There's an iron first in Trump's velvet glove. "The only contents of Obama's glove was a limp wrist and a sweaty palm."

Oregon Muse offers this Morning Rant,

"So with Trump meeting with Whoa! Fat in Singapore, I'm being buried in an avalanche of whataboutism. That is, Trump haters on both sides of the aisle are squealing about how conservatives would be flipping out if Obama sat down with Kim. But this is one of those "all things being equal" false equivalencies. Because things are definitely not equal here. Trump has lots of experience negotiating deals; in fact, he actually wrote a book on the subject. Obama, on the other hand, was a feckless incompetent. Obama's idea of a deal was to suck up to the Iranian mullahs and give them truckloads of cash with which they could use to ramp up their military capacity and nuclear research. Also don't forget the Bowe Bergdahl fiasco where we gave up five big-league terrorists for one traitorous scumbag. In what universe is that a good deal? Trump, however, is negotiating from a position of strength: he's giving Li'l Kim reasonable alternatives after threatening to blow him up. There's an iron first in that velvet glove. The only contents of Obama's glove was a limp wrist and a sweaty palm."

Let's negotiate!

I was able to listen to the first 23 minutes of the Rush Limbaugh Show today, as I was washing eggs (I collect and wash 400-500 eggs each day).

Rush was trying hard to help us understand Donald Trump. He described Trump as being a man with no particular ideology, such as liberal or conservative. To Trump, everything is a negotiation, based on what is happening now, what he needs now.

Right now Trump needs China to corral North Korea. So Trump softens his rhetoric about China being a currency manipulator. And China threatens North Korea on nuclear testing and refuses cargo ships full of North Korean coal, saying the US is going to take care of China's coal needs! Additionally, China abstains in the UN Security Council vote which Russia vetoed regarding action against Assad.

Trump the negotiator

Scott Adams writes,

If you see one phone call as an event that stands alone, you’re missing the story arc. Everything is an ongoing negotiation with Trump. Australia and Mexico just had to sleep on the idea that their relationship with the United States is worse today than yesterday. And it sends a signal to other leaders that lecturing President Trump with an eye toward grandstanding or embarrassing him isn’t the strongest strategy. He probably needed to make that point one way or another. That’s done. Now let’s see if the next foreign leader decides to lecture him or not. I’m thinking no.

Read more here.