SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET:

COMMON SENSE – FROM THE HILL:  Hollywood celebrities have been raising the heat in their rhetoric against President Trump, but critics say the often-profane criticism could actually inflame a pro-Trump backlash ahead of November’s midterm elections.  Trump is considered vulgar Enemy No. 1 in much of the entertainment world, and more and more performers — from Robert De Niro to Michelle Wolf — are following him into the mud, though their harshest insults may actually be giving Republicans a boost.  “I think that they live inside this cultural bubble where they all talk among themselves and make the incredibly erroneous conclusion that the rest of the nation must think like they do,” GOP consultant John Brabender said in an interview with The Hill this week.  Good political sense.  Hollywood doesn't have much glitter anymore.  It's a fading scene, and the hateful rhetoric of the Hollywood crowd is just another sign of how out of touch they really are. 

WHEN A LIBERAL IS ACCUSED – FROM THE SEATTLE TIMES:   OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada has repeatedly denied accusations he acted inappropriately with a young reporter at a charity event 18 years ago. On Friday, he said his accuser might have experienced their interaction differently.  “I do not feel that there was any inappropriate action of any type,” Trudeau said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.’s (CBC) Toronto radio station. “But, and this is the really important thing, it is not just my experience that matters in this.”  He added, “The way the same interaction can be experienced by different people is a really important thing to get our minds around.”   The philosopher speaks.  If he were on the right, they'd be screaming for his head.

A MATURE NEGOTIATOR – FROM FOX:   U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday shrugged off North Korea’s accusation of the U.S. making “gangster-like” demands regarding denuclearization, saying he’d “go nuts” if he paid attention to everything the media reports.  In a trilateral news conference in Tokyo, accompanied by officials from Japan and South Korea, Pompeo reaffirmed the U.S. goal of complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, reiterating that his talks with North Korea last week were conducted in “good faith.”  When a reporter asked about North Korea’s Saturday comments, Pompeo didn’t seem too bothered.  “Look, people are going to make stray comments after meetings,” Pompeo said. “If I paid attention to what the press said, I’d go nuts, and I refuse to do that.”  “And so if those requests were ‘gangster-like,’” Pompeo added, “then the world is a gangster because there was a unanimous decision at the U.N. Security Council about what needs to be achieved.”  I trust Pompeo and his judgment.  He's a first-class guy with a very fine mind.  He also thinks America is a good place.

July 7, 2018