First Draft on Politics: A Bitter Clash Before the Summit Meeting

President Trump and his advisers went on the attack, accusing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of “betrayal” and a “stab” in the back. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Monday, June 11, 2018 [NYTimes.com/Politics »]( [President Trump talked with local officials after he disembarked from Air Force One on Sunday in Singapore, where he is due to meet with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, to negotiate a nuclear agreement.]( President Trump talked with local officials after he disembarked from Air Force One on Sunday in Singapore, where he is due to meet with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, to negotiate a nuclear agreement. Doug Mills/The New York Times Good Monday morning, Here are some of the stories making news in Washington and politics today: - President Trump [escalated a bitter clash]( with some of America’s closest allies, lashing out through his advisers at Justin Trudeau in unusually personal terms. Angry at Mr. Trudeau for comments he made at a Saturday news conference, Mr. Trump pulled out of a joint statement with allies at the Group of 7 meeting held outside Quebec City. - Larry Kudlow, Mr. Trump’s top economic adviser, said a “betrayal” by Mr. Trudeau had [forced Mr. Trump to take action]( to avoid being seen as weak before his meeting with Kim Jong-un. Mr. Trump “is not going to let a Canadian prime minister push him around,” Mr. Kudlow said, adding, “He is not going to permit any show of weakness on a trip to negotiate with North Korea.” - Mr. Trump also criticized the tariffs imposed on American goods as “ridiculous and unacceptable” and [vowed to put an end]( to being “like a piggy bank that everybody is robbing.” But to many of the country’s trading partners, the president’s criticisms ring hollow given that the United States places its own tariffs on products including trucks, peanuts, sugar and even stilettos. - Fresh from the G-7 meeting, Mr. Trump [arrived in Singapore]( on Sunday for his historic on-again-off-again meeting with Mr. Kim. With the nuclear future of North Korea and the security of the entire region at stake, the encounter will be the first ever between a sitting American president and a North Korean leader. - For an American leader who came of age in the early 1960s, when the United States and the Soviet Union stepped to the brink of nuclear annihilation, the meeting with Mr. Kim [strikes a personal chord]( offering Mr. Trump a historic chance to rid the world, and his own presidency, of the greatest threat from atomic weapons. — The First Draft Team HAVE A CONFIDENTIAL NEWS TIP? Do you have the next big story? Want to share it with The New York Times? We offer several ways to get in touch with and provide materials to our journalists. [Learn More »]( ADVERTISEMENT [The Upshot]( Get the best of The Upshot’s news, analysis and graphics about politics, policy and everyday life delivered to your inbox. [• Sign Up »]( White House Memo [As Exhausted Aides Eye the Exits, Trump Is Re-energized]( By MAGGIE HABERMAN AND KATIE ROGERS [Several high-profile aides, including John F. Kelly, the president's chief of staff, are said to be thinking about how much longer they can do their jobs.]( Several high-profile aides, including John F. Kelly, the president's chief of staff, are said to be thinking about how much longer they can do their jobs. Tom Brenner/The New York Times President Trump has gone overseas to embark on some of the most consequential diplomatic negotiations of his tenure, threatening an all-out trade war with allies and seizing a chance to make peace with a nuclear-armed menace. But back home, he left behind a West Wing where burned-out aides are [eyeing the exits]( as the mood in the White House is one of numbness and resignation that the president is growing only more emboldened to act on instinct alone. Mr. Trump, a former reality television star, may soon be working with a thinned-out cast in the middle of Season 2, well before the midterm elections. Several high-profile aides, including [John F. Kelly]( the president’s chief of staff, and Joe Hagin, a deputy of Mr. Kelly’s, are said to be thinking about how much longer they can stay. Last week, Mr. Kelly told visiting senators that the White House was “a miserable place to work,” according to a person with direct knowledge of the comment. The turnover, which is expected to become an exodus after the November elections, does not worry the president, several people close to him said. He has grown comfortable with removing any barriers that might challenge him — including, in some cases, people who have the wrong chemistry or too frequently say no to him. Mr. Trump, who desires a measure of chaos at all times, is reveling in the effects of his own mercurial decision-making, the people said. [Read more »](  [Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada at a news conference at the G-7 summit meeting in Quebec, Canada, on Saturday.]( [Trump’s ‘Bully’ Attack on Trudeau Outrages Canadians]( By DAN BILEFSKY AND CATHERINE PORTER A Twitter tirade by President Trump against the Canadian prime minister provoked anger and defiance in the decidedly diplomatic country. [Mitt Romney is running for Senate in Utah, the state his ancestors helped settle.]( [Mitt Romney Wants In Again. There Is One Catch.]( By MATT FLEGENHEIMER His wife said they were done with campaigns. But after two high-profile losses on the national stage, a Senate bid was too good to pass up, even if it means dealing with Donald Trump. [A candlelight vigil in support of a successful summit meeting between the United States and North Korea, held Saturday in front of the American Embassy in Seoul.]( [Trump and Kim May Define ‘Korea Denuclearization’ Quite Differently]( By RICK GLADSTONE Whether denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula means the same thing to President Trump and Kim Jong-un goes to the crux of their meeting and could ultimately shape its success or failure. [Players on the Republican congressional baseball team returned this spring to the field in Alexandria, Va., where they were almost killed last June.]( [9 Minutes of Terror, 12 Months of Recovery: Inside the Republican Baseball Team’s Return]( By NOAH WEILAND It had already been a complicated year of recuperation. Then the Republican congressional baseball team returned to the field where it was attacked. [Researchers concluded that multinational corporations have sheltered nearly 40 percent of their profits in tax havens like Bermuda.]( [Tax Havens Blunt Impact of Corporate Tax Cut, Economists Say]( By JIM TANKERSLEY The Trump administration’s corporate tax cuts are unlikely to have their promised effect on job creation, a trio of prominent economists has concluded. [Electronic games at a tribal casino in Wetumpka, Ala., are among the few ways to gamble legally in Alabama. Both parties’ nominees for governor this year have called for a referendum to start a state lottery.]( [Alabama’s Longtime Hostility to Gambling Shows Signs of Fading]( By ALAN BLINDER Evangelical leaders who fought off plans for state lotteries and other gambling initiatives on moral grounds are finding fewer allies and less fervor in the pews. [How Good Is the Trump Economy, Really?]( By NEIL IRWIN It depends on whether you look at the level, the direction or the rate of change — three concepts that are often conflated. [Bodies of people who were said to have been killed in an attack by the Shabab in Somalia last month.]( [Quick Evacuation in Somalia Firefight Shows Disparity in U.S. Resources in Africa]( By ERIC SCHMITT AND THOMAS GIBBONS-NEFF A medical helicopter arrived within minutes to evacuate wounded American commandos after they came under fire from militants. [Kim Jong-un of North Korea, left, meeting with President Xi Jinping in the Chinese city of Dalian last month.]( [Before Kim Meets Trump, China Gets Jittery About North Korea’s Intentions]( By JANE PERLEZ Pyongyang has depended on but also resented Beijing. Now, China appears to fear that the North may seek to counterbalance its influence by embracing America. [German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke with President Trump during the Group of 7 summit meeting on Saturday. The photo quickly went viral.]( [A Trump Photo Goes Viral, and the World Enters a Caption Contest]( By MATT STEVENS A photo of the G-7 summit in Canada posted by Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany showed her staring down an arms-crossed U.S. president, and the internet had a field day. [President Trump is the first president since 1941 not to name a science adviser.]( [In the Trump Administration, Science Is Unwelcome. So Is Advice.]( By CORAL DAVENPORT As the president prepares for nuclear talks, he lacks a close adviser with nuclear expertise. It’s one example of a marginalization of science in shaping federal policy. [Former vice president Joseph R. Biden Jr. introduces Gov. Andrew Cuomo at the state Democratic convention in May.]( [The First 2020 Race Is Underway: Scrambling for New York Donors]( By SHANE GOLDMACHER Democrats with national ambitions have already been blitzing New York City, one of the densest concentrations of Democratic wealth in the country. LIKE THIS EMAIL? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up [here](. And consider [subscribing to get unlimited access to nytimes.com and our apps.]( ADVERTISEMENT HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [washington-newsletter@nytimes.com](mailto:washington-newsletter@nytimes.com?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback). FOLLOW NYTimes [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@NYTPolitics]( Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »](  | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps for just $9.99. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's First Draft newsletter. 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