What a weekend for the Trump White House, huh?
It was a bad weekend, sure. Yet, not his worst weekend. That likely would have been last year's weekend at Charlottesville, Virginia, when outright Nazis marched on the streets of an American city, and the President seemed to refuse to directly criticize them, and even suggested that there were some good people among them.
Yikes. That was pretty bad. But this weekend just passed was quite typically chaotic, as well. Just another normal weekend with the Trump administration, it seems.
It was a bad weekend, sure. Yet, not his worst weekend. That likely would have been last year's weekend at Charlottesville, Virginia, when outright Nazis marched on the streets of an American city, and the President seemed to refuse to directly criticize them, and even suggested that there were some good people among them.
Yikes. That was pretty bad. But this weekend just passed was quite typically chaotic, as well. Just another normal weekend with the Trump administration, it seems.
Shortly after President Trump slapped hugely controversial tariffs on allied nations - particularly Canada, Mexico, Japan, and the European Union - Trump went up to Québec City for the G-7 Summit. It was billed as likely to be highly contentious, since each of the other six nations were expected to stand together and present a solid, unified front against Trump and the United States, in light of the tariffs.
Indeed, it was a contentious meeting, although there appeared to have been a unified statement made nonetheless. It sounded like a relatively happy ending, right?
But it did not end there, on what might have been a pleasant note. Prime Minister Trudeau had comments after the meeting, suggesting that while Canadians are "polite and reasonable," he made clear that "they will not be pushed around." This was how he announced that he was going ahead and imposing tariffs of his own on the United States, in response to Trump's tariffs.
Trump, typically, went ballistic. And of course, when he goes ballistic, he takes to his tweets. He suggested that Trudeau was weak and dishonest, and went on to suggest that what Trudeau did amounted to nothing short of a "betrayal." Then, he pulled the United States out of the unified statement made at the G-7 summit.
Peter Navarro, a trade advisor for the Trump administration, suggested that Trudeau had been sneaky and negotiated in bad faith, infamously then going on to state that 'there's a special place in hell' for Justin Trudeau."
Navarro had more to say, though. He suggested that Trump's mere presence at the summit was a huge favor to Canada and Trudeau. According to Navarro, Trump "did the courtesy to Justin Trudeau to travel up to Quebec for that summit" even though, according to Navarro, Trump had "bigger things on his plate" than the G7 meeting, referring to his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore, which was conveniently scheduled to cut Trump's trip Québec City for the G-7 Summit short.
Navarro continued:
"He did him a favor. And he was even willing to sign that socialist communique, and what did Trudeau do as soon as the plane took off from Canadian airspace? Trudeau stuck our President in the back."
Yikes.
That was not the end of the war with words. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland responded to Navarro's comments by saying that she was thankful she is "not responsible for explaining the reasoning behind any comments made by the officials of any foreign government."
Freeland then justified Canada's tariffs as simply a response to Trump's tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, which she described as "illegal and unjustified" and disavowed "ad hominem attacks."
She went on to add:
"Canada is very clear. We are very measured. We used fact-based arguments."
She went on to say of the US tariffs:
"The national security pretext is absurd and frankly insulting to Canadians, the closest and strongest ally the United States has had. We can't pose a security threat to the United States, and I know that Americans understand that. So, that is where the insult lies."
Later, a Fox News analyst described Trump's upcoming summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by suggesting that it would be a meeting between "two dictators."
Sounds about right.
What a ridiculous (yet somehow predictably chaotic) turn of events. Still more absurd headlines revolving around the Trump administration. In a sense, this was predictable. The only thing difficult to predict is how things will grow ridiculous with this man, and his absurd team, will make unsettling news and headlines. That they will do so, however, has become a given.
The meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was described by the President, predictably, as a huge success.
Sounds about right.
What a ridiculous (yet somehow predictably chaotic) turn of events. Still more absurd headlines revolving around the Trump administration. In a sense, this was predictable. The only thing difficult to predict is how things will grow ridiculous with this man, and his absurd team, will make unsettling news and headlines. That they will do so, however, has become a given.
The meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was described by the President, predictably, as a huge success.
North Korean leader "reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
Was it a great deal, proof that Trump indeed has the magic touch that he keeps insisting he possesses? Well, maybe. However, here is CNN's Kevin Liptak's take of the meeting and agreement:
Was it a great deal, proof that Trump indeed has the magic touch that he keeps insisting he possesses? Well, maybe. However, here is CNN's Kevin Liptak's take of the meeting and agreement:
"There was no mentioning the previous US aim of "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization." And Kim's commitments did not appear to go beyond what he already pledged to do in April when he met South Korean President Moon Jae-in along their countries' border."
Yikes.
So, Trump is touting a huge victory, yet many of the facts do not fit his huge billing? That maybe this is not nearly as great, as much "winning," as the President promised it would be?
Yup. With Trump, that sounds about right.
Yikes.
So, Trump is touting a huge victory, yet many of the facts do not fit his huge billing? That maybe this is not nearly as great, as much "winning," as the President promised it would be?
Yup. With Trump, that sounds about right.
Here are the articles that I used in writing this blog entry, and from which I got most of the quotes used:
Trump's North Korean gamble ends with 'special bond' with Kim by Kevin Liptak, CNN, June 12, 2018:
Peter Navarro says 'there's a special place in hell' for Justin Trudeau by Eli Watkins, CNN Updated 4:57 PM ET, Sun June 10, 2018:
Some analysts have suggested that this incessant chaos is actually by design, as opposed to an unintended consequence of Trump's behavior, i.e. the objective being to essentially end government as we know it. It's hard to say whether or not that's the case – I wouldn't put it past the Trump administration to adopt such a strategy, nor would I dismiss the possibility that at least some members of his cabinet find themselves cringing and doing the facepalm thing on a routine basis. Perhaps it's a bit of both? From my vantage point, the larger problem remains that the vast majority of his supporters applaud him for all of these things, because they're too fucking stupid to grasp that it's not in anyone's best interest – least of all theirs – to have a president who displays the emotional maturity level of an infant and antagonizes literally everyone who refuses to appease his high-maintenance ego and cater to his every whim and mood swing. As an aside, I watched the beginning of Colbert last night, and he was interviewing Chris Matthews, who despite expressing concern about Trump's latest case of verbal diarrhea wouldn't shut up about how this is "the best country in the world", how that's "a fact", etc. While I don't feel it would be fair or objective to summarily dismiss this country based on its current lapses and misdirection, I've lost whatever respect I may once have had for Matthews. Like you, I've never been a fan of mindless chest-thumping bravado masquerading as something positive, but the timing of his tired, insipid drivel is especially cloying, and symptomatic of the lengths otherwise intelligent people are willing to go to in order to avoid any serious introspection or soul-searching, which is what this country needs, now more than ever.
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