{"id":1310824,"date":"2019-05-29T23:16:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-30T05:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/parker-column-don-and-kim-in-2020\/"},"modified":"2019-05-29T23:16:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-30T05:16:00","slug":"parker-column-don-and-kim-in-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/parker-column-don-and-kim-in-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Parker column: Don and Kim in 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"
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WASHINGTON \u2014 As the 2020 election gears up, it seems apparent that Mike Pence\u2019s days as vice president are numbered. Trump\u2019s preference is obvious: Kim Jong Un.<\/p>\n

The vice-presidential candidate often plays the attack dog in a campaign \u2014 hurling invectives, slinging mud and taking the heat for expressing the id of the candidate, who can remain more statesmanlike. Not that Trump has ever shied from exercising his terrible tongue, but this go-round, as it increasingly appears that former Vice President Joe Biden could whup him in the general election, Trump has resorted to quoting other reckless idiots.<\/p>\n

In Kim, the erstwhile \u201cLittle Rocket Man,\u201d Trump has found a loyal pup to yip for him. Recently, when North Korea\u2019s state media referred to Biden as a \u201cfool of low IQ,\u201d Trump first gave cover to his pet, dismissing North Korea\u2019s recent missile tests, then expressed his appreciation for Kim\u2019s loyalty and his legendary wit:<\/p>\n

\u201cNorth Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me,\u201d he tweeted. \u201cI have confidence that Chairman Kim will keep his promise to me, & also smiled when he called Swampman Joe Biden a low IQ individual, & worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cPerhaps that\u2019s sending me a signal?\u201d<\/p>\n

To the question, yes. He\u2019s probably signaling something along the lines of I\u2019ll cover yours if you\u2019ll cover mine.<\/p>\n

Desperate times call for desperate measures, I reckon, from which we may infer that Trump is running scared. But, gee, \u201csmall weapons\u201d?<\/p>\n

Not only did John Bolton, Trump\u2019s national security adviser, cite the missile tests as contra U.N. resolutions, but so did Trump\u2019s host in Japan over the Memorial Day weekend. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that because of his country\u2019s proximity to North Korea, Japan feels threatened.<\/p>\n

While the president of the United States shrugs and says that the \u201csmall weapons\u201d don\u2019t bother him personally, older Americans back home may have recalled how threatened they felt in 1962, when Soviet missiles were discovered in Cuba, just 90 miles from Florida. Then-President John F. Kennedy deployed a naval blockade to prevent Russian ships from bringing any more military supplies to the tiny island and ultimately forced Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to remove the missiles already there.<\/p>\n

Funny, but Kennedy never mentioned his artfulness, even though the 13-day negotiation between the two countries was a great, big deal. A nuclear confrontation was avoided \u2014 and the world exhaled.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s cavalier attitude toward Kim and his suggestion that the dictator was simply seeking attention were most certainly the president\u2019s attempt to scratch his loyal hound behind his well-exposed ears, thus keeping channels open for his own fantasy nuclear deal, not to mention future North Korean appraisals of his opponents.<\/p>\n

But why would Kim chuck his nuclear arsenal, sacrificing his only leverage for relevance in exchange for the removal of a few sanctions? So what if his people are starving? Kim has suffered no more distress over the misery of his people than he did over the execution of his uncle, per his command.<\/p>\n

How reassuring that the president of the United States finds solace in Kim\u2019s company, wisdom in his commentary and faith in his promises.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s reelection strategy, meanwhile, is abundantly clear and annoyingly consistent. He seeks to \u201cshock the conscience,\u201d as Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg so aptly put it. With a simple branding label \u2014 \u201cSleepy Joe Biden\u201d \u2014 Trump essentially choreographs a 24-hour news cycle of condemnation. But the damage has been done. The brand sticks, he gets air time, and precious few notice that he\u2019s furthering his alliances with dictators for personal gain.<\/p>\n

Whatever he seems to be doing \u2014 talking trade with Abe, trading compliments with Kim \u2014 Trump finds a way to fold in campaign messages. In Japan, standing at a lectern aside the prime minister, he rebuked fellow American Biden and praised a dictator. To reporters\u2019 questions, he said: \u201cKim Jong Un made a statement that Joe Biden is a low-IQ individual. He probably is, based on his record. I think I agree with him on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a positive note, some in Washington\u2019s press corps are wearying of Trump\u2019s game. Recently, Washington Post columnist Karen Tumulty tweeted that she wouldn\u2019t repeat any of Trump\u2019s nicknames for other presidential contenders. She\u2019s a better woman than I. Alternatively, we could flip the tables and just-say-no to Humpty Dumpty Trumpy.<\/p>\n

His gig is by now well understood \u2014 and, one hopes, nearly up.<\/p>\n

Kathleen Parker\u2019s email address is kathleenparker@washpost.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 As the 2020 election gears up, it seems apparent that Mike Pence\u2019s days as vice president are numbered. Trump\u2019s preference is obvious: Kim Jong Un. The vice-presidential candidate often plays the attack dog in a campaign \u2014 hurling invectives, slinging mud and taking the heat for expressing the id of the candidate, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1310824","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-18 07:46:33","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1310824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310824\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1310824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1310824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1310824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}