monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

I'm sure dictators with nukes are shaking in their boots since The Donald came on the scene.

Conservative writer Erick Erickson on Tuesday blasted President Trump for his friendly exchange with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, declaring that Republicans would have likely called for impeachment if former President Obama had done the same.

In an op-ed on his website The Resurgent, Erickson said Obama similarly engaged with oppressive and abusive foreign governments, like those of Cuba and Iran.

Erickson slammed Trump's actions in recent days — sparring with U.S. allies at the Group of Seven (G-7) summit in Canada before praising Kim in Singapore — as “offensive” and “unacceptable.”

"If Obama had done what Trump just did, Republicans would be demanding his impeachment,” Erickson wrote.

In the piece titled “If Obama Had Done This,” Erickson notes that Trump's meeting elevates North Korea's status in the world while Trump comes “home with just a participation trophy.”

"Having the American President abdicate his leadership of the G7 to flirt with a communist monster is unacceptable," Erickson wrote. "Diplomacy to get rid of North Korea's nukes would be great. But that's not what happened.”

"Instead, we gave the North Koreans a considerable PR win in Asia, gave them credibility in South Korea, and came home with just a participation trophy."

Erickson pointed to Obama's deals with Cuba and Iran as similar to Trump's meeting with Kim, saying that Obama should not have done it and Trump should not engage in similar tactics.

“Like with Obama, President Trump should not have engaged in a glad-handing, face time exercise with the North Korean leader where the communist monster gets a propaganda win of North Korean flags at equal display with the American flag,” Erickson wrote.

Trump ramped up a trade feud with key allies, including Canada and France, last week as he prepared to head to the G-7 summit, accusing some of Washington's closest partners of taking advantage of the U.S. on trade.

He called on Friday for the G-7 to readmit Russia to the group, though that proposal was swiftly shot down by most members. Russia was suspended from the G-7 — previously known as the G-8 — in 2014 after Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine.

The tensions between Trump and other G-7 leaders were on full display on Friday and Saturday as leaders traded insults.

The White House announced that the president would leave the summit earlier than expected to head to Singapore ahead of his meeting with Kim and after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that all seven members of the group had agreed to sign a joint communique at the end of the summit.

Trump reversed course on that endorsement, blaming Trudeau for criticizing U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

"The whole design of this is offensive," Erickson wrote of the G-7 tensions moving into the North Korean summit. "The President pees in the punch bowl of the G7, insists the Russians come back into the organization, then flies off to Singapore to make kissy face with a man who routinely murders his own people."

As he met with Kim in Singapore on Tuesday, Trump showered praise on the North Korean leader, calling him "a very worthy, very smart negotiator" and saying that he planned to meet with him "many times."

That meeting culminated in the signing of an agreement that commits the U.S. to unspecified "security guarantees" for the North in exchange for the eventual denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Trump also announced that he was suspending joint military drills with South Korea.

Having the American President abdicate his leadership of the G7 to flirt with a communist monster is unacceptable

....which will end up with the Hildabeast, Podestas, Epstein, Sylsbie and every one of those shit4brains pedophiles and perverts either behind bars or hanged.

I have been sobbing all night.

We have empathy.

“I think people who lock horns with the president need to understand what the limits are in terms of their ability to win elections,” said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Tex.). “At this point, he’s the leader of our party, and I think in order for our country to be successful, I think we ought to try to support him and his policies when we think he’s right.”

In Nevada, brothel owner Dennis Hof, the star of a TV show about prostitution and the author of “The Art of the Pimp,” blew past a Republican incumbent to win the nomination for a seat in the state legislature. In an interview, Hof said that Trump “blazed the trail” for him.

“He gave me the confidence that I could do this — I could be a reality TV star, an author and a brothel owner and then be elected to serve,” said Hof. “I want to keep the stuff that the president’s got going. The unemployment rate is as low as it’s been forever. I don’t want sanctuary cities. I want them to build the wall. Let’s tighten all that down.”

The lack of details in the agreement suggest that there remains a long way to go before anything of substance is achieved (and that it’s probably too early to celebrate). But for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a single word in the agreement was proof enough of its solidity.

“A lot has been made of the fact that the word ‘verifiable’ didn’t appear in the agreement,” Pompeo offered in a briefing at the Hilton Hotel in Seoul on Wednesday. “Let me assure you that the ‘complete’ encompasses verifiable in the minds of everyone concerned. One can’t completely denuclearize without validating, authenticating – you pick the word.”

When reporters continued to press him about what mechanism in the agreement guarantees that any steps toward denuclearization would be verifiable — as opposed to mere language in the agreement — Pompeo again highlighted that the word “complete” was in the statement and as such, it was “insulting” that reporters were asking for additional details.

QUESTION: How is it in the statement? And I am also —

SECRETARY POMPEO: You’re just – because “complete” encompasses verifiable and irreversible. It just – I suppose we – you could argue semantics, but let me assure you that it’s in the document.

QUESTION: And the President said it will be verified

SECRETARY POMPEO: Of course it will.

QUESTION: Can you tell us a little bit more about —

SECRETARY POMPEO: Of course it will. I mean —

SECRETARY POMPEO: Just so you know, you could ask me this – I find that question insulting and ridiculous and, frankly, ludicrous. I just have to be honest with you. It’s a game and one ought not play games with serious matters like this.

QUESTION: But how will it be verified? Did you discuss that? Do you have

SECRETARY POMPEO: Oh, we’re – they’re – the modalities are beginning to develop. There’ll be a great deal of work to do. It’s – there’s a long way to go, there’s much to think about, but don’t say silly things. No, don’t, don’t. It’s not productive. It’s not productive to do that, to say silly things. It’s just – it’s unhelpful.

QUESTION: Well, I think —

SECRETARY POMPEO: It’s unhelpful for your readers, your listeners, for the world. It’s – because it doesn’t remotely reflect the American position or the understandings that the North Koreans have either.

QUESTION: — what is – what discussed about how?

QUESTION: We’re just trying to understand how it reflects what you asked that —

SECRETARY POMPEO: Yeah, and I just articulated that for you.

Pompeo did not elaborate on a specific timeline, but said that the administration was seeking total denuclearization in North Korea by the end of Trump’s term in 2020, a little over two years away.