It's A Mad House!

Fresh from pulling the rug out from our main allies at the G7 summit, President Trump triumphantly returned from Singapore this week after craftily agreeing to give everything North Korean leader Kim Jong-un requested.

"There's no longer a nuclear threat," he explained. After the ridilicous ramp-up of bellicose threats earlier this year, a statement like this is welcome though untrue. And though it's true that any immediate military threat in Korea has lessened, thanks to this meeting that NK promoted, there are some galaxy-wide gaps found in the official half-page "agreement." Like.... details? Anything? I suppose when two dictators get together, they can look each other in the eye and reach an intuitive understanding. But what about folks like the military, arms control experts, and nuclear waste cleanup companies? What about the elites?

Speaking of the military, Trump's unexpected directive to cease U.S. and South Korean military exercises came as a Big Surprise to nearly everyone: The US military, the South Korean prime minister and the SK military, the White House cabinet and staff, the State Department, etc. etc. One person not surprised was Vladimir Putin, who previously spoke with Trump about stopping the exercises. Trump's best rationale to astonished allies? No exercises means we will save money!

But it is all good. There will be other meetings at other times where details will be addressed, and then everyone will say Ha-Ha, there goes North Korea again, breaking their promise just like they did with similar (but much more explicit) proposals from 1985, 1992, 1994, 2005, 2007 and 2012. It's in their nature, just as it is for Trump to seek a glitzy "win" with no strings attached. He'll be on to some other crisis of his own making when this one falls apart in a few months.

In other fun news, there is the ongoing controversy regarding the separation of children from their parents at the US/Mexico border. It's been an ugly series of revelations, including one where a breast-feeding mother had her infant pulled away. She was handcuffed and arrested. Hard to believe any of these actions can remotely be called "American".  There's even uncertainty about the number of detained children, where they are, and how long they've been gone. It's like a bad Grimm's Fairy Tale nightmare. Adding to the atrocity of it all is the President falsely claiming it's the fault of Democrats - "It's their law... we're just following it." Of course, there is no such law. It is a Trump Administration policy crafted by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and enacted by the President.

But then the Administration's defense of this abominable policy kicks in and it's SO bad. Jeff Sessions, speaking to a group of Evangelists, suggests that he's just following the law, and that's the way God planned it:

https://www.theroot.com/jeff-sessions-quotes-the-bible-to-justify-abusing-immig-1826857973

The specific bible quote had been used in the American Revolution by Loyalists against George Washington and Company. It was used extensively by pro-Slavery proponents against Abolitionists. The idea that God has ordained "the law" to be followed is so fallacious it's beyond laughable. Using Sessions and others' tortured logic, the Nazis were simply following God and German law when they arrested Jews, confiscated their property, and sent them "away." Jim Crow laws were meant by God to be followed by uppity black folk.  The list goes on. Press Secretary Sarah Sanders lamely weighed in, too, arguing that "it is very biblical to follow the law".

The best reaction to this High Ridiculousness? Our favorite satirist, Alexandra Petri's sublime take:

"What part of 'It Is An Evil Bad Policy That Is The Fault Of Democrats But Also It Is A Good Policy That God Explicitly Wants Us To Obey' seems inconsistent to you?"

Oh, and the interviews that were had! A veritable blizzard of blarney! In one Fox News interview alone:

-- He kept yammering about being approached by parents of killed Korean War vets, asking him to bring back their remains. Do the math (the war ended in 1953). These are some ancient parents.
-- Responding to Kim Jong-un being a bad guy who had done bad things, he explained "Yeah, but so have a lot of other people have done some really bad things. I mean, I could go through a lot of nations where a lot of bad things were done."
-- Continuing his "Blame Obama" tactic, he suggested that Obama forced Putin to invade Crimea, which is OK because everyone there speaks Russian.  The Russian takeover of eastern Ukraine was "something that happened" that Obama used to get Putin out of G8. And it's OK because everyone there speaks Russian. (Watch out United Kingdom, Canada and Australia - we're coming for you because you speak English.)
-- And if Putin were back in the fold at G8 meetings, Trump could simply turn to him at dinner and ask, as a favor, to get out of Syria and Crimea and Ukraine? Vlad, as a solid, can you get your armed forces outta there? Thanks a whole bunch.

In the impromptu presser to Fox News and then others held yesterday morning on the WH lawn, he seemed to be trying to break his own world record for number of lies told in a single setting. It was a sight to behold. He suggested that he wanted the kind of attention that Kim Jong-un gets. He claimed that the recent FBI Inspector General report exonerated him from collusion and obstruction (it did no such thing because it was focusing on an entirely different issue). Oh, just click on this link for an amazing rundown on the sheer scale of profound fabrications that flowed from his lying mouth:

https://www.wonkette.com/trump-lies

Also, please be sure to scroll down on that article to read the wonderful comments. Snark reigns supreme there.

Yes, Trump wants to be Supreme and Dear Leader, one whose Cabinet slobbers all over him, his staff slavishly follow his every word salad ingredient, and the American people do not question his authority.

Never be the first one to stop clapping...

Finally, here is what the future holds for America if Trump and the GOP continue to hold power. It's an interview conducted in April by Anderson Cooper with powerful House "Freedom Caucus" GOP leader Rep. Jim Jordan. The entire session is pretty great, revealing how a shill works an argument. But where it gets to be fantastic begins at the 3:57 mark, when Cooper asks Jordan about Trump's lies. It is astonishing and kinda hilarious to witness. This is why Trump will never get impeached with a GOP Congress: