| | | | Summits! Spies! Statecraft! | | | This week in Trumpworld was more focused on the things that didn't happen -- as opposed to ones that did.
The highly anticipated Donald Trump-Kim Jong Un summit, for one. On Thursday morning, the President announced -- via a weirdly wistful letter -- that he regretted to inform the North Korean dictator that the June 12 gathering in Singapore was off.
That came just a day after North Korea sent the hottest of hot takes -- threatening nuclear war and calling Vice President Mike Pence a "political dummy."
And a day before Trump said the meeting might take place as planned -- or maybe not!
The summit wasn't the only thing that made news by not happening. There was also Trump's insistence -- via Twitter, natch -- that the FBI had planted a spy in his 2016 campaign for wholly political reasons.
Turns out that's not the case, at least according to every intelligence source in a position to know. Which doesn't mean Trump will stop saying it.
What a week. Below, the big headlines of the week -- the 70th of Donald Trump's presidency.
-- Chris
Monday: Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: Friday: | | "It's really too bad. Really too bad."
-President Donald Trump on Friday when asked for his reaction to Harvey Weinstein being charged with rape and sex abuse. He also said he is "not familiar" with the Weinstein case. | | | SUMMIT BACK ON THE TABLE? | | President Trump wrote a letter on Thursday announcing his decision to scrap a June summit with North Korean leaders. But on Friday...
"Trump told reporters he remains open to holding a summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un on June 12," CNN's Veronica Stracqualursi and Kevin Liptak reported. "The President said lines of communication had opened between the two countries after officials said Thursday that the North Koreans had become unresponsive, leading to the planned summit's cancellation."
Read more in their story here. | | | Today's topic? Chris' question of the week -- answered! | | POINT QUESTION OF THE WEEK: ANSWERED | | Thank you to all of you who submitted questions this week! Special shoutout to reader KJ Willers of Spokane, Washington, who asked: "Being a huge fan of Jason Kander and him having been on my political radar for the last year or two, does anyone think he can mount a legitimate challenge in 2020?"
Chris' reply: "The former Missouri secretary of state who almost beat Roy Blunt in the 2016 senate race ... doesn't have that much of a chance. Kander has already been to New Hampshire 15 times, and I think he's probably running. Now does he have some shot? Sure, it's a giant field. But he has no name ID outside of Missouri."
Watch the full answer on CNN Politics' Instagram story today. And keep the questions coming, Chris will answer another one next week -- it could be yours! | | #FBF: THE REAL REASON YOU HAVE MONDAY OFF | | Happy Memorial Day weekend! The Point's Brenna Williams had a great post yesterday about why you actually get Monday off.
"Here's your obligatory reminder that Memorial Day is not about summer, vacations, grilling or an extra day off work.It's actually a day of remembrance that stems from collective mourning after the Civil War claimed the lives of more than 600,000 Americans. After the Civil War, many communities found ways to commemorate their dead locally. President Lyndon Johnson tried to settle the debate over which city was the birthplace of Memorial Day by bestowing the honor on Waterloo, New York. It was in 1868 that Gen. John Logan officially designated May 30 of that year as Decoration Day, meant to honor the Union Army's dead. Southern states marked a separate day for their war dead until after World War I."
Read more here. | | ONE MAYOR'S FIGHT FOR PUERTO RICO CONTINUES | | María Meléndez, mayor of Puerto Rico's second largest city, Ponce, was in Washington this week. She met with lawmakers on the Hill on Thursday, and spoke at the "Getting it Right National Inclusive Disaster Strategies Conference" on Friday. She sat down with Saba to talk a little bit about why she continues to fight for Puerto Rico, eight months after Hurricane Maria devastated the island. Here are some takeaways from their chat: - Meléndez, who used to be a dentist before serving in office, has been to DC five times in 2018 so far. Here's why: "The reason for this is because the people of the United States need to better understand what is happening in Puerto Rico," she said. "After the hurricanes hit, we didn't expect it to cause so much damage. After eight months, there are still cities without electricity."
- Puerto Rico is preparing for the return of hurricane season. "On June 1, it starts the beginning of a new season of hurricanes," Meléndez said, emphasizing the need for the federal government to continue. "Even though we are American citizens, we have not been treated equally like persons in Texas, persons in California, persons in Florida. I think people don't know the people of Puerto Rico are also American citizens."
- What Meléndez is grateful for: "The communities, the organizations, the congressmen and congresswomen here in DC, many people who live outside Puerto Rico helped Puerto Rico. Lots of celebrities, too. I met yesterday Lin-Manuel Miranda's father!"
- What she thinks Puerto Rico needs: "We have to use renewable energy if we really want to fix our electric system for good. We need to make a change and move forward because there is no way for us to get ahead without it. Resilience is not a slogan. Resilience is an opportunity, it's an action to be done."
Read more about the devastation in Puerto Rico in this piece by CNN's John D. Sutter and McKenna Ewen. | | | From Brenna: "Have a great weekend! If you made it all the way to the end here, you must love GIFs. Take a look back at this week's most GIFable moments here." And please tell people you know to subscribe to The Point here. | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Follow this link for daily coverage of the world's top stories, savvy market insights, an insider's look into the media and more. Our authors for The Point are Chris Cillizza and Saba Hamedy. Send your tips and thoughts via email to Chris or Saba. Follow on Twitter: Chris and Saba. | | | | | | |
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