If you ever had any doubt about the monumental un-seriousness of the Democrat party on anything, but in particular on national security, then you need look no further than a letter released by the senior Senate Democrats. (Full text here.) The letter, signed by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Bob Menendez, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, Assistant Senate Democratic Leader and Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense Ranking Member Dick Durbin, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Vice-Chair Mark Warner, Senate National Security Working Group Co-Chair Dianne Feinstein, Senate Appropriations Committee Vice-Chair and Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Ranking Member Patrick Leahy and Senate Committee on Banking Housing and Urban Affairs Ranking Member Sherrod Brown lays out a set of principles needed to gain Democrat support for any agreement. (Why the Democrats numbered all of their bullets “1” remains a mystery.)

1. Dismantle and remove every single one of North Korea’s nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons;

1. End the production and enrichment of uranium and plutonium for military purposes, and permanently dismantle North Korea’s nuclear weapons infrastructure. This includes the destruction of test sites, all nuclear weapons research and development facilities and enrichment facilities;

1. Suspend all of North Korea’s ballistic missile tests and disable, dismantle and eliminate all of North Korea’s ballistic missiles and programs.

1. Commit to robust compliance inspections including a verification regime for North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Inspections must have complete access to all nuclear related sites and facilities with real time verification of North Korean compliance.  A separate compliance regime for its chemical and biological weapons that prevents, detects and punishes cheating on the part of North Korea is also necessary.  These compliance regimes must include “anywhere, anytime” inspections and snap-back sanctions if North Korea is not in full compliance;

1. Be permanent.

These are all great ideas and I can get on board with them so long as there is a realization that this is a multi-year process and that we will not be able to hold a firm line on sanctions once North Korea begins to cooperate. In fact, the Democrat letter has the arms control progressives going batsh** crazy because they are torn between their hatred of Trump, their love of unenforceable agreements, and their fealty to the Democrat party.

Is there anyone in the country who seriously believes that Democrats are on the hard right of foreign policy, that this is what's needed to repair American standing? Is there anyone on earth who thinks this line would improve the DPRK situation? Empty, pointless posturing. https://t.co/dKf4FWQcmw

— Adam Mount (@ajmount) June 5, 2018

Incredible. This is an ill-advised attempt by the Dem leadership to get to the right of Trump. By the aggressively maximalist standard outlined in the letter, every Dem signatory would have opposed the #irandeal. https://t.co/x0JVcaAGC7

— Kingston Reif (@KingstonAReif) June 5, 2018

Here was Sen Menendez, a letter signatory, just a few weeks ago rejecting the Bolton approach and appropriately defining a less maximalist definition of success. https://t.co/EhoQjNZGcS pic.twitter.com/kEOYMFeyR9

— Kingston Reif (@KingstonAReif) June 5, 2018

https://twitter.com/NarangVipin/status/1003780728272904192

https://twitter.com/NarangVipin/status/1003781149192224768

This is simply the Democrats retaliating against Trump for leaving the Iran nuclear deal. They are backing all the things Trump didn’t like about the Iran nuclear deal, things the Democrats always claimed were not possible. When Trump can’t achieve these–and I have to say that there is a better chance of placing the North Korean nukes in Chinese custody than of the North Koreans allowing no-notice inspections of their military facilities–and settles for something less as a first step, they will pounce on the agreement and claim that Trump left the JCPOA out of spite.