* What to make of the summit sit-down with North Korea?
This, after all, is a country that has prioritized nukes over food. It’s also the world’s weirdest despotic monarchy. A fat kid with a bad hair cut runs it. His to-do list periodically includes handing out execution orders, some of them familial.
But there is also this: North Korea has been deceitfully playing for time for more than a generation. It has wanted in on the nuclear club; it wants to retain the Kim Jong Un regime; and it wants the U.S. out of the Korean Peninsula.
It wasn’t willing to negotiate in good faith during the Clinton, G.W. Bush and Obama Administrations. But now it, arguably, has what it wants: Enough nuclear and ballistic-missile cred. It also gets instant regime legitimization with a seat at the same table as the U.S. And it advances chances of reduced or eliminated sanctions, which undermine its economy, which still matters.
The devil, as always, will be in the details. What exactly does “denuclearization” mean? Does the U.S. need to keep thousands of troops near the DMZ trip-wire in perpetuity? What of regional security? Who does what to save face? How will China help out–and will it be a function of tariff fallout? How well prepared will Trump be? Did he give away leverage with knee-jerk summit acceptance? This isn’t some casino-bankruptcy ploy.
Here’s hoping Trump gets more informed input before the summit than he got before announcing that the summit was on. But, alas, this is not “The Apprentice.” Ask “Rexit” Tillerson.
* So Donald Trump’s commitment to school security is manifested in his latest iteration of a school security strategy that is highlighted by a plan to arm staff. This was underscored by Andrew Bremberg, director of the Domestic Policy Council. “The president is determined to get to the root of the various societal issues that lead to violence in our country,” he said. “No stone will be left unturned.”
Not quite. The assault-weapons-ban boulder will remain in place, and universal background checks will remain an ignored pebble.
* Newsweek’s Ryan Sit offers a bottom-line take on Trump’s proposed Veterans Day parade. “This could feed every homeless vet for the cost of his military parade–even conservatively estimated, which is $10-$30 million.”
* I kind of miss Sean Spicer. Kind of. Chalk it up to White House briefings by Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who gives duplicitous, career-first harlot a bad name.
* One analogy we don’t need is the Oval Office and a Day at the Improv. Whether it’s a tariff accompanied by “trade war” rhetoric or the knee-jerk acceptance of a summit with North Korea without requisite expert input, an erratic, impulsive approach to critically key decision-making by a U.S. president is beyond unacceptable. It’s downright scary.
* The Stormy Daniels’ “Make America Horny Again” tour: Call it a meme for our political epoch. Thank you, Donald Trump; thank you, ubiquitous media; and thank you, again, unconscionably enabling “basket of deplorables.”