April 22, 2018

It’s Sunday Morning So Trump Is Tweet-Yelling at His TV Again. This Time About North Korea.

“Sleepy Eyes” is back.

Yomiuri Shimbun via AP

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Donald Trump is at his Florida resort today, with the television tuned into “Fake News NBC”, where anchor Chuck Todd was previewing his show, Meet the Press.

“There’s not many preconditions the United States is asking for so far in this potential summit,” Todd told Hallie Jackson, about the Trump administration’s planning around talks with the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the coming weeks. “North Koreans have gotten a lot out of it. What has the United States gotten yet?” (Watch the video here.)

Trump had seen enough. Time for Twitter:

One tiny thing: The only thing North Korea has publicly agreed to so far is halting nuclear testing. “From 21 April, North Korea will stop nuclear tests and launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles,” North Korea’s state news agency said over the weekend. Kim Jong Un said he will also close the country’s nuclear testing facility at Punggye-ri.

But this isn’t “denuclearization.” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appeared to acknowledge that reality when he offered this assessment of the announcement: “What is crucial here … is how this development is going to lead to the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of nuclear arms, weapons of mass destruction and missiles,” he said. “And I will keep a close eye on that.”

Last month, South Korean officials said North Korea had signaled its willingness to negotiate about abandoning its nuclear weapons. “The North expressed its willingness to hold a heartfelt dialogue with the United States on the issues of denuclearization and normalizing relations with the United States,” the South Korean statement said.

Update: He’s still at it:

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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