Actor Robert De Niro raised a ruckus when his “F- -k Trump” interjection received a standing ovation at the Tonys on Sunday. CBS bleeped the expletive, but the uncensored version went viral online. De Niro apparently ad-libbed the line while he was introducing Bruce Springsteen, whose one-man Broadway show has enjoyed significant success this year. Although it received cheers at the event, says Kyle Smith at National Review , De Niro insulted the Tony Award winners with his political outburst: “This was their big night, the single opportunity they have each year to promote their craft to millions of TV watchers. Instead, De Niro had to unleash a childish, pointless rant and steal their spotlight.”
Media file: Krauthammer an Example for All Pundits
Conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer’s announcement last week that he has weeks to live has inspired many to pay tribute to the dying columnist. Writing at Mediaite, Joseph A. Wulfsohn praises Krauthammer for “level headed” opinions, especially in the turbulence of the Trump era. When others lost their heads, Krauthammer would make respectful, measured observations. “He was an honest broker who injected rationality into the conversation and not emotion,” Wulfsohn writes. “He was a man who never had to issue an apology because his criticisms were never personal or out of line.” The best way to honor Krauthammer, then, is to imitate him.
From the left: Trump’s Reaganite Approach to NoKo
Whatever the result of the Singapore summit between President Trump and Kim Jon-un over North Korea’s denuclearization, Trump’s approach that led to the meeting could mark a major change in how the two countries relate. At The Atlantic, Peter Beinart compares Trump to Ronald Reagan, whose openness to the Soviet Union in his second term fostered a relationship which eventually led to the collapse of Russian Communism. Trump finds himself in a similar situation with North Korea, where he remains open to North Korea — even as Obama-era foreign-policy experts advise “strategic patience” and hawks threaten war. Beinart argues that Trump’s refusal to subscribe fully to either camp makes him the renegade who could change the North Korea situation, even if nothing much comes from the first summit: “As Reagan showed, uninformed optimism is sometimes wiser than weary realism. Even when the uninformed optimist is Donald Trump.”
Foreign desk: How Al Shabaab Ambushed US Forces
A joint operation to liberate villages in southern Somalia ended in disaster Friday when the terrorist group Al Shabaab flooded a valley, forcing American and allied soldiers into a firefight that left one Green Beret dead. Poor weather and insufficient supplies delayed the allied forces, giving the terror group several weeks to prepare the ambush weeks in advance, digging a corridor and rerouting, reports Christina Goldbaum of The Daily Beast. “The death of the US soldier is the first US combat death on the continent since the Niger ambush in October and the second in Somalia in 13 months,” she writes, noting that the debacle comes as the Pentagon considers cutting down on American presence in Africa by as much as 50 percent over the next few years, due to lack of effectiveness.
Liberal take: Trump’s Torn Paper Trail
President Trump is known for his eccentricities, but this latest one has White House staffers scratching their heads. When he’s done with a piece of paper, Trump usually rips it up and throws it either in the trash or on the floor. It sounds silly — but it’s also expensive, writes Margaret Hartmann at New York. “This does not jibe with the Presidential Records Act, which stipulates that basically every piece of paper the president touches must be shipped off to the National Archives to be preserved for posterity,” she writes. That means that right now, every piece of paper Trump rips up is reassembled and refiled by a special team of records-management staffers. With 2 ½ years until 2020, that’s a lot of tape.
