The Factor Rundown
Dana Perino
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Handling North Korea
Dana began with the tense situation in North Korea, the isolated nation that is threatening a nuclear confrontation. Charles Krauthammer opined on the conflict and President Trump's reaction. "We're finally getting some real resistance from the United States," he said. "For 30 years we acquiesced, kicked the can down the road, and entered into negotiations where we were played. People talk about Kim Jong-un being a madman, but I have come to the view that he is clever and rational in his own way. He and his father and grandfather have been able to play off the world with a very weak hand and be undeterred in their quest to become a nuclear power. They have nukes, but they don't have the capacity to deliver it to the United States with the push of a button. Their prime regime objective is to be able to launch an ICBM that could destroy an American city. The Trump administration is saying that we will not allow that, we cannot live under that threat." Krauthammer added that his biggest concern is that 20-million people in democratic South Korea are within range of North Korea artillery.
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Warning to North Korea
Foreign policy analyst Ian Bremmer entered the No Spin Zone with his take on the North Korea threat and the possibility of China intervening to pacify Kim Jong-un. "The idea that China will turn a country with ten nuclear weapons into a non-nuclear and neutral state," he said, "is ludicrous on its face. That would mean actual regime change and China has been reluctant to push North Korea because they fear regime change could blow up the entire region. Everyone I talked to in Japan and South Korea last week wondered whether President Trump will really engage in military strikes. If he does, the countries at risk are our allies in South Korea and Japan. But I will say that President Trump is moving these countries politically - the Japanese have decided to put a destroyer right off the North Korea coast. And China is now saying they are more prepared to cut off air travel and oil to North Korea if they continue to escalate."
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Tempers Flare Over Trump
Some protesters engaged in anti-Trump rallies Saturday, demanding that he release his tax returns. Dana invited Brit Hume to opine on the protests, some of which turned violent. "I don't think there is much wallop left in that issue," Hume said about the tax returns, "because people will judge the president on how well he delivers on his promises at home and how he handles these international crises. A lot of Democrats will try to distance themselves from these demonstrations, but the level of passion in the Democratic electorate against Donald Trump really does verge on a derangement syndrome. So leading Democrats in Congress are opposing him in everything to let their base know they are resisting him. They are responding to their base, which is the fever swamps of the American left."
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Immigration Crackdown
Illegal border crossings are way down under the Trump administration and arrests of illegal immigrants are up. Dana analyzed the numbers with Democratic strategist Mary Anne Marsh and conservative writer Carrie Sheffield "The fact is," Marsh stressed, "is that while arrests are up, the number of criminal undocumented immigrants being arrested is down. Twice as many undocumented immigrants without criminal records have been arrested, and immigrants are not reporting crimes now because they are afraid of being picked up. That's the problem." But Sheffield vigorously defended the Trump administration's tough stance against illegal immigrants, especially criminals. "Just because you lock your door at night does not mean you hate the outside world, it means you love what's inside. Mary Anne, you have to wake up every day and say you are defending drunk drivers instead of innocent victims. If you are a drunk driver and you are here illegally, you do not belong in this country!"
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Trump Slams Obama on Foreign Policy
President Trump has been very critical of President Obama's foreign policy, especially regarding the Middle East, Russia, and North Korea. Karl Rove joined Dana to evaluate the president's insistence on bashing his predecessor. "It was tiresome when Barack Obama did this to George W. Bush," he began, "and President Trump will be well advised to stay away from this because it will also become tiresome. We could spend an hour talking about President Obama's failures, but that doesn't make President Trump look strong. He looks weak, it's better for him to focus on what he is doing and carrying it forward. The American people are fully capable of understanding the differences between Barack Obama and Donald Trump."
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Hunt for the Facebook Killer
As of Monday night, a national manhunt was underway for Steve Stephens, a Cleveland man who allegedly killed a complete stranger and posted the murder on Facebook. Fox News correspondent Mike Tobin provided the latest. "The reward is now up to $50,000," he said, "and this guy could really be anywhere. The search involves local law enforcement, state troopers, the FBI, and U.S. marshals. Police are looking for a 2016 Ford Fusion, which he was driving at the time of the attack." Dana also welcomed psychologist Dr. Keith Ablow, who assessed social media's role in aberrant behavior. "We know about people who 'sext,' but very few of them would be willing to walk up to another individual and hand them a photograph of themselves unclothed. This medium is disinhibiting and depersonalizing, it is dragging people in and having people do things they might not otherwise do. This guy used this route to commit an unspeakable act, but would he have acted in this fashion without access to a worldwide audience?"
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Behind the Scenes in the White House
Finally, Dana was joined by author Chris Whipple, whose latest book examines how White House chiefs of staff have shaped presidents and America itself. "It's a critically important job," he declared. "The chief of staff should be the president's closest confidant, as well as the gatekeeper who gives the president time to think. He should be the honest broker who makes sure that only the toughest decisions get into the Oval Office, and his most important duty is to tell the president what he doesn't want to hear." Whipple deemed James Baker, who served Ronald Reagan, and Leon Panetta, who advised Bill Clinton, as the 20th century's most effective chiefs of staff.
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