Trump reverses sanctions on brutal dictator because they're friends

Trump sent the White House into a tailspin on Friday as top administration aides rushed to figure out why Trump was reversing brand-new sanctions targeting North Korea, one day after the Treasury Department announced them.

And Trump’s press secretary excused the impulsive move by explaining that Trump did it because he “likes” North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

“It was announced today by the U.S. Treasury that additional large scale Sanctions would be added to those already existing Sanctions on North Korea,” Trump tweeted Friday afternoon from Florida, where he’s spending the weekend at his gaudy Mar-a-Lago resort. “I have today ordered the withdrawal of those additional Sanctions!”

On Thursday, national security adviser John Bolton praised the new sanctions, which targeted two Chinese shipping companies that the Treasury Department accused of having “helped North Korea evade sanctions” that are currently on the books.

“Important actions today from @USTreasury,” Bolton tweeted Thursday of the new North Korea sanctions. “The maritime industry must do more to stop North Korea’s illicit shipping practices. Everyone should take notice and review their own activities to ensure they are not involved in North Korea’s sanctions evasion.”

True to Trump administration fashion, however, the left hand clearly didn’t know what the right hand was doing. And aides had to quickly figure out why Trump would tweet out a policy reversal that clearly hadn’t been discussed within the West Wing.

Eventually, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders offered a shocking reason why Trump was reversing the new sanctions.

“President Trump likes Chairman Kim and he doesn’t think these sanctions will be necessary,” she told reporters.

Basically, Trump unilaterally decided to reverse sanctions on a brutal dictator because the two men are friends.

It’s the latest capitulation to North Korea Trump has made, despite the fact that North Korea has given up little in exchange for more lenient treatment on its nuclear program from the U.S.

Turns out Trump simply has a soft spot for murderous dictators.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.