| | | | | Welcome to The Point with Chris Cillizza – a brand new nightly politics newsletter! This new addition to your evenings will cut through the day's news and get right to The Point with analysis from Chris Cillizza and co-author Saba Hamedy. See something you like -- or don't? Or something that we can do better? Let us know. Send your thoughts to cillizza@cnn.com. Enjoy! | | | Donald Trump's North Korea policy might not exist | | North Korea's successful test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching Alaska is a game-changer. No longer can North Korea be dismissed as someone else's problem; it's now very much a US (and international community) problem.
Which raises the question: What, exactly, is Donald Trump's policy toward North Korea? And, what if there isn't one?
In a news conference back in mid-February -- following the announcement of Alexander Acosta as his pick for Labor secretary -- Trump said this when pressed about his North Korea policy:
"I don't have to tell you. I don't want to be one of these guys that say, 'Yes, here's what we're going to do.' I don't have to do that. I don't have to tell you what I'm going to do in North Korea. I don't have to tell you what I'm going to do in North Korea. And I don't have to tell you what I'm going to do with Iran. You know why? Because they shouldn't know. And eventually, you guys are going to get tired of asking that question."
Which could be true. That Trump has a detailed plan to deal with the rogue nation that he doesn't want to share with it -- or anyone else.
But, it's also possible -- and the Washington Post's terrific Philip Bump makes this case convincingly -- that Trump may not have any sort of plan for dealing with North Korea beyond, and I am paraphrasing, "Can't China do it?" (Related: Homer Simpson's campaign slogan for sanitation commissioner.)
Throughout the campaign, Trump insisted that solving the problem of North Korea was simple: Lean on China to do it, something then President Obama just wasn't willing to do.
Turns out -- wait for it -- it's not so easy! Trump recounted in an interview with Fox Business Network in April that the first thing he brought up in his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping was North Korea.
"He then explains thousands of years of history with Korea," Trump recalled. "Not that easy. In other words, not as simple as people would think."
Riiiight.
What to do about North Korea will be front and center this week as Trump huddles with other G20 leaders in Hamburg, Germany. The question is: Does Trump actually know? | |  | | CNN's Kevin Liptak shared this image of Polish media covering Trump's visit. | | Trump probably won't get the warmest of welcomes when he arrives at G20 in Hamburg. As CNN's Kevin Liptak reported on Wednesday, the northern port of Germany is expected to play host to confrontations over a broad slate of issues on which Trump and his European allies have disagreed.
But before G20, Trump is taking a quick 15-hour stop in Poland, where he's likely to receive a positive welcome from a conservative government and a largely pro-American population. A reminder: Poland has had a *lot* of controversy surrounding its freedom of the press (or lack thereof), making Trump's decision to take a G20 detour -- amid his attacks on "fake news" -- even more interesting.
Here's more from CNN's Sarah Mucha:
The ruling party in Poland -- the Law and Justice Party (PiS) -- ran (and won) on the promise that it would "clean up Poland" after the mess made by the elites who were out of touch with its core Christian and nationalist values.
It kicked off that spring-cleaning by hitting the media with a new law that gives the government a tighter grip over its public TV and radio, allowing it to hire and fire journalists and media management.
That didn't go over so well within Europe. Actually, Poland's ranking in the World Press Freedom Index took a nosedive, from No. 18 in 2015 to No. 54 in 2017, after what many dubbed an action befitting a "repressive regime."
So, what does it mean that Trump chose Poland as his first stop -- a nation that is equally unfriendly toward the press? Well, it's unlikely he'll praise the media suppression outright, but he's not likely to condemn it either. | | Gov. Chris Christie's beach-gate incident may be over, but New Jersey residents will #neverforget. Case in point: This sand sculpture, photographed on the Fourth of July at Seaside Heights beach. Lifeguards told NBC News that the sculptors -- known only as Larry and Tom -- worked on the sand art from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday.
As we pointed out on Monday, Christie's beach outing also became a very popular meme. | | 
Smart Politics, a super-nerdy (and very cool) site, makes a good observation today: It's possible that fewer senators could retire in 2018 than in any year since direct elections began in 1913.
The low is two retirements, which happened in 1964 (one was Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater, who ran for president), 1942 and in three consecutive elections from 1924 through 1928.
As Smart Politics' Founder Eric Ostermeier writes: Nearly 300 US senators have retired from the chamber since 1914 – excluding those who resigned midterm – averaging 5.6 senators per cycle. That number has been elevated in recent years, with 7.2 senators retiring over the last 13 cycles during the last quarter-century (1992-2016).
There are 34 Senators -- 25 Democrats, 9 Republicans -- up in 2018. To date, none of them has announced plans to vacate their seats. As Ostermeier notes, California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, age 84, and Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, age 83, both have indicated recently that they plan to run for re-election next November.
The vast majority of other incumbents have already said they are running for another six-year term -- and have the fundraising to back it up.
My guess is we don't break any sort of retirement (or lack thereof) record in 2018. There's almost always a reconsideration (or two) over the next 12 months, not to mention a surprise departure from a younger member that no one saw coming.
Still, it would be interesting as hell if, at a time when people hate Washington and politicians more than ever, not a single Senate incumbent called it quits. | | | Chance The Rapper's Tiny Desk performance is so, so good. NPR said Chance wanted to "try a different approach" to the performance. In his case, that meant reading a poem -- in between performing songs -- that he wrote while commuting from his D.C. hotel to the NPR Music office. Damn. 👏🏽 | | Ahead of Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Germany on Friday, CNN'S KFile put together a great summary of 80 times Trump talked about Putin.
The public statements began with a tweet from June 2013 (see above screenshot) and ended with comments the now-president made at a press conference in February about how he has no deals in Russia.
"And I can tell you, speaking for myself, I own nothing in Russia," he said. "I have no loans in Russia. I don't have any deals in Russia. President Putin called me up very nicely to congratulate me on the win of the election." | | The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sure isn't holding back.
On Wednesday afternoon, the DCCC sent out an email blast asking patrons to vote on a slogan for a printed sticker. The above -- "Democrats 2018. I mean, have you seen the other guys?" -- was one of the options (and the one most talked about on Twitter).
The Daily Beast's Hayley Jones has more here. | | Meanwhile, in La La Land, the world witnessed yet another social media war between Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna. We wanted to look away, but like many others scrolling through Twitter and Instagram on Wednesday, we unfortunately couldn't. Their fight was all over the Internet -- and so were explicit photos and alleged texts between the on-again off-again couple posted by Kardashian.
Even when you don't think it's related to politics, it somehow is. While she was California's attorney general, now-Sen. Kamala Harris cracked down on revenge porn in the Golden State. She also set up a state website to help victims of revenge porn and launched efforts to educate local law enforcement agencies about the laws designed to combat the crime.
Saba reached out to Lisa Bloom, an attorney known for taking on celebrity cases, to ask about the revenge porn law. Bloom tweeted about Kardashian on Wednesday.
Here's what she said in an email to Saba about the Kardashian-Chyna drama:
In the Rob Kardashian matter, his posting graphic nude photos of her may constitute a crime under Penal Code 647(j)(4) PC. The legal definition of revenge porn/nonconsensual pornography is: - You have an image of the intimate body part of another identifiable person, or an image of that person engaged in sexual intercourse, sodomy, oral copulation or masturbation;
- You intentionally distribute that image.
- There was an understanding between you and that person that the image would remain private;
- You know or should know that the distribution of the image will cause the person serious emotional distress; and
- The person depicted suffers serious emotional distress.
Ms. Chyna also likely has a private right of action against Mr. Kardashian for money damages for the emotional distress he has surely caused her. Attempting to slut shame the mother of his child is truly sick behavior as the law recognizes. I encourage Ms. Chyna to stand up for her rights as a woman to control which images of her own body will be made public. | |  | | This image has been circulating Twitter all day. | | It's a panda party at the Berlin Zoo!
On Wednesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping celebrated the opening of the new panda enclosure for viewing at the Berlin Zoo. Meng Meng and Jiao Qing, two giant pandas, are officially on loan to the zoo from China for 15 years.
Per The Guardian, "The hope of the zoo is that they will attract a large number of visitors, while the loftier expectations of governments in Beijing and Berlin is that they will help to forge a new bond between the two nations."
Merkel referred to the pair of pandas as "special ambassadors between Germany and China." | | | Scarf game on point. As always, thanks for reading. Tell your friends-- and your enemies -- to subscribe. And make sure to check out the audio version of The Point on Amazon Echo, Google Home and iTunes. | | | Get the Nightcap, a comprehensive summary of the most important political news, delivered to your inbox daily. | | | | | |
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