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Oh but if a Democrat met with Kim and everything stayed the same it would be great. You guys are sounding like warmongering Republicans. 
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No! You can't have the keys to the wine cellar! -
If Obama Had Met with Kim Jong Un, the Republican Party Would Have Had a Cow
Published on
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
by Informed Comment
If Obama Had Met with Kim Jong Un, the Republican Party Would Have Had a Cow
by Juan Cole
The depths of hypocrisy of the Republican Party in supporting Trump’s meeting with the North Korean dictator in Singapore are hard to plumb. This is a party whose leading members adopted the Ostrich Foreign Policy Principle for decades. If you don’t like a country’s government or political and economic system, pretend it does not exist.
One of the concerning developments on the internet is that hypocrisy, which was probably the ultimate Cool Meme in the zeroes of this century, no longer rules. Maybe it is just scandal fatigue from the combination of profound corruption and attention deficit disorder characterizing Washington under Trump. But, well, we have to keep on slogging.
There was that time when Sen. Ted Cruz and other Republicans lambasted Obama for visiting Cuba while there were still political prisoners in that country. So the principle is, no talks with leaders who have prisoners of conscience in their jails? Trump has broken that principle every which way from Sunday. Sen. John McCain even compared Obama’s handshake with Castro to the Hitler-Chamberlain meeting. Seriously. That’s what he said.
Then there was that time when prominent Republicans slammed Barack Obama’s Secretary of State John Kerry for his direct talks with Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Sen. John Barrasso, R-WY and a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said, “I have a lot of concerns about Secretary John Kerry and his buddy-buddy relationship with Zarif and other people around the world.”
In 2008 when Obama was still running for president, one of his foreign policy advisers, Daniel Kurtzer, went to Damascus and met with Bashar al-Assad’s foreign minister. Sen. John McCain slammed Obama for the overture to the al-Assad regime: “If one of Senator Obama’s advisers has been to Damascus, we just wonder how many have been to Tehran.”
And, of course, when Barack Obama was running for president in 2008 and pledged unconditional talks with North Korea among other countries, he was pilloried by conservatives – the same ones who now demand a Nobel Peace Prize for Trump for meeting with the North Korean president without preconditions.Eat Us And Smile
Cenk For America 2024!!
Justice Democrats
"If the American people had ever known the truth about what we (the BCE) have done to this nation, we would be chased down in the streets and lynched." - Poppy Bush, 1992Comment
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Eat Us And Smile
Cenk For America 2024!!
Justice Democrats
"If the American people had ever known the truth about what we (the BCE) have done to this nation, we would be chased down in the streets and lynched." - Poppy Bush, 1992Comment
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They really talked about Trump taking over management of the empty hotel in Pyongyang
Writing In All Proper Case Takes Extra Time, Is Confusing To Read, And Is Completely Pointless.Comment
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No! You can't have the keys to the wine cellar!Comment
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It's partisan politics. Yup. Many Republicans would be saying Obama is hanging with his communist comrades plotting on how to screw America and make it communist like North Korea. The problem is Obama might have carpetbagged out of Chicago but he didn't play for the Bulls. Kim only wants to talk to NBA superstars if you are black and Obama was no Dennis Rodman.No! You can't have the keys to the wine cellar!Comment
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Trump Insists Parents of Fallen Korean War Soldiers Begged Him to Bring Sons Home
by Tamar Auber | 7:41 pm, June 13th, 2018
President Donald Trump made the rather ridiculous claim that parents of fallen Korean War soldiers came up to him on the campaign trail and begged for their sons’ remains to be brought home.
Yet, here is the thing. The math is not exactly in his favor.
The Korean War ended in 1953. While they technically could still be alive, it is unlikely that they are attending a campaign event calling for the return of their sons’ bodies.
There is also the problem that according to Trump’s account, it is not just one very elderly parent of a Korean war veteran, but more than one, as evidenced by use of the word “we.”
“When you can, president, we’d love our son to be brought back home — you know, the remains,” he recalled them saying, despite the fact he just said he was on the campaign trail and not POTUS yet.
The comment did not go unnoticed by media Twitter who noted Trump’s claims simply did not add up.
Yet, perhaps not surprisingly, Fox News found a way to try to make Trump right, bringing on family members — not parents — of Korean War vets who were, indeed, happy at the idea of seeing their loved ones remains back home.
Eat Us And Smile
Cenk For America 2024!!
Justice Democrats
"If the American people had ever known the truth about what we (the BCE) have done to this nation, we would be chased down in the streets and lynched." - Poppy Bush, 1992Comment
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Eat Us And Smile
Cenk For America 2024!!
Justice Democrats
"If the American people had ever known the truth about what we (the BCE) have done to this nation, we would be chased down in the streets and lynched." - Poppy Bush, 1992Comment
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Yeah and I thought they were all about diplomacy. Apparently Trump was supposed to call Kim a lunatic scumbag murderous dictator, have a lunch meeting, and hope he didn't kill any peace deal. Which, btw, the libs
kept saying all last month that Trump was going to kill any hopes of peace deal. Sounds psychotic to me.sigpic" You ever notice when I scream I sound like Mr. Bill on acid" DLRComment
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Eat Us And Smile
Cenk For America 2024!!
Justice Democrats
"If the American people had ever known the truth about what we (the BCE) have done to this nation, we would be chased down in the streets and lynched." - Poppy Bush, 1992Comment
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Trump gave Korea what it wanted, legitimacy in front of the world, Trump said the people of North Korea loved Kim. I assume he isn't including the 100 000 political opponents he has locked up in concentration camps or shot.
The other thing they wanted was for the US to stop doing military exercises with South Korea which he gave them.
In return Trump got exactly zero for America. They said the same thing about a non nuclear Korean peninsula that they said to Obama and Bush. If Trump had done any homework he would have known this and that the Koreans are including the US in that - they will get rid of all of their missiles if the US gets rid of all of hers.
The art of the deal in action...Comment
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Which was disconcerting to me, the chatter of democrats in the runup to the meeting between Trump and Un about why it shouldn't even take place, things along the lines of:
"Un just wants the meeting to have a legitimate place in the world community, and the very act of Trump meeting with him legitimizes him."
"Trump is a terrible deal maker, and this meeting is nothing but a long-range ploy by Un, and Un will trick the United States: this deal won't result in Un behaving the way America wants him to in the end."
Look, I didn't vote for Trump.
I don't like Trump.
However, quite frankly, I'd much have Trump and Un speaking directly face to face with one another and trying to find some common ground. That is infinitely preferable to where we were a year ago, with Un publicly via the press threatening a nuke launch against America and Trump responding via the press with threatening a nuke launch against North Korea. And also infinitely preferable to invading or striking North Korea even strictly using non-nuclear means.
The one thing precious few of these various democratic figures spoke about in the run up to the Trump/Un meeting was how decades of isolation, sanctions and essentially a non-communicative stance spearheaded by America (including at least 2 democratic presidents) directly contributed to the siege mentality of the Kim dynasty, which in no small part led to where North Korea is with its weapons program today. So, what was the alternative to a US President meeting with Un? More of the same as before? Only this time we know the North Koreans are driving hard at making their nuclear weapons operational.
We diddled around with North Korea forever. We could have went in there decades ago if we were THAT concerned with the way the Kim's treated their subjects. We didn't.
You know what? If this first summit eventually results in North Korea denuclearizing/dismantling their weapons program, that will in no small part be because of what Trump did. And even if it turned out Trump was winging it by instinct the whole time with North Korea, he'll deserve the appropriate amount of credit for it should North Korea disarm. And if all that happens, and someone actually gives Trump the Nobel Peace Prize, I'll be fine with that, too. Fuck it. Who cares? Better Trump got the Nobel than we had to bomb North Korea back into the Stone Age (triggering God knows what response from China or Russia).Scramby eggs and bacon.Comment
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Writing In All Proper Case Takes Extra Time, Is Confusing To Read, And Is Completely Pointless.Comment
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