrate the benefits of complete denuclearization, and a vision of a peaceful and prosperous Korean peninsula.”

When asked about the decision to present the video as made by a non-existent company, an NSC spokesman said there would be no further comment.

“From my understanding, they were just using ‘Destiny Pictures’ as a play on words. It just so happens there’s a studio by that name in California,” said Ned Price, a former NSC spokesman.

“Leave it to this White House to fail to conduct basic due diligence. And that, of course, leaves aside the fact they thought it prudent to try to out-North-Korea North Korea in the propaganda department.

“The whole enterprise reeks of amateurism and comes off as an attempt to check the box on a harebrained idea that presumably originated in the oval office,” Price added.

And naturally, they didn’t bother to see if they were illegally using someone’s company name. They just did it. And it sucked. Because Trump.

They’re here by @BloggersRUs

Published by Tom Sullivan on June 13, 2018

They’re here
by Tom Sullivan

If there was ever any doubt what the Trump administration represents, well….

“This is as bad as I’ve ever seen in 25 years of doing this work,” Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the A.C.L.U.’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, told Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times. “The little kids are literally being terrorized.”

For the record, children are being terrorized per policies established by sitting President Donald J. Trump and U.S. Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III.

As authorities forcibly remove children from their parents, many seeking asylum at the border, they have shuffled detainees from the custody of Customs and Homeland Security to Department of Health and Human Services contract facilities to federal prisons and now to, effectively, internment camps.

Because its zero-tolerance policies have created such an overflow of detainees — parents here, children there, somewhere — McClatchy reports the Trump administration intends to build a tent city on a military base in El Paso to hold between 1,000 and 5,000 children. The government now detains more than 10,000 children at 100 DHS facilities that are 95 percent full.

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) spoke last night with Chris Hayes of MSNBC of visiting a federal prison in her state. She met 174 women from 16 different countries, denied the opportunity of a “credible fear” hearing to begin the asylum process. Most had not seen an attorney. A few had been struck. Many had been separated from children as young as 1.

“I hugged as many of them as I could because I just want them to know that we know they are human beings who are seeking safety and security,” Jayapal told reporters outside the prison. “It was heartbreaking.”

Goldberg writes that for undocumented immigrants in America, fascism is not merely a looming threat. “It’s already here.”

America’s immigration system was capricious and cruel before Trump. Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon, recently visited an immigrant processing center in McAllen, Tex. Describing how men, women, boys and girls were separated and kept in chain-linked enclosures, he emphasized that the site wasn’t new: “It’s essentially the same construction that was there during Obama,” he said. The difference is that, until recently, the kids’ section held older children who had crossed the border on their own. Now, he told me, the youngest was 4 or 5.

These kids are being used as pawns to persuade parents to give up their asylum claims and to warn others against coming to America. The administration, Merkley told me, has “decided that treating kids in this fashion would influence the adults not to seek asylum. They would hurt children to influence the parents.”

There are still mechanisms in American government that can stop this evil. Last Friday, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, proposed a bill that would keep most families detained at the border together. The A.C.L.U. has filed a lawsuit on behalf of parents whose children were taken from them and is asking a federal court for a nationwide injunction to stop family separations.

But for now, what is happening is the sort of moral enormity that once seemed unthinkable in contemporary America, the kind captured in the Martin Niemöller poem that’s repeated so often it’s become a cliché: “First they came …” There is no reason to believe that undocumented immigrants will be the last group of people deemed beyond the law’s protection.

If Donald Trump (and his most virulent supporters) had his way, journalists, celebrities, comedians, and political opponents might already fall into that category.

When Merkley asked guards at a detention center whether they worried about the effects of their actions on the children, they told him, “We simply follow the orders from above.”

At the end of their shifts, camp guards will go home to their families, pet the dog, hug their kids, and say grace over dinner.

Goldberg’s prediction Trump’s policy will expand is already here too. Associated Press reports plans are underway to strip citizenship from naturalized citizens suspected of falsifying their citizenship applications by adopting new identities after deportation. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director L. Francis Cissna told AP his agency is hiring several dozen attorneys and immigration officers to cross reference fingerprint records to find deportees who may have returned and gained citizenship under aliases.

Kansas immigration attorney Matthew Hoppock worries, however, that in addition to true frauds, the innocent may get caught in the net and not have resources to fight back in court. Cissna offered assurances that “denaturalization” of citizens for minor discrepancies is not his goal.

But given the anti-immigrant mood the president and his enablers have stoked, even properly naturalized citizens might have reason to worry.

Vandals defaced an Irish landmark in Kansas City over the weekend:

Vandals spray-painted “Immigrants Not Welcome” on a wall at Browne’s Irish Marketplace, a Midtown storefront founded in 1887 by Irish immigrants.

The marketplace has been recognized by the Irish government as the oldest Irish building in North America, according to co-owner Kerry Browne.

Together with her husband, John McClain, Browne is the fourth generation in her family to helm the Irish deli, grocery and retail shop. Yet in more than 130 years, she said, this is the first time the store has ever experienced such a brazen act of prejudice.

In 230 years, America has never experienced a presidency like Donald Trump’s either.

* * * * * * * *

For The Win 2018 is ready for download. Request a copy of my county-level election mechanics primer at tom.bluecentury at gmail.

Republicans are confused

Published by digby on June 13, 2018

Republicans are confused

by digby

Trump has really scrambled their brains:

“Should be skeptical of any deal with (Kim Jong UN),” Rubio tweeted Tuesday. “Limits to future strategic weapons instead of eliminating current program not an acceptable outcome. Hope I’m wrong but still believe they will never give up nukes & ICBM’s unless believe failure to do so triggers regime ending reaction.”

Then Rubio took at shot at Kim, who took power in North Korea after his father and grandfather previously ruled the country, arguing that the 34-year-old autocrat “would not be elected assistant dog catcher in any democracy.”

“One more thing about KJU,” Rubio tweeted. While I know POTUS is trying to butter him up to get a good deal, KJU is NOT a talented guy. He inherited the family business from his dad & grandfather. He is a total weirdo who would not be elected assistant dog catcher in any democracy.”

Rubio’s comments on the North Korean dictator mirror his attacks on Trump during the 2016 presidential primary, when the Florida Republican said Trump’s career in real estate was due to his father’s wealth.

“Here’s the guy that inherited $200 million,” Rubio said during a debate. “If he hadn’t inherited $200 million, you know where Donald Trump would be right now? Selling watches in Manhattan.”

And Rubio’s tweet criticizing Kim Jong Un drew a head-scratching response from Missouri Republican Rep. Billy Long.

“If he one day runs for President of the Korean Peninsula perhaps you can give him some pointers on running a successful Presidential campaign?” Long said in response to Rubio, mocking Rubio’s presidential loss to Trump and offering a scenario where a third-generation dictator would somehow run for elected office in a unified Korea.

Ok. So, Rubio says that Kim Jong Un is nothing more than a callow scion of a ruthless father, using the same words he used to describe Donald Trump two years ago. It’s true in both cases, of course.

And now Republicans are defending Kim Jong Un from attacks by a fellow Republican because he’s Trump’s bff.

That’s where we are.

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Trump’s airport hotel conference room video sales pitch

Published by digby on June 12, 2018

Trump’s airport hotel conference room video sales pitch

by digby

You cannot make this stuff up:

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 waving 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 several minutes, with brief interludes of missiles, soldiers and warships interrupting the fanfare. 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 explained that 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.”

As the president explained it, the video was an elevator pitch — the sort of glitzy production that Trump might have once used to persuade an investor to finance a hotel and that he now hopes will persuade the leader of one of the most repressive regimes in the world to 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.

[…]

The president was more talkative when discussing how Kim had reacted to the video, which Trump had presumably played for him during a brief, private meeting hours earlier.

“We didn’t have a big screen like you have the luxury of having,” Trump said. “We didn’t need it, because we had it on cassette, uh, an iPad.

“And they played it. About eight of their representatives were watching it, and I thought they were fascinated by it. I thought it was well done. I showed it to you because that’s the future. I mean, that could very well be the future. And the other alternative is just not a very good alternative. It’s just not good.”

Trump admitted that some of the imagery he pitched may have been a little far-fetched, as North Korea is mired in poverty, internationally isolated, and has been mismanaged for decades by a family of dictators — Kim, his father and grandfather.

“That was done at the highest level of future development,” Trump said of his pitch video. “I told him, you may not want this. You may want to do a much smaller version. … You may not want that — with the trains and everything.”

He waved his hands. “You know, with super everything, to the top. It’s going to be up to them,” he said.

And then, in his usual style, Trump was thinking out loud about the “great condos” that might one day be built on the “great beaches” of North Korea.

“I explained it,” he said. “You could have the best hotels in the world. Think of it from the real estate perspective.”

I’m guessing that Trump spent a lot of time approving the production of that silly propaganda film. But he was clearly completely clueless about the history of the North Korea’s nuclear negotiations and well, everything else.

I think he thought that shitty little airport hotel conference room video sales pitch would actually be effective.

God help us all.

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Don’t mess with a libertarian’s property rights

Published by digby on June 12, 2018

Don’t mess with a libertarian’s property rights

by digby

Now we know what happened with that weird Rand Paul attack:

New court documents in Kentucky shed more light on details from the yard dispute that landed Sen. Rand Paul in the hospital with six broken ribs, among other thoracic complications, and could land his neighbor in prison.

Rene Boucher, 60, didn’t like where his neighbor of 17 years, Paul, was putting his yard debris.

In September 2017 the junior GOP senator from Kentucky stacked a 10-foot-wide mound of branches near the line separating his property in Bowling Green from Boucher’s.

Boucher found the pile of tree limbs and other flotsam “unsightly,” according to new court documents first reported by The Associated Press. Even though it wasn’t on his property, Boucher could see the pile from his back patio.

It sat there for weeks.

In October, Boucher had the branches loaded into portable dumpsters and carried off.

But then, other piles appeared — two of them.

Boucher poured gasoline on the woodpiles and incinerated them, giving himself second-degree burns in the process.

But Paul’s autumn yard work was not complete.

The next day, the senator blew leaves into Boucher’s yard with his lawnmower. He made another branch pile in the same spot as the previous ones.

Boucher had had enough.

“As Dr. Boucher has stated throughout, he lost his temper and tackled Rand Paul as Paul was carrying branches from another location on his property and placing them on the property line,” the court memorandum from Boucher’s defense team said.

The blindside tackle left Paul with a half-dozen broken ribs and injured lungs. He later developed pneumonia and missed time in Washington to recover.

I can see why the man was frustrated. Paul was obviously deliberately provoking him. To someone like him, his right to do anything he chooses on his property is akin to religion and he clearly was making that point to his neighbor who was upset that he had to look at Paul’s compost pile from his back porch. Neighbor disputes are always the worst but when you are dealing with one of the world’s leading libertarian leaders they are not going to end well.

Having said that, there is no excuse for a physical attack. It was just a pile of branches. He lost his temper and will have to pay the price. You are not allowed to jump on your neighbors no matter who justifiably angry at their libertarian trolling.

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Transcription of Trump’s Cheezy “In A World” movie trailer for North Korean summit @spockosbrain

Published by Spocko on June 12, 2018

Transcription of Trump’s cheezy “In A World” movie trailer for North Korean summit

By Spocko

Two men. Two leaders. One crappy movie trailer.

Here is the video link on Facebook for those who want to see the high res version.

My friend Dan Mcenroe, a brilliant video production guy in Sweden, saw this live at about 1:30 am California  time. He said,

“They cut a fucking TRAILER for the summit. I’m dead serious. They’re showing it on big screens to the media. It’s crazy. They actually got a trailer voice guy who says shit like, “Destiny Pictures presents…” and, “…featuring Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.” At one point they say something like, “Two men, two LEADERS have two paths before them,” and show a montage of nuclear missiles launching followed by a montage of kids on a playground and shit. Then trailer voice guy intones, “Which path will they choose?” This is like an SNL digital short. My head is spinning.” 

I transcribed the entire 4 minute piece.

Seven billion people inhabit planet Earth. Of those people alive today only a small number will leave a lasting impact. And only the very few will make decisions or take actions that will renew their homeland and change the course of history. History may appear to repeat itself for generations, cycles that never seem to end. There have been times of relative peace and times of great tension. While this cycle repeats, the light of prosperity and innovation has burned bright for most of the world. History is always evolving and there comes a time when only a few are called upon to make a difference. But the question is, “What difference will the few make? The past doesn’t have to be the future. Out of the darkness can come the light and the light of hope can burn bright.

What if a people that share a common and rich heritage can find a common future? Their story is well known. But what will be their sequel? Destiny Pictures presents a story of opportunity. A new story, a new beginning. One of peace. Two men. Two leaders. One destiny. A story about a special moment in time when a man is presented with one chance that may never be repeated. What will he choose? To show vision and leadership? Or not?

There can only be two results. One of moving back. Or one of moving forward. A new world can begin today. One of friendship, respect and good will. Be part of that world where the doors of opportunity are ready to be open. Investment from around the world, where you can have medical breakthroughs and an abundant resources. Innovative technology and new discoveries. What if? Can history be changed? Will the world embrace this change?  And when could this moment in history begin? It comes down to a choice on this day, in this time, at this moment. The world will be watching, listening, anticipating, hoping. Will this leader choose to advance his country and be part of the new world? Be the hero of his people? Will he shake the hand of peace and enjoy prosperity like he has never seen? A great life? Or more isolation? Which path will be chosen? Featuring President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un. In a meeting to remake history. To shine in the sun. One moment, one choice. What if? The future remains to be written.

What will he choose? To show vision and leadership? Or not?

As Dan said, this is a really crappy video production. It looks like it was thrown together quickly. They used stock video images and generic music.

The script is designed to appeal to an audience of two. Trump and Kim Jong Un. (Trump showed him this video on an iPad.)  It is important to understand why this script was written. It was designed to flatter Trump.

When something like this comes out of the Trump White House it tells you something about how Trump wants the world to see him. He sees himself as that “one man” who is remaking history.
He is shining in the sun.

Trump believes he is the hero the whole world is watching and listening to.

I think the video will work on Kim, because it is designed for Trump, a wanna be dictator. It includes all the flattering that insecure men need.

We all saw the photo that Merkel’s office sent out with Trump sitting and everyone else standing over him.  But what you might not have seen is the photo the Press Secretary’s office put out.  I’ve lightened the face of Trump and darkened the foreground so you can see better.  This is where Trump wants to be, at center of everyone’s attention.

The childish script and cheezy video actual left me optimistic for the future. It’s important to know your audience. This video was designed to flatter and hopefully calm down two people with huge egos, bad haircuts and nuclear arsenals at their disposal.

We aren’t dead today, that’s a good thing. The hand of peace has been shaken.

Next week I expect the White House to take out “For your Consideration.” ads in the Economist,
“Donald Trump for Nobel Peace Prize.”

His “mission was to send a strong signal of strength.”

Published by digby on June 12, 2018

His “mission was to send a strong signal of strength.”

by digby

Trump’s weirdo economic adviser Peter Navarro:

Peter Navarro had said on Sunday there was a “special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad-faith diplomacy” with Mr. Trump “and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door.” Mr. Navarro made it clear the comments referred to Mr. Trudeau.

On Tuesday, Mr. Navarro said he had been trying to use strong words to back Mr. Trump’s trade stance but went too far.

“In conveying that message I used language that was inappropriate and basically lost the power of that message,” he said. “I own that, that was my mistake, those were my words.”

I don’t know if Trump sent out Peter Navarro to apologize for his outrageous comments but you can rest assured you will never hear such a thing from the man himself:

“I may be wrong. I may stand before you in six months and say, ‘Hey, I was wrong,’” Trump told reporters. “I don’t know if I’ll ever admit that, but I’ll find some kind of an excuse.”

It just goes to show that even an inveterate liar like Trump accidentally tells the truth once in a while.

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