DONARUDO
WEEK 135 / 337 — Thirty-Eight Minutes
Vol. 2 ·  Chapter 13 — Rocket Man · Jan 9 – Jan 15, 2018
Manga panel 1 of 5, Week 135 “Thirty-Eight Minutes”: For an hour he negotiated immigration live on camera, praised by all sides. Alone afterward, the condition hardens: no wall, no deal.
(As I made very clear today, our country needs the security of the Wall on the Southern Border, which must be part of any DACA approval.)
JANUARY 9. FOR ONE TELEVISED HOUR HE PLAYS THE DEALMAKER OF OLD, AND EVEN HIS ENEMIES APPLAUD. THE GLOW LASTS TWO DAYS.
Manga panel 2 of 5, Week 135 “Thirty-Eight Minutes”: Behind closed doors, a word about poor nations detonates and crosses the world in an hour. The denial follows: never said it — no trust.
THURSDAY. IN A CLOSED ROOM, A SINGLE VULGAR WORD ABOUT POOR NATIONS ESCAPES — AND CROSSES THE WORLD WITHIN THE HOUR.
Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country. Never said “take them out.”…
Manga panel 3 of 5, Week 135 “Thirty-Eight Minutes”: Saturday, 8:07 a.m. in Hawaii: every phone screams that a ballistic missile is inbound and this is not a drill. For thirty-eight minutes, it is true.
SATURDAY, 8:07 A.M. EVERY PHONE IN HAWAII SCREAMS: BALLISTIC MISSILE INBOUND. SEEK SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. FOR THIRTY-EIGHT MINUTES, NO ONE TELLS THEM OTHERWISE.
Manga panel 4 of 5, Week 135 “Thirty-Eight Minutes”: A newspaper quotes him on the young king — I have a good relationship — and he fights for a single letter: I'd. Fortunately, he says, we now record.
The Wall Street Journal stated falsely that I said to them “I have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un” (of N. Korea). Obviously I didn’t say that. I said “I’d have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un,” a big difference.…
Manga panel 5 of 5, Week 135 “Thirty-Eight Minutes”: The week ends the way every argument now ends, in two words posted like a war banner: AMERICA FIRST!
“AMERICA FIRST!”
A VULGAR WORD, A FALSE ALARM, A FIGHT OVER ONE LETTER — AND OVER IT ALL, THE SAME TWO-WORD BANNER.
TO BE CONTINUED →

This week in the saga

A whipsaw week. For one televised hour he plays the dealmaker of old and even enemies applaud — then a single vulgar word about poor nations escapes a closed room and crosses the world within the hour. On Saturday morning every phone in Hawaii screams that a missile is inbound, and for thirty-eight minutes no one says otherwise. He fights a newspaper over one letter of one quote. And over it all flies the same two-word banner: AMERICA FIRST.

Readers' Corner

Letters from the readership on Week 135. Pick a pen name — no account needed.

Opening the mailbag…