President Donald Trump made history on Sunday, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to visit North Korea. Yet his brief handshake with North Korean leader Chairman Kim Jong-un just across the 38th parallel has been criticized as a media stunt and has drawn the ire of political opponents.
“It’s just an honor to be with you, and it was an honor that you asked me to step over that line. And I was proud to step over the line,” Trump told Kim.
Trump’s impromptu visit to the Korean Demilitarized Zone followed the G-20 Summit in Japan, and was first floated publicly last week with Trump saying on Twitter he was open to coming to “say Hello(?)!” The meeting was Trump’s third with the North Korean dictator and came just over a year since the two men met in Singapore, which was the first ever meeting between leaders of the two countries.
In a rare public statement, Kim said through a translator that the visit is “an expression of [Trump’s] willingness to eliminate all the unfortunate past” and look to the future.
Trump has been widely criticized for giving Kim an elevated platform on the world stage without firm concessions on nuclear proliferation and an easing of tensions on the Korean peninsula.
“It is a big moment for diplomacy ... but what did the president really get,” John T. Bennett, Roll Call’s White House correspondent, told Cheddar. “This is reality television 101, this is Donald Trump 101.”
Kim sees nuclear weapons as “key to his survival as the supreme leader and giving that up will be a big lose internally,” Bennett added.
The New York Times reported Sunday that the White House was pursuing a new round of negotiations and was open to a nuclear freeze, which would be a far cry from Trump’s stated goal of the complete denuclearization of North Korea. National Security Advisor John Bolton denied the Times report on Monday, saying on Twitter that it was a “reprehensible attempt by someone to box in the President.”
Several Democrats and 2020 presidential candidates spoke out against the meeting and criticized Trump’s affinity for the world’s strongmen. The meeting with Kim also followed a publically jovial chat with Russian President Putin just days prior in Japan.
In a statement to CBS News, a spokesman for former Vice President Joe Biden said Trump’s “coddling of dictators at the expense of American national security and interests is one of the most dangerous ways he's diminishing us on the world stage and subverting our values as a nation.”
California Sen. Kamala Harris also slammed the meeting, tweeting that Trump “should take the North Korean nuclear threat and its crimes against humanity seriously. This is not a photo-op. Our security and our values are at stake.”
Meanwhile, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said the U.S. president “shouldn’t be squandering American influence on photo ops and exchanging love letters with a ruthless dictator.”
Trump ended the meeting with Kim on Sunday with an invitation to the White House. North Korean state media reported that the two leaders privately agreed to stay in touch and continue a dialogue.
During the pandemic, student loan debt repayment was put on pause amid an unprecedented crisis. However, on February 1, 2022, the schedule is set to resume, and currently it looks as though the Biden administration has no plans to extend it. Cody Hounanian, the executive director of the Student Debt Crisis Center, spoke to Cheddar about why he believes the loan collection pause needs to at least be extended as borrowers are still struggling with the resurgent pandemic and inflation. "There's really no good economic or policy or political reason as far as why they're focused on getting payments started now," Hounanian said. "We surveyed 33,000 people with student loans last month. Nine out of 10 told us that they are not ready to resume payments."
As the 2022 midterm elections fast approach, here are some politicians Americans should be on the lookout for. Democratic Massachusetts state senator Sonia Chang-Diaz, who was the first Latina and Asian American woman to be elected to the state's senate, now has her eye on the governorship with Republican Charlie Baker leaving. New Jersey GOP candidate for Congress, Billy Prempeh also bears watching, and while Boston's newest mayor, Democrat Michelle Wu, was already sworn in last month, all eyes will be on Beantown as the first woman and first person of color to hold the office tries to usher in a new era for the city.
Emily Hoeven, newsletter editor at CalMatters, joins Cheddar News to discuss California Governor Gavin Newsom's gun law modeled after Texas's abortion law.
Chuck Rocha, host of 'Nuestro' podcast and opinion contributor at The New York Times, joins Cheddar News to discuss why Democrats are losing Hispanic voters.
More businesses are requiring workers to return to the office, but there is concern that many employees in the middle class, especially women and people of color, need remote work options for reasons including childcare and financial security. Joan Williams, director of the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California, joined Cheddar to discuss why office mandates could be detrimental to the middle class. She noted that while companies claim a return to offices would help foster more collaboration and efficiency, reports show that they are successfully able to do their jobs from home.
The U.S. postal service has confirmed that it secretly developed and tested a blockchain-based mobile voting system ahead of the 2020 election. Susan Greenhalgh, senior advisor on election security, Free Speech for People, joins Cheddar News to discuss the cybersecurity complications of a mobile voting system.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled to allow the controversial Texas abortion law to remain in effect, banning abortion at six weeks and allowing any private citizen to sue a person or doctor aiding or abetting someone seeking an abortion. Outraged at this decision, California Governor Gavin Newsom is working to draft a proposal in line with the law as it relates to guns. Shawn Hubler, California correspondent at the New York Times, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
