Many years ago, columnist and presidential speechwriter William Safire coined a phrase to describe the left-wing media. He called them “the nattering nabobs of negativism.” I was reminded of that phrase while listening to some of the “mainstream media’s” criticism of the Singapore summit.

Virtually everyone running around right now with their hair on fire has been wrong about Donald Trump and North Korea from the day he took office. (They were wrong about him winning the election too!)

For example, the Left was terrified that Trump would start a nuclear war. In fact, left-wing members of Congress were so worried that they introduced legislation to take away the president’s ability to authorize a nuclear strike.

More than 90 members of Congress have cosponsored the bill. While they were practicing “duck and cover,” Trump was busy getting Kim Jong-un to the negotiating table.

Some said Trump was too eager for the meeting and didn’t have the courage to walk away. Wrong. He did walk away.

Some said he wasn’t prepared for talks or that they would blow up. Wrong again.

But now that Donald Trump has averted nuclear war and conducted a successful summit with North Korea’s leader, the nattering nabobs of negativism have found other things to complain about.

Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer and many others whined that Donald Trump gave Kim a place on the world stage.

I’m fairly certain Kim had the attention of world leaders when he was threatening Guam, Hawaii, South Korea, Japan and the continental United States with nuclear weapons or when he was lobbing missiles across Japan’s territory.

The entire world has been worrying about how to deal with this guy. So Donald Trump stepped up and dealt with him. Yet the same movement that had no problem with Obama going hat in hand to Iran suddenly has a problem with Trump negotiating with North Korea.

Here’s another complaint: Trump allowed the North Korean flag to be displayed next to the American flag. Seriously? They want to blow up the negotiations about a rogue regime’s nuclear weapons over a flag?

When Mikhail Gorbachev came to Washington, DC, in 1987, Soviet flags were hung on lamp posts outside of the White House and even posted inside the White House.

And this is coming from the same movement that doesn’t object to burning U.S. flags or to millionaire athletes kneeling in protest of our flag and national anthem. Give me a break!

Another complaint is that Trump supposedly gave up war games with South Korea and got nothing in return. Reuters labeled this a “stunning concession.”

Well, we just conducted massive military exercises with South Korea in April. We hold these exercises every year.

There will be plenty of time between now and next April for us to determine if North Korea is serious or not. I have no doubt that Donald Trump would not hesitate to restart the war games if Kim is not fully cooperating.

As for getting nothing in return, the Left is wrong again. It was actually Kim who made a concession. He agreed not to protest the war games this year in order to get a meeting with President Trump.

But more importantly, there hasn’t been a North Korean nuclear test in nine months. There have been no North Korean missile tests in seven months. Three U.S. hostages were returned. We have imposed the toughest sanctions in history against Kim’s regime, and “the sanctions will remain in effect.”

It’s no wonder the president tweeted, “Our Country’s biggest enemy is the Fake News.”

Rosenstein & Extortion

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein made headlines a few weeks ago when he said “the Department of Justice is not going to be extorted.” He made the remark in response to warnings from members of Congress that he could be impeached for constantly stonewalling legitimate congressional oversight requests.

For example, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley has been waiting 16 months for records related to Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes has been waiting for a year to receive requested documents. So it is understandable that members of Congress are getting fed up.

But according to a new Fox News report, it seems Mr. Rosenstein may be the one who is doing the extorting. Two congressional staffers allege that Rosenstein made “chilling” threats to subpoena their emails and phone records during a contentious January meeting.

As I have written before, the Department of Justice and the FBI are not independent branches of government. They are part of the executive branch, and Congress has oversight responsibilities to ensure they are accountable to the people and functioning as intended.

The deep-state resistance must be broken!

In my view, there is overwhelmingly evidence that Rosenstein is obstructing the oversight responsibilities of the very Congress that funds his department and his job. Every Republican on Capitol Hill should be demanding he be fired. Paul, Mitch??

Democrats in Fantasyland

Politico reports that Democrats are turning to Hollywood for messaging advice in advance of the November midterms and to help them win in 2020. I think this is another brilliant idea. Right up there with Nancy Pelosi holding daily press briefings.

Let’s make Robert De Niro the official spokesman for the DNC. Maybe he can teach candidates how to drop F-bombs into every conversation in front of large audiences.

Sean Penn could advise progressive candidates on foreign policy.

Samantha Bee could be in charge of women’s outreach.

And Bill Maher could give liberal candidates advice on the economy!

In all seriousness, the Democrat Party has been wedded to Hollywood for decades. They may share the same values, but left-wing actors and liberal politicians have no clue what real life is like in the American heartland. Rodeo Drive and K Street are nothing like Main Street.

Fighting for Faith

I had the privilege of attending my first session of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. The first meeting was mainly about organizing the commission and setting the agenda for the year ahead. We unanimously agreed to elect Dr. Tenzin Dorjee as chairman of the bipartisan commission.

As you may know, I was appointed to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom last month by President Trump. It is a tremendous honor to serve the president and the country in this important capacity.