Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Guess what: Rodman's in North Korea again

Guess what--basketball Hall-of-Famer and cross-dresser Dennis Rodman arrived in North Korea Tuesday. This is the first time Rodman has visited the hermit nation since Trump became president, and he said that he's "just trying to open a door" and is on a mission.

The former basketball star spoke to so-called journalists before he boarded his flight from Beijing to Pyongyang and when asked if he spoke to President Trump about the trip he said, "Well, I'm pretty sure he's pretty much happy with the fact that I'm over here trying to accomplish something that we both need."

Mr. Trump had praised Rodman when he first went to North Korea. "Maybe Dennis is a lot better than what we have," Trump told "Fox & Friends" after one of Rodman's trips in March 2013.

More importantly, Dennis Rodman appeared on NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice" the same year.

"Dennis is not a stupid guy," Trump said of Rodman. "He's smart in many ways; he's very street wise."

In other words, Trump was then, and is now, a big fan.

Rodman, during his trip to North Korea in January 2014, sang "Happy Birthday" to Kim Jong Un and referred to the corpulent dictator as his "best friend."

While in North Korea Rodman did what he does best: he played basketball in a pickup game with a squad of former NBA stars. He called the move "basketball diplomacy."

Kim Jong Un is a big NBA fan and loves the Chicago Bulls, especially Rodman's team of the late 1990s. On this trip he brought along Joseph Terwilliger, a professor who accompanied Rodman on previous trips.

The basketball star said  that the Americans currently being held in North Korean prisons is "not my purpose right now."

According to a senior Trump administration official, Rodman was traveling as a "private citizen."

"We are aware of his visit. We wish him well, but we have issued travel warnings to Americans and suggested they not travel to North Korea for their own safety,"U.S. Undersecretary of State Thomas Shannon told reporters after a discussion about North Korean missile threat and other issues.

Hopefully Rodman will have another song in his repertoire and Kim will be wooed enough to let the other prisoners go home. But guess what; it's more important that he convince Kim to put his nuclear toys away.


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