Trump-Kim Bromance; Cohen - Liar, liar

AROUND THE BLOCK

I learned today…

I learned a couple of things today.

First, I learned that bromances go just so far.

The highly touted, much vaunted, “only I can do this” summit between Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un broke down without any agreements. This, despite Trump’s claims that he and Kim “fell in love,” that Kim wrote him “beautiful letters,” and that Kim is “very honorable.” 

Not surprising given the complete lack of preparation on Trump’s part and the fact that there were no real goals set for the summit beyond the vague “complete de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula." I mean Trump traveled half-way around the world without a plan.

 What was achieved? 

Well, Kim has now had two one-on-one meetings with the “leader of the free world" (?!?!) on the biggest possible stage imaginable. Great work Mr. Kim, you’re now legitimately a “Great Leader.” And Trump, as reported by the New York Times, “leaves the unusual rapprochement between the United States and North Korea that has unfolded for most of a year at a deadlock, with the North retaining both its nuclear arsenal and facilities believed to be producing additional fissile material for warheads.” 

But, with “a warmth that we have and I hope that stays.”

Trump, in a last-gasp attempt to save that bromance and warmth, did give Kim a pass on the Otto Warmbier tragedy (Warmbier was the American student held in captivity by North Korea for 17 months who died shortly after his release).

 "Some really bad things happened to Otto — some really really bad things. But he tells me that he didn't know about it and I will take him at his word," Trump said, referring to the North Korean dictator. The president added that Kim told him that he "felt very badly about it."

To his credit however, Trump did say in a news conference following the breakdown of the talks, “sometimes you have to walk.” And, in doing so, he defied experts who predicted that Trump would do anything to reach some kind of agreement.

Bye, bye Nobel Peace Prize!

But seriously, maybe Trump just wasn’t comfortable negotiating with Kim in those silly short chairs. 

I also learned that Republican congressional defenders of Donald Trump will stoop to new lows, not to defend the president, but to cast aspersions at his accusers.

At Michael Cohen’s hearing before the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Republican members spent their entire time attacking Mr. Cohen.

The two best (actually worst) moments?

When Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, in an attempt to refute Cohen’s claim that Trump was a racist, brought Lynne Patton, a black official at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, whom he said he had invited to the hearing to show that Trump hired a black person and, because of that, could not possibly be a racist. In essence, he brought a black prop.

  

“She says that as a daughter of a man born in Birmingham, Alabama, that there is no way that she would work for an individual who was racist,” Meadows said.

The poised and effective Cohen replied, “Neither should I, as the son of a Holocaust survivor.” 

But the prize goes to Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) who, in an attempt to visualize the fact that Cohen was a “pathological liar” brought a sign with a picture of Mr. Cohen superimposed on flames, emblazoned with the words “LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE!” Really? 

Cohen is a liar. He plead guilty to lying to Congress. He’s going to prison for at least three years because he’s a liar. But there is another “pathological liar” in the public eye. I wonder if Congressman Gosar has a second “LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE!” sign with Trump’s picture on it?