Everyone hates it when a dictatorial regime launches a ballistic missile before the main course.
The launch, which wasn't expected, presented Trump with one of the first breaking national security incidents of his presidency. It also noisily disrupted what was meant to be an easygoing weekend of high-level male bonding with the more sobering aspects of global diplomacy.
Yes, an easygoing weekend. Because, believe it or not, Donald Trump has managed to do this much damage to the nation while spending 20% of his time on vacation. Having spent the afternoon using guest / captive Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as a spiffy accouterment for people who “paid him a lot of money,” Trump had laid out a big spread, just in time to have it interrupted by North Korea firing off a ballistic missile.
The Pukguksong-2, previously unpublicized part of its arsenal which North Korean state media described as a medium long-range ballistic missile, was test fired on Sunday under the supervision of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to North Korea's Korean Central News Agency, KCNA.
It’s the sort of thing that might seem like it demands, say, getting up from the table. Perhaps consulting with experts. But that’s only for people who don’t have very good brains and lots of blue cheese dressing already poured.
As Mar-a-Lago's wealthy members looked on from their tables, and with a keyboard player crooning in the background, Trump and Abe's evening meal quickly morphed into a strategy session, the decision-making on full view to fellow diners, who described it in detail to CNN.
Does that crooner have a special tune for when Trump requests the nuclear football?
It’s no wonder that Trump didn’t bother to hide details of military policy from the Mar-a-lago members. They are the people he’s really there to support.
Swanning through the club's living room and main dining area alongside Abe, Trump was -- as is now typical -- swarmed with paying members, who now view dinner at the club as an opportunity for a few seconds of face time with the new President.
But don’t think that, just because it the discussion was held in public, at a table where the lettuce was arguably the best head present, that this wasn’t a high tech briefing.
The patio was lit only with candles and moonlight, so aides used the camera lights on their phones to help the stone-faced Trump and Abe read through the documents.
And who were these trustworthy aids holding cameras up to the just delivered documents?
Trump's National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and chief strategist Steve Bannon left their seats to huddle closer to Trump as documents were produced and phone calls were placed to officials in Washington and Tokyo.
A strategic event happens and the reaction of the Trump regime is to have Michael Flynn and Steve Bannon rush over to shine the lights from their camera phones. And make a few phone calls. Which is great, because Michael Flynn is, of course, under investigation for calls made to the Russian ambassador and Steve Bannon has constant communication with white nationalist leaders across Europe.
But then, it should have been obvious they weren’t lighting up those documents for Donald Trump. That would imply reading.
