You know, if it weren’t so creepy, it would almost be funny how quickly the Trump administration has devolved into an almost endless series of “watches”. We have been on “watch” for the imminent demise of Trump’s poll numbers with his base, the imminent demise of Reince Priebus, Sean Spicer, Anthony Scaramucci, and Steve Bannon. When Trump flamed Jeff Sessions on Twitter, we spent some time on a “resignation watch” for Sessions, and were gearing up for a “firing watch” for Bob Mueller. And now we have another thing to watch for.
It seems that as we speak, the only person who doesn’t realize what a dangerous game El Presidente Pendejo is playing in spiking the rhetoric with North Korea like this is the Numbnuts in Chief himself. In one totally brainless, almost certainly unvetted oral fart, His Lowness has just verified for the mental cabbage patch kids in Pyongyang that they were right all along. Trump and the United States have, and always have had the final goal of wiping North Korea off of the map. Nice going shit for brains.
Trump has once again been true to his word. He always says that he doesn’t like to be predictable, and that was certainly true yesterday. No American President has ever threatened the pack of Matteawan escapees that run North Korea the way Trump did, it sounded like a North Korean press release. North Korea’s response was both predictable but also puzzling. They threatened to hammer Guam. Guam? Really? Ever since their recent successful ICBM test, Kim Dung Um has threatened every corner of the US. Now Guam is the Achilles heel that will bring us to our knees? New entry on the bucket list. Go see Guam before it’s flattened, it must be something special.
My best guess of the next few weeks? Trump will snarl and growl at North Korea some more. They’ll let off another missile, maybe more than one at the same time in a show of force. The US will fly some bombers closer to the DMZ border as a warning. And then one or both of these quibbledicks will do something unplanned and stupid, and shit’s on. Strangely enough, both of these egomaniacs suffer from exactly the same problem. Both of them are delusional blowhards that are all wind and no hurricane. But both of them are putting themselves and each other in a no win situation. Very shortly both man children will be in a position where one or both of them must back down, and their egos will not allow them to do this for fear of looking weak to their own people and the rest of the world, whose respect and adoration they both crave.
This is no joke, and this is not a drill. If I lived is Seoul or Tokyo, I’m starting to think that this might be a good time to explore the scenic wonders of Greenland for a while. Congress is useless. While they might be induced by upcoming events to skedaddle back to Washington to make all kinds of official noises, even if the will was there, even if it was fast tracked, impeachment would take months. And what would they impeach him for? Finally hit him up for emoluments clause violations? Not shaggin’ likely.
So, while you’re watching Trump and Un piss all over each other in public with one eye, keep the other eye firmly planted on one Michael Richard Pence. So far he has duly played the part of the faithful, tail wagging puppy dog. But Pence has ambitions, and standing idly by while his boss aims to start a conflict that could kill 28,000 US service members in and near the DMZ, thousands of US citizens who live in and around Seoul and Tokyo, and just in passing a couple of hundred thousand South Koreans and Japanese would probably put a crimp in his pitch. Quite a few people in the media, and quite a few of us as well have explored the possible scenarios under which Pence might pull the rip cord on the 25th Amendment.
Keep an eye on Pence, because he is going to be watching these events unfold like a hawk. It wouldn’t surprise me if the artful little sod had the necessary forms for the cabinet secretaries typed up secretly and waiting for instant delivery. Strangely enough, this is the one circumstance in which pulling the plug on Trump can work to his benefit. Standing in front of a podium at a rally in 2020, and reminding the crowd how he alone saved the lives of 28,000 US service members, as well of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians just might give him a nice little poll bump with the GOP base, don’t you think?
So, keep a close eye on Trump, but don’t let Pence out of your sight either. If it comes down, it will come down with lightening speed. Pence cannot miscalculate, if he pulls the trigger too soon, he may not get the signatures he needs, and if he waits ten minutes too long, Trump may give the orders before Pence can constitutionally shove a ball gag in his mouth. Personally, I think this will stretch out over weeks, but it’s just one more ball in the air to keep juggling with your attention.