Tag: Donald Trump

Madeleine Albright is the latest person to be critical of President Trump’s praising of South Korean golfer Sung-hyun Park who won the US Women’s Open at the President’s golf club in New Jersey:

Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called out President Donald Trump Wednesday for promoting one of his golf courses during a speech before South Korea’s legislature.

While praising South Korea’s achievements, Trump told the National Assembly Wednesday (local time) that Korean golfers are “some of the best on Earth.”

“In fact, and you know what I’m going to say, the Women’s U.S. Open was held this year at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, and it just happened to be won by a great Korean golfer,” he said, referring to Park Sung-hyun.

Asked to comment on MSNBC, Albright said, “What a waste. Maybe he should have stuck with the business he was in before.”  [Yonhap]

What I think is a waste is all the aid the Clinton administration that she served in sent to the Kim regime that ultimately assisted with them building nuclear weapons and ICBMs.

Anyway I look at the President’s comment as something he said to try and relate to the audience that he was speaking to.  Only people looking for anything to criticize the President would take his comment to mean he was promoting his golf club.

"…and our hearts praying for the day when all Koreans can live in freedom." #POTUSinAsia pic.twitter.com/Yn3T9iEYiL

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) November 8, 2017

It seems that when President Trump goes on these foreign trips he likes to stick to his prepared script which really seems to help articulate the message he is trying to make.  I think the message to North Korea was made quite clear during his speech to the ROK National Assembly:

U.S. President Donald Trump stressed “peace through strength” in his speech at the National Assembly, Wednesday, giving a stern warning to North Korea.

“The regime has interpreted America’s past restraint as weakness,” Trump said referring to North Korea. “Do not underestimate us. Do not try us. We will defend our common security, our shared prosperity and our sacred liberty.”

The U.S. president cited the country’s military assets deployed around the peninsula ― the world’s three largest aircraft carriers, loaded to the maximum with F-35 and F-18 fighter jets, in addition to nuclear submarines.

“The weapons you are acquiring are not making you safer,” Trump said. “We will offer a path to a much better future,” he added, on the condition of Pyongyang’s “total denuclearization.”

This was the first address by a sitting American leader here in nearly a quarter century. South Korean lawmakers applauded the speech 22 times, particularly when the American leader lauded the nation’s flourishing democracy and eye-opening economic development.

The U.S. leader dedicated most of his 35-minute speech to awakening the atrocities taking place in North Korea ― forced labor, starvation, sexual exploitation, murder and torture ― labeling the country as “hell.”

“The regime has made numerous lethal incursions in South Korea, attempted to assassinate senior leaders, attacked South Korean ships and tortured Otto Warmbier, ultimately leading to that fine young man’s death.”

He highlighted its stark difference with the southern part of the peninsula that features the “stunning skyline of Seoul. ” The president described the armistice line between the two Koreas as a line “between peace and war, between decency and depravity, between law and tyranny, between hope and total despair.”  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link and you can watch his full comments at the below video:

Overall I was pretty impressed with his speech especially when he highlights all the human rights abuses happening in North Korea which is often overlooked by politicians and the media.

It is good to see the large turn out of people welcoming President Trump to Camp Humphreys:

President Moon Jae-in (L) meets with U.S. President Donald Trump at Camp Humphreys, the new home of the U.S. Eighth Army, in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, on Nov. 7, 2017. (Yonhap)

When U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Korea, Tuesday, it was not just President Moon Jae-in who came to greet him ― from early morning, supporters and opponents of Trump gathered in various parts of the country awaiting the U.S. leader.

At Camp Humphreys ― Trump’s first official destination and a newly expanded U.S. military base in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul ― over 1,500 conservative civic group members waved American and Korean flags, shouting “We love Trump,”alongside banners hailing the two country’s alliance.

On the other side, a smaller group of around 20 people stood with posters written, “No Trump, No War.”  [Korea Times]

It is also good to see that the Moon Jae-in administration has been able to keep the anti-US leftists under control in Seoul as I expected they would do:

But the largest rallies took place near Cheong Wa Dae and Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, where an anti-Trump alliance of over 220 liberal civic organizations filled the streets.

Beginning with a press briefing in front of the Cheongun-dong office near the presidential office before noon, the group members made their way to Gwanghwamun Square.

From morning, 15,600 police officers blanketed the area, boosting security measures against possible contingencies. Gwanghwamun Square was surrounded by a wired fence and bus barricade.

You can read more at the link, but according to ABC News “hundreds” of anti-Trump protesters showed up in Seoul.  By Korean protest standards this is a pathetic turn out and shows that the Moon administration likely reigned in their left wing base to not come out in force and make fools of themselves during the President’s visit.

This had to have been a pretty neat experience for the soldiers that attended this lunch with President Trump:

U.S. troops who had lunch with President Donald Trump on Tuesday at a military base in South Korea say he told them there was no place he’d rather be.

Trump and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in joined 108 hand-picked servicemembers, including 20 South Koreans, for Taco Tuesday at a Camp Humphreys dining facility.

Pvt. Merion Holmes, 21, of Georgetown, S.C., said he was honored to see the president in person and found Trump’s words motivating.

“He said he’d rather eat with the troops than at a fancy restaurant,” Holmes told Stars and Stripes after the president’s 20-minute appearance. “It made me feel like he cared.”

Trump flew to Humphreys in a helicopter shortly after landing at Osan Air Base on Tuesday to begin his visit to South Korea, the second leg of his first official visit to Asia.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but of significance is that ROK President Moon Jae-in made a surprise visit to Camp Humphreys as well to have lunch with President Trump.  This is reportedly the first time a ROK President has greeted a visiting foreign leader outside of Cheongwadae.

It was my great honor to have lunch with our INCREDIBLE U.S. and ROK troops at Camp Humphreys, in South Korea. 🇺🇸🇰🇷 https://t.co/5NJirz4iNM pic.twitter.com/kNLyONhBCC

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2017

So far so good for President Trump’s visit to South Korea:

The presidents of South Korea and the United States agreed Tuesday to completely remove the limit on the payload of South Korean ballistic missiles and discuss Seoul’s introduction of nuclear-powered submarines and other advanced weapons, Seoul officials said.

The agreement aimed at building up their joint deterrence against a provocative North Korea was made at a bilateral summit between President Moon Jae-in and President Donald Trump at the South Korean presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.

“The heads of South Korea and the United States reached a final agreement on removing the limit on missile payloads,” Moon said in a joint press conference with the U.S. president.

Trump arrived here earlier Tuesday on a state visit, becoming the first U.S. president to do so in 25 years.  [Yonhap]

You can read much more about President Trump’s comments at the link.  There was nothing he said that was unreasonable and in line with stated policy.

Thank you to President Moon of South Korea for the beautiful welcoming ceremony. It will always be remembered. pic.twitter.com/bMvJz1iV2a

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2017

The media has hit its latest low now blasting headlines about how President Trump disrespected his Japanese hosts and threaten to kill precious Japanese koi by dumping his box of fish food into the pond at Akasaka Palace:

It was a story that seemed to reinforce stereotypes of President Donald Trump: On a visit to Japan, he was handed a box of food for a ritual feeding of carp, and after doling out a few spoons’ worth, he got impatient and dumped the rest of the box all at once.

Initial reports of the food dump — like this early video from CNN — suggested that Trump acted on his own. This pushed the late-night Twitterverse and blogosphere into a tizzy. The website Jezebel posted a story headlined, “Big Stupid Baby Dumps Load Of Fish Food On Japanese Koi Pond.”

One problem: Trump didn’t just decide to dump his food on his own. Video shows he was following the lead of his host at the koi pond event, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.  [Politifact]

You can read more at the link, but it is reports like this that just validate everything the Trump administration says about the media.  So we can now add Koi-gate to the endless list of examples of fake news.

Here is video of the koi-gate fake news event:

This is something that many people who don’t understand missile defense think until they realize the physics behind it:

U.S. President Donald Trump has said Japan should have shot down the North Korean missiles that flew over the country before landing in the Pacific Ocean earlier this year, diplomatic sources have said, despite the difficulties and potential ramifications of doing so.

The revelation came ahead of Trump’s arrival in Japan on Sunday at the start of his five-nation trip to Asia. Threats from North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile development programs were set to be high on the agenda in his talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday.

Trump questioned Japan’s decision not to shoot down the missiles when he met or spoke by phone with leaders from Southeast Asian countries over recent months to discuss how to respond to the threats from North Korea, the sources said.

The U.S. president said he could not understand why a country of samurai warriors did not shoot down the missiles, the sources said.  [Japan Times]

You can read more at the link, but the reason is quite simple why the missiles were not shot down.  The missile were flying 770 kilometers above the country in outer space; this is higher than the international space station.  The Japanese Aegis ships and Patriot interceptors cannot engage missiles flying that high. To shoot down the missiles the Aegis ship would have to be located out in the ocean where the missile was coming down at.  There is no way the Japanese would could have known when and where North Korea was going to fire the missile at to have a ship sitting there waiting to shoot it down.

The real story here is why are diplomatic sources leaking this information to the news media?  This is a natural question that many people wondered initially after North Korea fired the missile over Japan.  I would hope by now someone has briefed President Trump on missile defense capabilities.

Japanese media reporting that Trump told the emperor shootings 'can happen anywhere' https://t.co/V6WrzTyfIZ

— Alastair Gale (@AlastairGale) November 6, 2017

If President Trump did want to meet with Kim Jong-un I hope it is not in North Korea where it would be a propaganda bonanza for the regime.  Instead the meeting should be at the United Nations which was the organization that officially fought the Korean War.  Forcing Kim to come to New York would mitigate any propaganda value of a meeting and show how serious the regime is about talks in my opinion:

U.S. President Donald Trump said he would “certainly be open” to meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as he embarked on his first trip to Asia last week.

In an interview aired Sunday, Trump was asked on U.S. news program “Full Measure” whether he would sit down with a dictator.

“I would sit with anybody I feel,” the president said. “I don’t think it’s strength or weakness. I think sitting down with people is not a bad thing. So I would certainly be open to doing that.”

He made no commitment, though, saying, “But we’ll see where it goes. I think we’re far too early.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.