Button Button who’s got the Button
Wednesday, January 3rd, 2018 – a day in American politics.
We went into the day with the President back in Washington, and the ramifications of what George Popadoupolos, part of the Trump campaign, revealed in a drunken conversation in May of 2016. He let out that the Russians had possession of the stolen Clinton emails, It was months later that even the DNC knew they were gone. The Australians eventually notified the US intelligence services (including the FBI), creating probable cause for an investigation. That Popadoupolos would tell an Australian diplomat, but not tell his own bosses at the Trump campaign, is beyond implausible.
On the “Russiagate” front, the Fusion GPS team revealed that the FBI already was investigating the Trump campaign when Christopher Steele (of the infamous Dossier) felt compelled by what he had found to inform the agency. In addition, they testified to the House and Senate committees that there was a great deal of information about Trump’s dealings with shady and illegal money from Central America to Russia, much of it through Deutsche Bank. The Fusion GPS statement: the committees have only demanded Fusion GPS bank records, not Trump’s.
On the domestic political front, Steve Bannon has co-authored a book with Michael Wolfe, in which Bannon calls Donald Trump Jr and Jared Kushner “traitors” for having their meeting with the Russians in June, and states with certainty that after that meeting, the Russians would have been taken to see Trump Sr. This puts the entire Trump defense in jeopardy: if President Trump knew about the Russian meeting and didn’t inform the FBI, this becomes more than “collusion” with the Russians (whatever that word really means,) and reaches the level of conspiracy, a legal term with legal consequences. Trump says that when Bannon was fired from the White House, he lost his mind.
Oh, and President Trump took credit for there being no commercial aircraft deaths in the United States this year.
But the day started with the “big” story: the size of President Trump’s button. This weekend, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made what was a generally conciliatory speech, aimed at opening up negotiations with South Korea. One part of his speech stated that he had a nuclear button on his desk.
Trump’s twitter response:
North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the “Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.” Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!
Trump, ignoring the possible negotiations that Kim was offering, instead immediately focused on the “size” of Kim’s button, and made sure to let it be known that HIS button was “…bigger and more powerful than his, and my Button works.”
I wonder if the underlying sexual connotations, obvious to every American sixteen year old boy, translates into Korean. Perhaps the North Koreans are not quite so concerned about the “size of their buttons.” But if they are, and, if Kim is an unbalanced as the Trump Administration is continually stating, then what is President Trump’s intent?
Is he challenging Kim to a “buttoning” contest? Let’s see whose button can – what – push the farthest? And what if Kim, as unbalanced as they claim, takes Trump up on his adolescent game? Are we really chancing a nuclear exchange over a middle school challenge?
Trump clearly believes he can bully Kim into some action, probably trying to force him to negotiate. It seems highly unlikely that Kim will decide to give up his nuclear missiles (a Trump pre-condition) and even more unlikely that “button size” insults will force him to do so.
I used to watch a TV show called “Boston Public.” It was about a high school in Boston, and all of the crazy things that happened there. As a teacher, I’d watch that show and think, “that’s not how schools really are, that’s just drama.” When I became the Dean of Students of a high school (mostly discipline) I discovered a different truth. What happened on Boston Public all really did happen in public school, it just didn’t all happen one day in real life.
There must be a whole lot of Washington veteran politicians who are thinking the same thing. Except, this really is happening, all in one day. Whew!!!!
From The NY Times letter section, “Trump has the biggest button around, alright, and Steve Bannon just pushed it.”
Today on vox.com, “Set aside Putin and follow the money; a Russia expert’s theory of the Trump scandal.”….”Trumps financial ties to Russian oligarchs is likely a big reason Trump won’t release his tax returns..” much more, interesting reading.