Damn. Democrats love losing more than Louise Mensch loves obsolete spy jargon.
Pyongyang has just announced that it is suspending intercontinental ballistic missile and nuclear tests, and is closing down a nuclear testing site as a sign of good faith. President Trump was of course quick to jump on Twitter to congratulate himself, and his supporters are all enthusiastically cheering him on.
As MIT professor Vipin Narang notes, the precise wording of the statement from the DPRK doesn't necessarily preclude certain other types of testing. More importantly, this could all just be the first step toward Kim Jong Un winding up like another Gaddafi, who was destroyed by the western empire shortly after relinquishing Libya's nuclear program. But neither of these things matter right now as far as public perception goes. It cannot be denied that Trump has secured major political points today.
Meanwhile what are Trump's political opponents doing to gain momentum leading up to the 2018 midterms? Why, they're suing WikiLeaks for telling the truth about them.
The Democratic party suing WikiLeaks for costing them the election is like an armed robbery convict suing a security camera company for getting him arrested. The emails it published are 100 percent authentic and entirely undisputed, and they consist of nothing other than Democratic party big wigs talking to one another.
The documents published by WikiLeaks in 2016 showed an unquestionable violation of the DNC's Impartiality Clause in the "us vs them" tone of the conversations in the more egregious DNC leaks, the Podesta emails showing that the DNC and the Clinton camp were colluding as early as 2014 to schedule debates and primaries in a way that favored her, and then-DNC Vice Chairwoman Donna Brazile acting as a mole against the Sanders campaign and passing Clinton questions in advance to prep her for debates with Sanders. It also revealed more broadly incriminating facts about the Democratic party in general, including the Clintons taking bribes from Qatar and Morocco and knowingly accepting funds from political bodies that arm ISIS, an email showing how a CitiGroup executive was responsible for selecting Obama's acceptable cabinet picks, and Clinton's infamous “public position and a private position” statement.
Contrary to what their lawsuit claims, Democrats didn't lose massively in 2016 because of a secret conspiracy between Russia, WikiLeaks and the Trump campaign to rob them of their rightful place on the throne, they lost massively in 2016 because people found out the truth about what the party is and how it operates. The fact that they are still masturbating this ridiculous delusion a year and a half later while Trump racks up a massive foreign policy win should concern everybody who understands that the Republican party is at least as evil and corrupt as the Democrats.
The Democratic party has proven beyond all doubt that it has no interest in serving the American people and at this point exists only to protect the tiny empires of its leaders. There has been far more than enough time for it to have conducted a sincere autopsy of the 2016 catastrophe, do some serious soul searching, and make the necessary changes. The fact that it has not done so by now means that it will never do so.
Leftwardly inclined Americans now have a decision to make: either (A) fully accept and support the Democratic party exactly as it is, corruption, warmongering and all so that they'll have some small chance at beating the Republicans, or (B) let the party go the way of the Whigs and replace it with something completely different.
If there's one thing we have learned from this administration, it's that scandals and blunders roll off Donald Trump's strange skin like water off a duck's back. It is unlikely that this administration will suffer any setbacks between now and the 2018 midterms large enough to offset the political wins he's been scoring, and if suing WikiLeaks for telling the truth is the best the Dems have to offer, America had better make sure it has a purse that looks good with red states.
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Well, guess this explains why the Democrats are suing Trump and the Russians...
Progressives should run as Independents in general elections,just like Tim Canova doing now.
The DNC continues to crush truly progressive candidates who run as Democrats. I think a progressive has just as much chance in another party, as they do as a Democrat not supported by the DNC.
That's why I fully support what Tim Canova does: running as an Independent,outside of the Democratic Party.
Don't be surprised if dems don't give him the credit he deserves.
Trump doesn't deserve credit for this (I'm definitely not a Dem btw).
North Korea doesn't need more nuclear tests anyways. It already has very powerful nuclear bombs, and demonstrated a capable delivery system for them.
That's the reason it is now talking about reconciliation with the South. It can now come to the negotiating table from a position of strength.
Right. This is happening despite Drumpf, IMO.
I do think he is something of a catalyst in allowing the world to realize just how looney our bin has become over the last few years, setting up a stiff shot to the chin of the Washington Consensus.
I'd like to see more of it.
I do wish it were not the threat of nuclear war (Russia in Syria, primarily and Turkey and the mad Erdogan) that was the backdrop... :-|
If Rachel Maddow is any indication, the DNC is going to go nuts over this move. They want war, war, war. And Trump (twice now) has tried to not have war.
Maddow - last I saw - went nuts about Trump even considering something other than bombing the fuck out of the civilians of that nation.
Thanks for the report, @catlinjohnstone. If not for you reporting it, the Dem story would have been thought to be fake news; seeming almost too craxy to be true. 😎
The DNC’s successful defense of the lawsuit brought against them tells us everything we need to know about the Democratic Party and what it actually stands for ……
“Impartiality was a political promise, and therefore, those who donated money to the DNC should have done so without any expectation of fairness”
I paraphrase, but that was what the DNC’s successful defense of the class-action lawsuit boiled down to. Is that a winning message? Well, as the DNC celebrated their victory against the ‘little guys’, they certainly seemed to think so. That in itself seems ironic, as the lawsuit was aimed at the Democratic Establishment’s disadvantaging of the ‘biggest-little-guy’ in recent political history, Bernie Sanders.
The $powers$ behind the Democratic Party were apoplectic at the promises of Candidate Donald Trump, but I suspect are quite pleased with the actuality of President Donald Trump. The swamp wasn’t drained, the wars continue, Goldman Sachs secured the Whitehouse and the money and power accelerated it’s upwards climb. Behind closed doors I can almost hear the hushed whispers of Democratic Grandees …. ’We didn’t get the Queen we’d paid for, but at least we dodged the Bernie Bullet. Kamala Harris looks like a rather nice fit for 2020, don't you think?’
The people wanted change, so much so that they voted for the second most unpopular candidate in history, Donald J. Trump, and in response to his victory, and it was a victory, the Democratic Party has done little beyond screaming ”Russia Russia Russia”. ...….. Boat be still and change be fucked!
Well, that’s what I think.
They're going all in here, for sure. Kind of nutty. I've been waiting for your take here @caitlinjohnstone...
I will remember those 2 tweets. I bet you're correct here, too.
So... Democrats want to roll into 2018 involved in two court cases that both patently assert the right to cheat in a primary. Seriously. With Russia on top.
It is extreme rational jujitsu, and it is likely to break given the lack of a strong reality on which to leverage itself.
How can they be so "tin-eared" on this? Is there some term that means anachronistically out of touch or situationally unawares? If not we need to invent one for these guys.
They just don't fit today with a large swath of society. It's like all the plastic is coming across in grayscale.
Getting quite easy to spot and hard to cognitively disassociate from.
Not much of a choice for me. I will continue to vote Green.
Either branch of the War Party (DNC/RNC) is unacceptable to me...any party that continues to bomb people of color (when's the last time either party bombed white people?) in poor nations that cannot defend themselves?
The announcements made by DPRK and ROK on ending the 68 year war is a amazing and surprising news. This is a cause to celebrate, but this has almost nothing to do with Trump whatsoever. Western media has made a big deal about the coming summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un but even this is misleading as the original summit and the pending announcement of the end to the war was put on the table by the DPRK and South Korea who will meet on April 27th. Trump is expected to meet Kim Jing Un following the Korean summit.
If anyone deserves credit for bringing us closer to peace it should be Moon Jae In, the current president of South Korea. The last 2 South Korean conservative administrations have both used the conflict to score cheap political points.
Just a few months ago Trump was calling Kim Jong Un "Rocket Boy" and threatening a war with NK.
I think your opening paragraph describes it best.
But I don't think Trump deserves much credit, if any for this news.
I think the only reason Trump "has secured major political points" is because he happens to be the sitting US president.
Regardless, this is a great day for the Koreas :)