We awoke Thursday morning to the news that no deal was reached at the Hanoi Summit. During a press conference that took place around 2:00 AM ET, President Trump explained what happened: The issue was denuclearization, which is why we are having these talks. 

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un agreed to dismantle his main nuclear facility at Yongbyon. But he demanded that we lift all sanctions against North Korea in return. Trump said that was a good start, but it wasn’t enough. 

The president told reporters, “We brought many, many points up [other nuclear facilities] that I think they were surprised that we knew [about]."  

Kim dug in, and Trump did exactly what Ronald Reagan did at Reykjavik in 1986 — he walked away. Here’s more from the president’s remarks:

"Basically, they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety, and we couldn’t do that. They were willing to denuke a large portion of the areas that we wanted, but we couldn’t give up all of the sanctions for [just] that…

"You always have to be prepared to walk… And, you know, there was a potential we could’ve signed something today… We actually had papers ready to be signed, but it just wasn’t appropriate. I want to do it right. I’d much rather do it right than do it fast.”

A joint press conference and signing ceremony were cancelled, and the president left hours ahead of schedule. He told reporters that he would not agree to a bad deal that did not serve the interests of the United States.

And the same media complex that had been warning that Trump was so eager for a deal that he would sell America out is now clobbering him for failing to make a deal.

Cohen vs. Nukes

While the president was fighting overseas for America’s interests, the “Resistance” and its media allies were engaging in self-indulgent Trump-bashing during the Michael Cohen hearings.

According to our friends at the Media Research Center, the media devoted 428 minutes to the Cohen hearings and only 13 minutes to the Hanoi Summit.

Just think about that: One represents a potential existential threat to the United States and the other is about impeaching Donald Trump. 

I think it is fair to say that many on the left would rather get rid of Trump than North Korea’s nukes!

Meanwhile, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) tweeted Wednesday that she didn’t look forward to impeachment because “Nations struggle anytime they overthrow a dictator."  

Michael Cohen also fueled the left’s fears Wednesday when he told the committee, "I fear that if [Trump] loses the election in 2020, that there will never be a peaceful transition of power.”

That’s absurd! It is the left that is repeatedly engaging in political intimidation and violence and won’t accept the results of the last election.

Meadows Fights Back

Kudos to Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC)! 

Meadows knew that Michael Cohen was going to accuse the president of being a racist at Wednesday’s hearing. So he brought Lynne Patton to the committee room to refute the charge and demonstrate that Trump was an equal opportunity employer. 

Patton, a black woman, was a high-ranking official in the Trump Organization and now works at the Department of Housing and Urban Development with Secretary Ben Carson. 

Reacting to Patton’s appearance, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) said, “The fact that someone would actually use a prop, a black woman in this chamber, in this committee is alone racist in itself." 

Meadows immediately called for a point of personal privilege, which is done when one member of Congress makes personal attacks against another member. Meadows also noted that his "nieces and nephews are people of color.”

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, who is liberal but knows Meadows well, had to give Tlaib multiple chances to walk back her remarks, which she eventually did.

This episode is just another sorry example of what a wide swath of the Democrat Party has become, particularly the rising left-wing flank of the party. It is openly socialist, increasingly anti-Semitic and it regularly resorts to race-baiting. 

By the way, Representatives Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan (R-OH) are asking Attorney General William Barr to investigate Michael Cohen for perjury based on his testimony Wednesday.

Guns For Illegals?

House Democrats are really proud of themselves. Fresh off their victory on a resolution disapproving of the president’s border emergency declaration, they passed an anti-Second Amendment bill Wednesday that the New York Times cheers as “the first significant gun control bill to clear the chamber in a quarter of a century.”

There is a lot wrong with this bill, which is thankfully dead on arrival in the Senate. But I want to focus on an amendment that House Republicans successfully attached to it Wednesday.

Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) offered a motion requiring that federal officials, including ICE agents, be notified whenever someone fails a background check and illegally attempts to purchase a firearm. 

This would seem like common sense if you really care about preventing gun violence and catching criminals. It should have passed unanimously. But the Steube motion passed on a narrow 220-to-209 vote because only 26 Democrats supported it. 

What was the issue? Democrats didn’t want ICE agents to know when illegal immigrants attempt to buy guns. They want law-abiding citizens to jump through all kinds of hoops, but they want to shield illegal immigrants from the law.

Think about that: Are there really only two dozen relatively responsible Democrats in the House? Why would 208 House Democrats not want ICE to know when illegal immigrants are attempting to buy guns? 

This was a very clarifying moment, my friends, about just how radical the left has become. Once again, we see how much these so-called “progressives” despise ICE and put the interests of illegal immigrants above the safety of American citizens. It couldn’t be clearer than that.