He Who Gigglefits Last Gigglefits Best

Nancy Pelosi got whipsawed today. 

Before her weekly press conference, the letter President Trump sent to North Korea’s Kim Jong Un informing him he had canceled the June 12 summit in Singapore reached members of Congress and was being widely reported across all news outlets.

When she took the lectern, she was queried about the news.  She said the North Korean leader was the “big winner”.  Pelosi said, “I think it’s a good thing for Kim Jong Un. Here you had a thug, a person who killed his own family members, a person who runs a police state, being legitimized by the President of the United States. They were on par with each other. He got global recognition and regard. He’s the big winner. When he got this letter from the president saying ‘OK, never mind’—he must be having a giggle fit right there in North Korea.”

She added, “This takes preparation. This takes knowledge. This takes judgment. And clearly it takes preparation, which the President didn’t make. It’s clear he didn’t know what he was getting into, and now he’s walking away from it in this very chummy, palsy-walsy letter to Kim Jong Un. He, Kim Jong Un, is the big winner. It’s unfortunate because as you say you want to be optimistic.”

Around 7:00 PM reports were coming in that Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-Gwan had issued a statement in response to the President’s letter vowing to continue to pursue peace and signaled it would give Washington more time to consider talks.

“Our goal and will is to do everything for peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and mankind remains unchanged and we are always willing to give an opportunity to the U.S. side with a big and open mind.  We express our intent that there is willingness to sit at any time, in any way to resolve issues.”

You Can Meet Me In Singapore Now Or You Can Meet My Little Friends Later

While The World’s Most Dangerous Community Organizer prioritized stopping the spread of nuclear weapons, he failed to consider Russia, China and North Korea as threats and maintained the United States shouldn’t build any new nuclear weapons. 

The last time America’s nuclear posture was reviewed was in 2010.  In the eight years since the world has changed dramatically.  Russia has emerged as a serious adversary, China began a massive land grab in the South China Sea and North Korea has developed and launched test missiles at an ever-increasing pace.

Mutually assured destruction from nuclear powers terrifies us all.  Most of us envision silos with massive ICBMs.  Yes, those still exist but a new class of smaller nuclear weapons comprise our arsenal.

The proliferation of precision-guided low-yield nuclear weapons now means that smaller explosives hitting closer to targets preclude the need for massive nuclear explosions that would almost certainly, in any use case, kill civilians.

The Washington Times reported today that North Korea stood up U.S. officials in Singapore who waited for three days to take a meeting that was intended to set the stage for the now-canceled summit.

The snub was but one part of a “trail of broken promises” and a “strange lack of judgment” by the hermit kingdom that led to President Trump canceling the summit today.

Like the old Fram oil filter commercials of the late 70’s where a car repairman warns, “You can pay me now or you can pay me later,” President Trump said during his remarks before signing into law the bill that rolls back the onerous Dodd-Frank bill, that he had spoken with Defense Secretary James Mattis who assured him the U.S. military is “ready if necessary” if “foolish or reckless acts” are taken by North Korea.  He held out hope the summit would get back on track adding, “Nobody should be anxious.  We have to get it right.”

“He wrote WHAT?" pic.twitter.com/xLxADFHLYy

— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) May 24, 2018