Cartoon

Kool-Aid Man

Written by SK Ashby

(Cartoonist - Tim Eagan)

In other news, the New York state attorney general's office has formally opened a civil investigation of the Trump Organization and their various business dealings.

Meanwhile, former Vice President Joe Biden is getting closer to running for president. Anonymous lawmakers are also saying he is planning to run.

Finally, South Korean officials are blaming both sides for the breakdown in talks between Trump and Kim Jong-un.

Moon Chung-in, a special national security adviser to South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in, said both sides were to blame for the breakdown, but the United States appeared to have suddenly toughened its stand and called for North Korea’s complete denuclearisation despite earlier suggestions it might agree to a phased approach.

“The United States made excessive demands on North Korea to reach a big deal, whereas Chairman Kim was overconfident that he could persuade Trump to get what he wants for closing down the Yongbyon main nuclear complex,” Moon Chung-in said.

Moon pointed to a speech by U.S. nuclear envoy Stephen Biegun at Stanford University, in which he vowed to pursue parallel commitments and a “roadmap of negotiations and declarations”.

But in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, the U.S. side back-pedalled and called for a comprehensive deal, Moon said.

This version of events -- with Biegun saying one thing and Trump doing something else entirely -- supports the idea that Trump and his lackeys departed Washington without a clear, unified goal and that Trump mostly winged it during the actual meeting.