It started as a satirical dart thrown to deflate Utah’s dominant culture, a little theater production put on in a Unitarian church to get people to laugh and maybe gasp a little.

Over the past 40 years, “Saturday’s Voyeur” has grown into a Salt Lake City institution, a summer delight that draws thousands to the Salt Lake Acting Company’s 200-seat theater over a good chunk of the summer — still making people laugh and, occasionally, do spit-takes into their wine glasses.

The musical, written fresh every year by Allen Nevins and Nancy Borgenicht, lampoons Utah politics and the Mormon church, often pointing out where the two are inseparable. Even the name — a goof on the straight-arrow 1970s LDS-themed musical “Saturday’s Warrior” — plays up the focus on Utah and Mormon culture.

This year, Borgenicht says, “we’ve taken the very first show and we’ve morphed it into the past meets the present.”

Several people involved in the creation and production of “Saturday’s Voyeur” — as well as past critics and a few targets of the show’s satire — talked to The Salt Lake Tribune about the show then and now.

I. In the Beginning

Nancy Borgenicht, co-writer since 1978 • “The muse hit me in 1977, when a song came into my head. … This beautiful guy, Michael Buttars, who was an actor with me at plays at Salt Lake Acting Company, was a returned missionary with these stories that were both hysterically funny and sad and painful. He also was gay. I just went running to him after the song came into my head. I said, ‘Michael, Michael, Michael, we have to do this.’”

Nancy Melich, former theater critic, The Salt Lake Tribune • “Nancy and Ed Gryska [SLAC’s artistic director then] asked me to come over to Nancy’s house. They wanted to talk about a show to be an alternative to the Days of ’47 festivities. … They went around and asked us to tell them if we had any Days of ’47 stories, or stories about picnics or anything we might have done on that holiday.”

Borgenicht • “It was a roadshow, an hour long, that had an opening prayer that was always contemporary to whatever was really happening that particular year. It was about Family Home Evening, the mission, young girls wanting to find a missionary and get married, and the wedding. That was the core of it, and it stayed the core of it for 18 years.”

Janis Bennion, audience member for 38 of the show’s 40 years • “I didn’t know what [temple] garments were, until you had the Great Salt Lake beach scene, when they’re all in their bathing suits with their garments underneath.”

Borgenicht • “They weren’t real, but still the reaction was [puts hand over open mouth].”

Justin Ivie, actor who has performed in 10 “Voyeur” productions since 2004 • In performance, those moments are gold. … You live for those moments where you go, ‘I don’t believe they just did that.’”

Christine Helfrich, longtime ‘Voyeur’ fan • “The one that’s still most memorable to me [is] this thing where the missionary is being talked to about chastity. They’re passing a banana back and forth, and talking about what happens if you touch a woman’s breast. And by the time they all touch the banana, it’s this horrible mess. … It’s funny, but it’s also tearful, because it’s so much like the #MeToo movement right now, because the consequences are all on the woman.”

Borgenicht • “It opened at the Unitarian Church, and it was off the charts. It kept extending and extending and extending and extending. At the end of it, I think it was going to be five performances, or 10. It ended up being 20.”

Melich • “I remember sitting in Eliot Hall [at the Unitarian Church], thinking this is different than most local productions. … My memory of it was it was pretty funny and pretty clever.”

Borgenicht • “[After the run,] we took my kids back to my parents’ house in New York, and I slept for four days. Then Ed Gryska said ‘We have to do this again.’ And I said, ‘Really?’”

II. Bumpy early years

SLAC, and “Voyeur,” moved to The Glass Factory Theatre in Arrow Press Square through 1982, when the company moved to its current home in a converted LDS ward house at 168 W. 500 North.

Borgenicht • “Michael Buttars left after the first year, 1978. … Becki Mecham was in it from ’78 to ’93, her iconic presence and her headdress, the temple headdress on the top of her head, kept getting bigger and bigger.” (Buttars died in 1986; Mecham died in February 2017.)

Melich • “They moved it to a Christmas show, and Nancy wrote it for the 1985-86 season.”

Borgenicht • “I’m quite proud of the 20-minute [‘Nutcracker’] ballet we did.”

Melich • “[Current co-writer] Allen Nevins joined the party in 1990. That was when they turned it into a summer show.”

Borgenicht • “Al wrote some parts in 1990, but really [started in] 1992. … Al said, ‘This has to change. This has to be new every year. It has to do that, because people have seen it.’”

Cynthia Fleming, SLAC artistic director and “Saturday’s Voyeur” director • “That’s huge, to write ‘Saturday’s Voyeur’ new every year.”

Melich • “When Allen got involved, they somehow decided it was their show. They got sideways with Salt Lake Acting Company [and Ed Gryska].”

Borgenicht • “A sort of falling out, you could call it, … when SLAC decided they didn’t want to do it anymore. … In ’92 and ’93, we were at Green Street [a pub in Trolley Square].”

Melich • “It turned more antagonistic toward the Mormon church. After a while, I said, ‘I can’t go see this anymore. It needs fresh eyes.’ It just got so mean-spirited.”

James Arrington, LDS playwright (“The Farley Family Reunion”), in a 2003 interview about “Saturday’s Voyeur” • “The pitfall of satire is that over time it tends to go for the laughs, and the laughs are in the scatological, the racist. In a culture that’s supposed to be diverse and accepting, we get up and take out our feelings that way. Pretty soon you’re just swearing and telling dirty jokes.”

Brandon Griggs, former Salt Lake Tribune arts writer • “I remember one show in the mid-1990s that contained a pointless and racist bit in which a white missionary mimicked a Japanese accent.”

Borgenicht • “For 19 years, [the Japanese missionary] LaMar Takahashi never ever raised anything over the top we heard directly, though it would now. And I still wish it were in [the play] for that very reason. … I would say there is nothing we would take back.”

“It’s always a surprise to be accused of Mormon bashing, since we don’t come from that place. We actually come from a place of, ‘We live here, we’re all Mormons.’ You’re traveling, [you tell someone] you’re from Utah. ‘Oh, are you a Mormon?’ I just say, ‘yes.’

“[Out-of-state viewers] say, ‘How do they let them do that?’ And you’re going, ‘Well, this is America.’ The perception of the church closing us down, and ‘How do you get away with this?’ … speaks to the perception of the church in our lives.”

‘Saturday’s Voyeur: Limbo’<br>Where • Salt Lake Acting Company, 168 W. 500 North, Salt Lake City<br>When • Performances run June 27-Sept. 2 (except Saturday, Aug.11); performances are at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays (except Wednesday, July 4, at 6 p.m.), and 1 and 6 p.m. Sundays. Additional performances are Tuesday, Aug 14, at 7:30 p.m., and two Saturday matinees, Aug. 18 and 25, at 2 p.m.<br>Tickets • $45 to $55 at saltlakeactingcompany.com.

III. Going topical

Borgenicht • “Whatever happened [in the news] in those years, from ’79 to ’96, was incorporated. … In 1996, which was Enid Greene, it was clear it was a huge new section, that the audience would go for it. They wanted it. They needed it.” (Greene, then a congresswoman, was embroiled in a campaign-finance scandal with her then-husband, Joe Waldholtz.)

Fleming • “We had scalpers. The first part was Enid Greene and Family Home Evening, Enid Greene growing up. The second half was when she met Joe Waldholtz, and it was all ‘Phantom of the Opera’ music. And you could tell in that moment, put on your seatbelts.” (Enid Greene Mickelsen, as she’s now known, did not return calls seeking comment.)

Dan Harrie, Salt Lake Tribune political editor • “[Nevins and Borgenicht] brought me and [some of our political reporters] in to sort of pick our brains. … When the show was ready, they sent us tickets. They said, ‘You guys and your news stories, you just wrote our scripts for us.’”

Celia R. Baker, former Salt Lake Tribune arts writer (in her review of the 25th anniversary show in 2003) • “Does [Enid Greene’s] young daughter deserve to be lampooned as a 300-pound enfant terrible? No.”

Borgenicht • “My memory is a number of people thought we went too far with Enid’s 300-pound daughter.”

Bennion • “A few years, it got a little cynical and political. It could have been the [George W.] Bush years.”

Griggs • “I remember that ‘Voyeur‘ in 2005 was pretty dark. That was the year the show toned down its usual saucy irreverence to explore the Iraq War, suicide, mental illness and polygamists taking child brides. It wasn’t that funny, and people complained. SLAC audiences appreciate social commentary, but when it comes to ‘Voyeur,’ I think they mostly just want to laugh.“

Borgenicht • “The rap year. 2005 was the dark year. There was nothing funny about that year in our lives, or in the world.”

Ralph Becker, former Salt Lake City mayor • “I enjoyed it, even being somewhat the victim of their humor. They did stuff around me as the cycling mayor, so they had me dressed up one time in Lycra. They had me in sort of a Boy Scout uniform once.”

Shannon Musgrave, dramaturg for “Saturday’s Voyeur” and former actor • “I love the year that [LDS feminist activist] Kate Kelly came, and she was in the show. She got up onstage at the end, and that was the most surreal experience I’ve ever had. She said, ‘Watching this play made me realize I’m still pretty Mormon.’” (Kelly did not respond to a request for comment.)

Fleming • “Gayle Ruzicka’s daughter came to the show and became a subscriber.”

Gayle Ruzicka, conservative activist and president of Utah Eagle Forum • “I’ve never seen it. I didn’t ever go to watch it. I’ve had some legislators who have told me [about] somebody that was playing the part of me. They’d tell me it was funny.”

Borgenicht • “She’s so often been played in drag.”

Ruzicka • “I guess if I never did anything, and just stayed home all the time and kept my mouth shut, that wouldn’t happen.”

Fleming • “For some of them, it’s an honor: ‘I finally made “Saturday’s Voyeur.”’”

IV. Putting it together

Musgrave • “I remember my first ‘Voyeur.’ You sort of have no idea what you’re in for. … The first time you’re in front of a ‘Voyeur’ audience, it blows your whole world open.”

Fleming • “We’re doing a world premiere musical in six weeks. And [most] musicals take seven years to write. … Each week is a year of work, in terms of putting it together. And then, of course, the audience comes and tells us everything. And there are more changes. And even after we open, we work to get it right.”

Eric Lee Brotherson, actor, performing his third “Voyeur” this year • “People always ask me, ‘What part are you doing this year?’ I have no idea until I show up.”

Ivie • “In many ways it’s like a traditional musical, like we spend time learning our lines word-perfect and finding the steps exactly right and polishing — and doing all those things you would do in a musical that had been workshopped over the course of years, rather than weeks. But the material is also being polished as we’re polishing the performance of it. So it’s this strange feedback loop.”

Musgrave • “Everybody on this production has to be so flexible. Even the technicians. They have to completely change designs in a heartbeat. You can’t be precious about anything.”

Fleming • “It’s so collaborative. As a director, I’m lucky if I’m five minutes ahead of the actors. A lot of times, we’re on the same page, so we’re diving into this together.”

Ivie • “I’ve never had an experience that has taught me more about how to interact with an audience, how to listen to an audience and how to respond to them. We work for six weeks, and we think we understand the show, and it really starts on the first preview when the audience comes in.”

Borgenicht • “The audience, of course, thinks the cast makes it up.”

Ivie • “There’s a certain sense of spontaneity when you watch ‘Voyeur.’ It feels very much like it’s just coming out. But it’s not. There’s so much thought behind it.”

Fleming • “It’s truly for the community. It’s what every theater in the nation strives to have. And nobody else has it. Because nobody can do what [Allen and Nancy] do. Who can write a play in a year that touches the souls and the funny bones?”

Congress can’t decide how to handle this hot potato that divides Republicans nationally. But a new poll shows that seven of every 10 Utahns now favor allowing undocumented immigrants brought into the country as children to remain here.

Debate about those “Dreamers” also is among the loudest controversies in Utah’s only close major race, between Republican U.S. Rep. Mia Love and Democratic Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams.

McAdams says Love is all talk and no action on defending Dreamers, including perhaps claiming more credit than deserved about proposals to address the issue. Love, a daughter of Haitian immigrants, says McAdams does nothing but point and blame — plus she now has a major Democrat in Congress calling her a true leader on the issue.

President Donald Trump announced last year that he would rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) started by Barack Obama, unless Congress enacted a solution by March 5. Congress has been unable to agree on a bill, but courts have blocked ending DACA for now.

A new Salt Lake Tribune/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll found that 71 percent of registered voters statewide support allowing DACA participants to remain in the country, while 20 percent are opposed and 8 percent don’t know.

Even Utah Republicans favor ‘Dreamers’ staying by 69 percent to 25 percent; Democrats do by a wider 87-10 margin; and unaffiliated voters support it by a 78-17 split.

Despite that wide support, as Love says, “I am the only member of the [Utah congressional] delegation who has been pushing for passage” of bills to allow Dreamers a pathway to citizenship, and to help Haitian refugees retain Temporary Protected Status that Trump is trying to remove.

She has tweeted that she is among the top leaders defending Dreamers.

“I have been at the forefront of pushing for action” on immigration reform,” one said. About a bill to stop separating families at the border, she tweeted, “I got these changes in the compromise bill that’s up for a vote tomorrow.”

I applaud today's #ExecutiveOrder. But this effort CANNOT stop there. I got these changes in the compromise bill that's up for a vote tomorrow. #Congress must do its job. #utpol
My full statement: https://t.co/luuui7008B

— Rep. Mia Love (@RepMiaLove) June 20, 2018

But Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., also tweeted that he was “proud to have personally authored language in the newly introduced immigration consensus bill to stop the separation of families.”

I'm proud to have personally authored language in the newly introduced immigration consensus bill to stop the separation of families. Learn more about the bill here: https://t.co/pI0xuxq38q

— Jeff Denham (@RepJeffDenham) June 20, 2018

McAdams has been steadily attacking Love for what he sees as a stream of self-promotion in immigration debates while nothing passes.

She “made one symbolic gesture on immigration and then retreated,” he tweeted last week after House votes failed but she gave a speech seeking support. “Only in Washington is failing to accomplish your goal a success. I solve problems by sitting down with people of both parties and I won’t stop until we get something done.”

Only in Washington is failing to accomplish your goal a success. I solve problems by sitting down with people of both parties and won’t stop until we get something done. Representative @MiaBLove made one symbolic gesture on immigration and then retreated. #utpol

— Ben McAdams (@BenMcAdams) June 28, 2018

Earlier he tweeted, “Rep. Love is all talk and no action. She knows Utahns disapprove of her past efforts to separate families and deport DREAMers [by such things as voting earlier to block funding for Obama immigration orders] and is desperately trying to cover her tracks during a competitive campaign.”

As deadlines approached to sign a “discharge petition” — signed by Love — to bring a bipartisan immigration bill to the House floor for a vote that was blocked by GOP leaders, McAdams complained Love wasn’t trying to round up more support but was in Utah at a fundraiser featuring House Speaker Paul Ryan.

“Instead of fighting to get support for the discharge petition in its final hour — ensuring a vote on multiple immigration bills — Rep. Love chose to fundraise with Spkr Ryan — giving power back to the DC political bosses she wants Utahns to believe she doesn’t answer to,” he tweeted.

In an interview Monday, Love fired back at McAdams.

“He’s like one of those dads who points out that the diaper is dirty, but will never do anything to clean it up,” she said. “That’s the only thing he’s good at: pointing fingers and blaming.”

She noted she was the only one in the Utah delegation to sign the discharge petition. Also, “I called out the president when he went after countries [and immigrants from them] that he believed were less desirable,” and immigrants from them, she said, referring to Trump’s notorious “s---hole countries” comment aimed at Africa and Haiti.

She added, “I have been fighting on this [immigration and Dreamers] issue for a very long time…. It’s probably the wrong battle that he’s picked with me because I didn’t need Ben to show up in a race to remind me that I am a daughter of immigrants.”

Love suggested calling Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, former chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, whom she said would back up that Love is not taking any false credit, and is a longtime leader on immigration. Fudge did that.

“No question she has been a leader,” Fudge said about Love on Monday. “She has been a leader from the beginning. On the discharge petition, she was one of the leaders. She spoke very forcefully about it on the House floor.”

Fudge added, “From the time I first met Mia when she came to Congress, I cannot remember a time she did not deal with immigration…. She talked about pathway to citizenship before it really got hot in the last six or eight months. I can’t remember a time when it wasn’t important to her.”

Andrew Roberts, McAdams’ campaign manager, downplayed those comments. He said failure to pass immigration reform is a “failure by Representative Love and a failure by Congress,” so “it is no surprise that one do-nothing member of Congress is coming to the defense of another do-nothing member of a Congress in chaos.”

About Love saying McAdams only casts blame, Roberts said McAdams “was a drafter and original signer of the Utah Compact, which was supported by the LDS Church and set the tone for immigration bills on the state level. It also called on Congress to pursue compassionate immigration reform.”

After Love complained that McAdams has not said how he would have voted on the House immigration bills, Roberts said, “Mayor McAdams would have seen the discharge petition through and voted in favor of the bipartisan DREAM Act instead of giving into party bosses and abandoning all hope of a bipartisan compromise.”

Roberts added that Love’s “failure here is inexcusable. Utahns are fed up with Love, along with Republicans and Democrats like her, working harder to promote themselves than find solutions…. It’s time to send a proven problem-solver to Congress.”

The new poll interviewed 654 registered voters statewide from June 11-18. It has a margin of error of 3.8 percent.

George Washington once observed that “No taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant.” Like most states, Utah depends primarily on a three-legged stool of more or less unpleasant taxes: the property tax, the income tax and the sales tax.

Property and income taxes seem to chafe the public most. Paying these taxes serves almost as a rite of passage into full participation in the economy and the burdens of citizenship.

But we grow up paying the sales tax, and paying it in small amounts here and there every day, so we end up taking it in stride. Whenever my children invest their allowance in a new ball or knick-knack, I always remind them to factor in sales tax.

The sales tax is accounts for 88 cents of every dollar that goes to Utah’s general fund – the money that’s most flexible in meeting the state’s changing needs. The sales tax is a key revenue source for local governments too.

The sales tax also offers an advantage to state and local governments as a means of passing on some governmental costs to visitors. Virtually every tourist who enters Utah will pay some form of sales tax, helping to cover services and infrastructure for the locals.

But it’s fair to say that among many policy analysts and economists, the sales tax is not a favorite. They usually begin by pointing out that it’s regressive. Because people with lower incomes tend to spend a greater proportion of their income on necessities — and these necessities are often subject to the sales tax — these people spend a greater proportion of their income on sales taxes.

Utah has partial exemptions on food and drugs that mitigate this issue a bit. And people with higher incomes pick up much of the slack when it’s time to pay income and property taxes.

Yet there’s another issue related to the sales tax: Revenues are not keeping pace with consumer spending. As the economy becomes more service-oriented, spending follows; but to the extent that services are going untaxed, tax revenues are slipping behind spending. In its new report The Everyday Tax, Utah Foundation revealed that this issue has been especially acute in our state. During the past 45 years, Utah has seen the nation’s second biggest decline in taxable sales as a proportion of consumer expenditures. The shift to spending on services has been a major factor.

Furthermore, in contrast to low earners, higher earners tend to put a greater proportion of their spending into untaxed services, heightening those concerns about regressivity.

Finally, there are concerns about a slipping sales tax base putting upward pressure on the sales tax rate and, in turn, the effects that may have on the overall economy and competitiveness. Utah is in the mid-range of states in terms of its combined state and local sales tax rate, though some states (including two in the West, Montana and Oregon) have no sales tax at all.

In light of these challenges, there’s a change the state could consider: broadening the sales tax base. The Everyday Tax explored the options for doing so. Under one of the approaches Utah Foundation examined, if the state broadened its sales tax base to include all personal consumption transactions, the state could drop the effective rate to 2.1 percent (from 6.2 percent currently) and generate the same amount of revenue.

It’s easier said than done. Every approach to broadening the base produces winners and losers, and none has a neutral economic impact. Furthermore, citizens are wary that efforts to broaden the base might not come with commensurate cuts in the rate. Sales tax reform is a delicate operation, fraught with economic danger, and the political hurdles can be significant.

That said, broadening the base is possible. Hawaii has the broadest base in the nation with one of the lowest rates. And broadening the base opens possibilities beyond just reducing the rate. Texas and Washington both tax many more services than Utah does and even have higher rates, though with a remarkable payoff: Neither state has an income tax.

Determining which approach to sales taxes is the least “inconvenient and unpleasant” is ultimately a matter for debate. And if policymakers intend to pursue reform soon, that debate should begin in earnest now.

Peter Reichard is president of Utah Foundation, a nonpartisan, nonprofit public policy research organization. Reach him directly at peter@utahfoundation.org and find The Everyday Tax: Sales Taxation in Utah at utahfoundation.org.

Seattle • Looking for a plastic straw to sip your soda? It’s no longer allowed in Seattle bars and restaurants.

Neither are plastic utensils in the latest push to reduce waste and prevent marine plastic pollution. Businesses that sell food or drinks won’t be allowed to offer the plastic items under a rule that went into effect Sunday.

Seattle is believed to be the first major U.S. city to ban single-use plastic straws and utensils in food service, according to Seattle Public Utilities. The eco-conscious city has been an environmental leader in the U.S., working to aggressively curb the amount of trash that goes into landfills by requiring more options that can be recycled or composted.

The city’s 5,000 restaurants — including Seattle-based Starbucks outlets — will now have to use reusable or compostable utensils, straws and cocktail picks, though the city is encouraging businesses to consider not providing straws altogether or switch to paper rather than compostable plastic straws.

“Plastic pollution is surpassing crisis levels in the world’s oceans, and I’m proud Seattle is leading the way and setting an example for the nation by enacting a plastic straw ban,” Seattle Public Utilities General Manager Mami Hara said in a statement last month.

Proposals to ban plastic straws are being considered in other cities, including New York and San Francisco.

California’s Legislature is considering statewide restrictions, but not an outright ban, on single-use plastic straws. It would block restaurants from providing straws as a default but would still allow a customer to request one. It’s passed the state Assembly and now awaits action in the Senate.

In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Theresa May announced in April a plan to ban the sale of plastic straws, drink stirrers and plastic-stemmed cotton buds. She called plastic waste “one of the greatest environmental challenges facing the world.”

Smaller cities in California, including Malibu and San Luis Obispo, have restricted the use of plastic straws. San Luis Obispo requires single-use straws only be provided in restaurants, bars and cafes when customers ask for them. City officials said most customers will say “no” if asked if they want a straw.

Business groups have opposed the idea in Hawaii, where legislation to ban plastic straws died this year, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Sunday , with the Hawaii Restaurant Association and Hawaii Food Industry Association testifying against the measure.

Seattle’s ban is part of a 2008 ordinance that requires restaurants and other food-service businesses to find recyclable or compostable alternatives to disposable containers, cups, straws, utensils and other products.

Businesses had time to work toward complying with the ban, said Jillian Henze, a spokeswoman for the Seattle Restaurant Alliance, an industry trade group.

“We’ve almost had a year to seek out products to protect the environment and give customers a good experience (with alternatives),” she said.

The city had allowed exemptions for some products until alternatives could be found. With multiple manufacturers offering alternatives, the city let the exemption for plastic utensils and straws run out over the weekend.

Environmental advocates have been pushing for restaurants and other businesses to ditch single-use straws, saying they can’t be recycled and end up in the ocean, polluting the water and harming sea life.

A “Strawless in Seattle” campaign last fall by the Lonely Whale involving more than 100 businesses voluntarily helped remove 2.3 million single-use plastic straws.

Supporters say it will take more than banning plastic straws to curb ocean pollution but that ditching them is a good first step and a way to start a conversation about waste and ocean conservation.

Seattle urged businesses to use up their existing inventory of plastic utensils and straws before Sunday. Those who weren’t able to use up their supply have been told to work with the city on a compliance schedule.

Businesses that don’t comply may face a fine of up to $250, but city officials say they will work with businesses to make the changes.

____

Associated Press writer Kathleen Ronayne in Sacramento contributed to this report.

Presidents Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump have inspired overwhelming loyalty from their party’s rank and file, probably more than any other modern president. But not in the same way.

Reagan articulated an optimistic philosophy of smaller government, lower taxes, anti-communism and traditional values that reflected what Republican voters believed. Trump has reshaped the Republican core, conjuring an anti-trade, anti-immigration party that welcomes racists and winks at dictators. To be sure, not all Republicans buy into Trump’s grim worldview, but polls show that almost 90 percent of Republicans are Trump supporters.

“Trump’s control over the grassroots base is bigger even than Reagan’s,” said Vin Weber, a major Republican player and former congressman who came to Washington in 1981 when Reagan arrived. “It’s very personal.”

There are prominent Republicans who are troubled by the cult-like following of a dark and deceitful president.

One of them is Mitch Daniels, who boasts a distinguished Republican pedigree. He was Reagan’s chief political adviser, director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush and a successful two-term Indiana governor. Before the rise of Trump, he would have been considered by knowledgeable Republicans, conservatives and moderates alike, to be a top-quality candidate for president.

But now he says this: “I feel homeless.”

The options for disaffected Republicans are bad or worse: voting for Democrats, taking on Trump or biding time until Jan. 21, 2021.

The conservative columnist George Will wrote in The Washington Post last month that Republicans should vote for Democrats this fall to check Trump’s excesses and “affirm the nation’s honor.” His point was reinforced last week when Republican congressmen, notably Jim Jordan of Ohio and Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, trotted out false accusations to attack the Federal Bureau of Investigation and smear Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in an effort to protect Trump and undermine the investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election.

But few Republican politicians would be comfortable as Democrats.

Another option is to challenge Trump. Yet most Republicans are intimidated by the president’s power to mobilize his supporters. Authentic conservatives like Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona and Rep. Mark Sanford of South Carolina were driven from office by Republican voters for merely questioning the president’s behavior and rhetoric.

Republican activist Bill Kristol says that conservatives should challenge Trump for the 2020 nomination to re-establish the economic, national-security and moral principles of the Republican Party. Kristol argues that Trump’s support among the rank and file will diminish over time. Neither Flake nor Sen. Ben Sasse, a Nebraska conservative, have ruled out taking on the incumbent in 2020.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who was beaten for the nomination by Trump in 2016, and his political adviser, John Weaver, are testing the waters for another run. A few Republicans think that the 2012 presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, who is likely to become a Utah senator after November, should lead the opposition. But don’t bet your salary on that development.

Savvy Republicans in Iowa and New Hampshire, including some who oppose Trump, are nearly unanimous in their conviction that Trump would be unbeatable today in Republican contests in their states. In New Hampshire, one of the states where Kasich ran strongly in 2016, a leading Republican candidate for an open House seat is State Sen. Andy Sanborn. Last week Sanborn sent out an appeal urging Republicans to regard their vote as a referendum on Trump. “A Never-Trumper itching to primary President Trump in 2020, Kasich is hoping conservatives like me fail,” his letter said.

The third bad option for alienated Republicans is to wait it out while working to lay a foundation for a different kind of party. The 2016 election, Daniels said, showed “how quickly politics can change; maybe it can change again.”

As a Hoosier and now president of Purdue University, Daniels is a basketball fanatic. He said Republicans could emulate the Philadelphia 76ers, the professional basketball team that suffered through three miserable years with the worst record in the National Basketball Association as they tried to build for the future. “Trust the process,” the team urged its followers.

This year they were a winning playoff team, though not a serious contender for the championship. Trusting a political process for the next 2 1/2 years doesn’t seem very appealing either.

Albert R. Hunt is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist.

London • Now that she’s “Mrs. Williams,” per the Wimbledon chair umpire, now that she’s a mother, now that she is back on tour, Serena Williams is ready to rediscover her full complement of shots and full ability to dominate.

“Not only do I expect to win,” she said Monday after picking up a victory in her first match at the All England Club in two years, “I expect to win emphatically.”

Williams found herself in a bit of a jam against 105th-ranked Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands, down by a break in the second set on a windy afternoon. And then, a five-game run and 25 minutes later, Williams had completed the 7-5, 6-3 result.

“I have such high expectations of myself,” said Williams, whose 23 Grand Slam singles championships include seven at Wimbledon, so she was seeded 25th even though her ranking is 181st following an extended absence. “I don’t go out there expecting to ‘do well’ or ‘see what happens.’ That’s just not me.”

Day 1 at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament featured some mild surprises, such as U.S. Open champion and French Open runner-up Sloane Stephens’ third first-round exit in the past five majors, and losses by No. 5 Elina Svitolina and No. 6 Grigor Dimitrov (to three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka).

Also drawing attention was eight-time Wimbledon champ Roger Federer’s new clothing sponsorship, during his easy-as-can-be victory at Centre Court.

Nothing feels as significant in tennis today, though, as what Williams does — because of what she’s accomplished in the past and because of what she’s trying to accomplish in the present, with a baby in tow. Not that she’s unique: Other mothers who won Monday included 57th-ranked Tatjana Maria of Germany, who beat Svitolina 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-1; former No. 1 and two-time Australian Open titlist Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and 120th-ranked qualifier Evgeniya Rodina of Russia.

“The tougher balance, for me, is to be able to spend time away from my son and be OK with taking, sometimes, time for myself, which is a struggle sometimes, because I really want to spend every second with him,” said Azarenka, who faces No. 7 seed Karolina Pliskova next.

Williams has won 15 matches in a row at Wimbledon, a streak that encompasses titles in 2015 and 2016, although Williams said that hadn’t occurred to her until a reporter mentioned it. The 36-year-old American sat out the tournament last year while pregnant; she gave birth to a daughter in September and married Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian in November (hence the change from “Miss Williams” over the arena microphone).

This is only Williams’ second major tournament in nearly 1½ years. She returned at the French Open in May, and won three matches there before withdrawing with an injured pectoral muscle. She went a few weeks without even attempting to serve, while healing, and insisted she wasn’t entirely sure how she’d fare with that stroke Monday.

Rus rolled her eyes at that notion after the match, saying: “I mean, she doesn’t start a tournament if she’s not prepared.”

Maybe so, but Williams double-faulted on the initial point, and dropped in some offerings in the low 80s mph, rather slow for her.

Then she revved it up, getting to 115 mph in each set.

“Serving good,” Rus observed. “Hard.”

Still, Williams had her issues. She lost her footing and tumbled at one point. She got upset by a line judge’s mistaken call that led to the replay of a point she should have won but instead lost. She was down love-30 on her serve and trailing 3-1 in the second set after a run of 7 of 8 points for Rus.

“Almost,” Rus lamented later, “like a double-break.”

Almost, but not quite.

Williams came back to hold there and wouldn’t drop another game the rest of the way, dealing better with the wind that whipped this way and that at No. 1 Court and marking terrific passing shots with those customary cries of “Come on!”

Her sister, five-time Wimbledon champion and 2017 finalist Venus, had far more trouble across the grounds at No. 2 Court, slipping to the turf a couple of times and barely moving on with a 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-1 win against Johanna Larsson of Sweden, who dropped to 0-8 at the All England Club.

The Williams siblings aren’t playing doubles in this tournament, the way they did at Roland Garros, and that’s a good thing for Mom: It gives her more time with her child.

“I felt guilty,” Williams said about her time in Paris. “I was like, ‘I haven’t seen Olympia.’ Like, ‘What am I doing?’ ... Now that I’m not playing doubles in this event, I have the day off, I think that will help.”

It might take time to figure out how to balance her job with her career, just like for many a parent.

“I’m adjusting well. I spend so much time with her every single day. We, like, literally do everything. I really don’t like being away from her,” Williams said. “I also think it’s healthy, in a way, for me to do what I need to do, be that working mom, then go back home and be the mom.”

———

More AP tennis coverage: https://www.apnews.com/tag/apf-Tennis

Wanda Barzee, who helped kidnap Elizabeth Smart in 2002, likely will remain in prison at least until 2023.

Not only did the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole decline to set a date for early release, they also will not include her eight years in federal prison as time served on state charges, according to an order released Tuesday.

Barzee has admitted to helping her husband, Brian David Mitchell, kidnap Smart from her bedroom in Salt Lake City. They held her captive for nine months before bystanders spotted the trio walking in Sandy and Smart was rescued.

She was released from a federal prison in Texas in 2016 after completing her sentence in Smart’s kidnapping.

But she also had pleaded guilty in state court to attempted kidnapping in connection to a plot to kidnap Smart’s cousin in July 2002, about a month after Mitchell and Barzee kidnapped Smart. She now is serving a one-to-15 year sentence on that charge, with her years in jail and the Utah State Hospital counting as time served — but her time in federal prison won’t count toward her state sentence, according to the board’s order.

Instead the board scheduled another review hearing for Barzee in January 2023 — just one year before she will have served her maximum sentence of 15 years.

“The first few months after being released from prison are a critical time when a person either falls back into negative habits or begins a foundation of pro social behavior,” wrote Greg Johnson, spokesman for the parole board. “The total time of incarceration and parole cannot exceed the length of the sentence. If the board holds a person to the expiration of sentence then the person is released with no supervision, parole conditions, supports, or treatment required.”

Barzee, 72, did not attend her June parole hearing. She has refused to meet with a psychiatrist at the Utah State Prison, a board member said — a mandatory requirement for parole after Barzee pleaded “guilty but mentally ill” to the attempted kidnapping charge.

The Washington Post reports:

“The Trump administration plans to detain migrant families together in custody rather than release them, according to a new court filing that suggests such detentions could last longer than the 20 days envisioned by a court settlement. ‘The government will not separate families but detain families together during the pendency of immigration proceedings when they are apprehended at or between ports of entry,’ Justice Department lawyers wrote in a legal notice to a federal judge in California who has been overseeing long-running litigation about the detention of undocumented immigrants.”

In other words, President Donald Trump is prepared to incarcerate entire families for indeterminate periods of time for what has been traditionally treated as a misdemeanor. Imagine if the administration decided “zero tolerance” for jaywalking meant you had to charge parents with a felony, keep them in detention and stick their kids in there as well. For how long? For a month? For a year? The Trump administration will not say.

The so-called Flores settlement agreement allowed the government to detain children for only 20 days. “The new filing does not explicitly say the Trump administration plans to hold families in custody beyond the 20-day limit, but by saying officials plan to detain them ‘during the pendency’ of immigration proceedings, which in many cases can last months, it implies that families will spend that time in detention.”

This is as inhumane as it is wasteful and dangerous; rather than use resources to go after drug runners and human trafficking and other serious offenses, the administration will be spending resources to stand guard over families.

Matthew Miller, former public affairs director for the Justice Department, tells me, “It seems clear they are going to first try to stretch the law and then when that fails blame a court for what is a problem of their own making.” However, Miller warns that “there is only one way out of this, and that is to back down from the unproductive and unnecessary policy that has created this entire problem.”

This is a not-very-subtle form of extortion, constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe tells me. “These plans assume legal authority the administration does not have and put desperate parents to a ‘Sophie’s choice’ between submitting to extended imprisonment together with their children if they want to pursue their asylum claims — and abandoning their children along with their claims to asylum in order to limit how long their children must suffer imprisonment.”

Leon Fresco, who served as deputy assistant attorney general for the Office of Immigration Litigation in the Obama administration, told The Post that, under the Obama administration, “officials felt it would be too cruel to present mothers with a Sophie’s choice between turning their child over to refugee resettlement authorities, or keeping them detained. ... ′ What they want to do is put the choice to the mom, separate or not separate, but make the choice so onerous that there really is no option other than to stay in family detention.’”

One cannot help but think the administration was emboldened by the Supreme Court’s recent decision on the Muslim travel ban according the president exceptional latitude in the area of national security and immigration — despite replete evidence of religious bigotry. The Supreme Court essentially said a president can slap a national security rationale on just about any action and get a pass. Trump now intends to make full use of the latitude the court gave him. If religious discrimination was no bar to presidential edicts, the administration may figure due process can be brushed aside as well.

Contrary to uninformed talk-radio babbling, those who have come here, even those who come here illegally, have constitutional rights. Holding asylum seekers and their children indefinitely because the administration adopted a harebrained zero-tolerance policy presumes that the president has extraordinary power to create crises and then “solve” them by extraordinary, draconian means. Especially with this president, this is a frightful proposition.

One suspects the audacious proposal to imprison entire families indefinitely will be rejected by lower courts. Unfortunately, we have no confidence a Trumpized Supreme Court will sustain such rulings.

Jennifer Rubin writes the Right Turn blog for The Washington Post, offering reported opinion from a center-right perspective.

DeMarcus Cousins will be ready to play at some point this season.

And when he is, the two-time defending NBA champions will be waiting.

Adding a fifth All-Star to their already glitzy lineup, the Golden State Warriors have come to terms with Cousins on a one-year, $5.3 million deal — not the biggest money move on Day 2 of the NBA free agency period, but the most intriguing. The low-risk, high-reward deal was confirmed by two people who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because nothing can yet be signed.

“5 All-Stars on 1 team.... wow,” Charlotte’s Frank Kaminsky wrote on Twitter.

Indeed, that is the case for the Warriors, who will be adding Cousins to a lineup that includes All-Stars Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, as well as a former NBA Finals MVP in Andre Iguodala.

The Warriors, predictably, were thrilled by a move that gives them a player who averaged 25.2 points last season before getting hurt and has averaged 21.5 points and 11 rebounds for his career.

“The 3rd splash Brother,” Curry tweeted.

The Warriors lost center JaVale McGee to James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday as part of the flurry of moves on Day 1 of free agency, and it took general manager Bob Myers less than a full day to replace McGee with Cousins.

The Lakers kept the moves going Monday, adding Rajon Rondo — once a playoff rival of James, and now someone who will be giving him the ball.

A person with knowledge of the negotiations confirmed to AP that Rondo had agreed to sign a one-year contract with the Lakers for $9 million. Like Cousins, Rondo was part of the New Orleans Pelicans last season. To help replace the Cousins void, the Pelicans agreed to a two-year deal with former Lakers big man Julius Randle, who will now pair with his fellow Kentucky product Anthony Davis in the New Orleans frontcourt.

So in less than 24 hours, not only did the Lakers lure James out of Cleveland — but added two players who were longtime antagonists in his annual quest to win the Eastern Conference, first by agreeing to a deal with Lance Stephenson on Sunday night and then moving Monday to convince Rondo to join what will be his sixth different NBA franchise.

James is back on vacation while the Lakers are busy building a roster around him.

“For him, it’s just business as usual,” former Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant said of James during a Monday appearance on ESPN’s “The Jump.” “He’ll come to work. He’ll work hard every single day. I’m really excited for our young players, because they get a chance to watch him work up close and so I think that speeds up their learning curve. ... I think it’s just important for ‘Bron just to be himself and continue doing what he’s been doing.”

After just over $1 billion in new contracts were agreed upon starting late Saturday night and through the official first day of free agency Sunday — with James going to the Lakers, Durant staying in Golden State, Chris Paul staying in Houston and Paul George staying in Oklahoma City, among other news — the dollar figures cooled off a bit for Day 2.

The intrigue didn’t stop, especially when the Warriors landed Cousins — basically with the money that Durant didn’t take by structuring his deal as a two-year deal with an option year.

“Got to Love the NBA,” Orlando’s Wesley Iwundu tweeted.

Also Monday, Derrick Favors agreed on a $36 million, two-year deal to stay with the Utah Jazz. Upon hearing that news, his teammates Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert reacted by quickly posting similar requests on Twitter — that being that Favors finally grabs a dinner check.

He can do that now, and then some.

JJ Redick is back with the Philadelphia 76ers, agreeing to a one-year deal worth about $12 million. Redick averaged 17.1 points and shot 42 percent from 3-point range last season with Philadelphia, when he made $23 million.

With James out of the Eastern Conference, Philadelphia believes it can make a run at getting to the NBA Finals. So does Boston — which, coincidentally, gave away the No. 9 jersey that Rondo used to wear there Monday by completing the long-expected signing of Brad Wanamaker, a guard who comes to Boston after spending the last seven seasons in Europe.

Wanamaker played his college ball at Pitt, and is coming off being selected MVP of this year’s Turkish League finals.

Anthony Tolliver changed teams again, this time going back to one of his former stops — Minnesota, which will sign him to a one-year deal worth $5.75 million. Tolliver has played for nine different franchises, and spent last season with Detroit.

The Pistons added Jose Calderon, who will reunite with his former coach Dwane Casey. Calderon signed a one-year deal for the veteran minimum of about $2.4 million. Calderon was with James in Cleveland last season.

So he’s leaving Cleveland — and so is the massive banner showing James and bearing the phrase “We Are All Witnesses.” The 10-story banner in downtown Cleveland is scheduled to be taken down by Nike later this week, even though some Clevelanders said they hoped it would remain as a tribute to James’ years with the Cavs.

Washington • A new report from a conservative news outlet says President Donald Trump is no longer seriously considering Sen. Mike Lee of Utah to replace retiring Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy.

The nonprofit arm of the Daily Caller said Monday night that Trump has narrowed his shortlist — one that included Lee at one point — to two candidates, Circuit Court Judges Brent Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. Trump has said that at least two women were in line for his choice and other reports say five people remain possibilities.

The news outlet, citing anonymous sources, said that Lee is still on the list of possible nominees but that other choices were in the latest mix and that Lee is “not a frontrunner.”

Lee’s office declined comment, though the senator has said he wouldn’t say no to the offer.

Trump met with some possible candidates this weekend at his golf resort in Bedminster, N.J., and at the White House on Monday but Lee’s spokesman Conn Carroll said he was unaware if the senator had met with the president.

As a candidate, during the 2016 election, Trump made a list of possible Supreme Court choices. Lee, a former federal prosecutor who had clerked for Associate Justice Samuel Alito at the circuit court level and at the Supreme Court, was on that list.

The Daily Caller said that Lee’s previous takes on issues ranging from Roe v. Wade and others would make it hard to swing enough Senate votes his way and the optics of him possibly voting for himself — with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., battling brain cancer and only a 51-49 GOP majority — could make him a tough pick for the high court.

Trump has said he will make his nomination on July 9.

The enormity and anticipation of Trae Young’s professional basketball debut ate into his game-day routine.

Atlanta’s prized first-round draft pick couldn’t get his usual pregame nap in. He couldn’t eat due to a healthy case of the nerves. And when a basketball player has his rhythm diverted, on or off the floor, negative results normally occur.

This isn’t an excuse for Young’s 4-of-20 shooting performance in Monday’s Utah Jazz summer league debut. Rather, it’s a look into a day in the basketball life of a franchise savior. When the Hawks acquired Young, the quicksilver point guard from Oklahoma, on draft night, miracles were expected instantly.

But they almost never happen instantly at the NBA level. Not even in summer league.

“I’m not worried, because it’s just one game,” Young said. “I missed a lot of the shots that I normally make. I knew there was a possibility of this, so it doesn’t make me too worried.”

Like for most NBA rookies — even the prized ones like Young — shooting and finishing in the paint proved to be a struggle. Young, renowned for his shooting as a freshman at Oklahoma, missed all but one of his 11 3-point attempts. He missed shots at the rim that normally fall. He found out the rude way making shots in the paint at the pro level is quite different from doing so in college.

Part of his problem against the Memphis Grizzlies, in a game the Hawks lost 103-88 at Vivint Smart Home Arena, is Young was matched up against fellow rookie Jevon Carter, a second-round pick out of West Virginia.

Last season, Carter was widely regarded as the best perimeter defender in college basketball. And with West Virginia and Oklahoma being in the same Big 12 Conference and having played against each other multiple times, Carter had familiarity against Young.

On Monday, Carter picked up where he left the rivalry, dogging Young defensively up and down the floor. He never let Young pick up a head of steam to the basket. Young struggled to beat Carter off the dribble, and he struggled to gain separation in the pick-and-roll.

“It was good to get out there and get a feel for how fast the game is going to go,” Young said. “It was the first time playing in a while, so it will definitely better as the summer league goes on. I definitely felt better in the second half.”

It wasn’t all bad for Young, however. He picked up three assists, but could’ve had more had his teammates made a few more shots. There were times he got into the lane, and found open teammates on the perimeter. He was good defensively, competitive on the ball and attentive off the ball. And it was easy to see the talent and ability when he was able to get into the open floor.

Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce lauded Young’s aggression. In a situation such as Monday, coaches look at their guy to see if there’s a lack of confidence. That wasn’t the case with Young, who stayed in attack mode for much of the game. He kept putting pressure on the rim, he took jumpers when appropriate and eventually he saw results.

“I was happy that he took 20 shots,” Pierce said. “You know that he has no trouble shooting the three. I had to talk him out of taking one. He was about to shoot one and I told him to attack.”

If Young had his struggles, Jaren Jackson Jr. was sublime. Memphis made him the No. 4 pick largely based on his high upside. But Jackson scored 29 points in his professional debut, and hit eight 3-pointers. Jackson and Young headline a number of first rounders playing in Utah’s summer league, including Jazz guard Grayson Allen, Memphis guard Lonnie Walker IV and Atlanta center Omari Spellman.

Five first rounders to watch<br>Trae Young, point guard, Atlanta Hawks • Has drawn comparisons to Stephen Curry. Should be fun to watch as the week progresses.<br>Omari Spellman, center, Atlanta Hawks • A sweet-shooting big man with athleticism.<br>Grayson Allen, shooting guard, Utah Jazz • Flashed a nice all-around game in his debut.<br>Jaren Jackson Jr., power forward, Memphis Grizzlies • Could one day be one of the better players in the league.<br>Jevon Carter, point guard, West Virginia<br>He showed well against Young on Monday.

Grayson Allen nearly registered a triple-double. Georges Niang displayed a diverse offensive skillset. Tony Bradley looked much improved.

And the Utah Jazz defeated the San Antonio Spurs 92-76 before a mostly full Vivint Smart Home Arena.

The Jazz led most of the way and pulled away midway through the second half in defeating the Spurs. They held rookie first-round pick Lonnie Walker IV to 3-of-16 shooting from the field, and generally dominated for much of the night.

Niang led the way for Utah with 17 points. Bradley, the second year center, had 11 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots. Allen, in his professional debut, had 11 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

“I wouldn’t give myself a passing grade,” Allen said of his night. “There were a lot of things I could’ve done better.”

The Jazz move to 1-0 in their summer league.

To add to Michael Kalm’s forum letter (Friday, June 29) and sum up his in-depth, truthful knowledge of Mitt Romney, here is an anagram that fits his commentary of Utah’s favorite Republican (R) son. R+MONEY = ROMNEY.

An explanation, if needed, is that he will support and praise all legislation that benefits the extremely wealthy 1 percent — money is an object of his admiration.

As a retired person receiving the benefits of Social Security and Medicare, I am part of his much-maligned 47 percent, or the “freeloaders” — defined as those who take advantage of another’s generosity without giving anything in return (guess 50 years of payroll taxes didn’t count).

It’s interesting that the majority of senior citizens in our state overwhelmingly support him, mainly because of the “R” behind his name and on the ballot, not recognizing how Romney really perceives them. But then, it truly does come down to MONEY.

If he backs legislation being considered to changes in Social Security and Medicare and continued tax breaks for the wealthy, the retirees in the 47 percent will get a lot less of it as he gets a lot more.

Muriel Wilson, South Jordan

Over the weekend, separate reports citing U.S. officials seemed to confirm what so many experts have long feared — that despite the overtures and sunny proclamations made at the Singapore summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Pyongyang probably has little interest in dismantling its nuclear program.

My colleagues Ellen Nakashima and Joby Warrick reported that evidence gathered by U.S. intelligence officials in the weeks since the June 12 summit led to the conclusion that North Korea “does not intend to fully surrender its nuclear stockpile, and instead is considering ways to conceal the number of weapons it has and secret production facilities.” Their reporting was corroborated by an earlier NBC story published Friday.

The North Koreans may have stopped missile and nuclear tests in recent months, but as one U.S. official briefed on the latest intelligence told NBC, “there’s no evidence that they are decreasing stockpiles, or that they have stopped their production. There is absolutely unequivocal evidence that they are trying to deceive the U.S.”

This line of thinking is far removed from Trump’s triumphant declarations. The president tweeted last month that there “was no longer a nuclear threat” posed by North Korea. While many of Trump’s detractors celebrated the cooling of tensions that surrounds the current phase of diplomacy, few shared his optimism about the prospects of “denuclearization.”

Trump tweeted “Just landed — a long trip, but everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office. There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea. Meeting with Kim Jong Un was an interesting and very positive experience. North Korea has great potential for the future!”

“Intelligence officials and many North Korea experts have generally taken a more cautious view, noting that leader Kim Jong Un’s vague commitment to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula is a near-echo of earlier pledges from North Korean leaders over the past two decades, even as they accelerated efforts to build nuclear weapons in secret,” Nakashima and Warrick reported.

They added that, “North Korean officials are exploring ways to deceive Washington about the number of nuclear warheads, and missiles and the types and numbers of facilities they have, believing that the United States is not aware of the full range of their activities.” While American officials believe North Korea has amassed some 65 warheads, it seems North Korea will declare far fewer.

My colleagues also reported that the North Koreans have operated “a secret underground uranium enrichment site known as Kangson,” which was first reported in May by The Washington Post. It is believed to have twice the uranium enrichment capacity of the lone enrichment facility acknowledged by Pyongyang.

On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal’s Jonathan Cheng reported that experts monitoring satellite imagery believe North Korea is also expanding a key missile-manufacturing plant, which could produce ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear payloads.

“The observed activity appears inconsistent with a North Korean intent to abandon its nuclear weapons programs,” Bruce Klingner, a former CIA analyst and North Korea expert at the Heritage Foundation, told NBC. “There seems little reason to continue expansion plans if the regime intended to dismantle them as would be required under a denuclearization agreement.”

Trump administration officials are also less bullish than the president was. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told a Senate briefing last week that Trump only believed the North Korean threat had been “reduced,” not ended. According to some reports, Pompeo may make another visit to North Korea this week for more talks.

Appearing on a number of Sunday morning news shows, national security adviser John Bolton sought to dispel concerns that the White House is being hoodwinked. There is “nobody involved in this discussion with North Korea in the administration who is overburdened by naivete,” he told Fox News.

“We know exactly what the risks are — them using negotiations to drag out the length of time they have to continue their nuclear, chemical, biological weapons programs and ballistic missiles,” Bolton told CBS. “There’s not any starry-eyed feeling among the group doing this. We’re well aware of what the North Koreans have done in the past.”

North Korea’s past behavior offered a cautionary tale for the Trump administration ahead of the Singapore summit, with Pyongyang having reneged on earlier airy promises regarding denuclearization. Trump cast himself as the American president who, this time, wouldn’t get played. Even so, the White House extracted few genuine commitments from Pyongyang while it granted Kim a moment of legitimacy on the world stage and canceled planned military exercises with South Korea.

“North Korea has made no new commitments to denuclearization, and in fact has backed away from its previous commitments,” Abraham M. Denmark, Asia Program director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, told a House committee in late June in testimony cited by my colleagues. “North Korea remains free to manufacture more nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles and other weapons of mass destruction — even though it has unilaterally frozen testing of its nuclear weapons and certain ballistic missiles. There is no deadline for them to eliminate their illegal capabilities, or even freeze their continued production.”

And now, Trump’s much-touted campaign of “maximum pressure” on North Korea appears to have run its course. China, a key North Korean interlocutor, is now edging toward a trade war with the Trump administration. It’s hard to envision Beijing squeezing Pyongyang any further on Washington’s behalf.

“A strategy of sanctions is like a cat-and-mouse game,” wrote Cho Yi-Jun, Washington correspondent for South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo. “The subject constantly looks for ways to avoid them, while the enforcing side keeps on looking for possible weaknesses. Without additional pressure, existing sanctions are useless.”

This, too, was predictable. “Having apparently helped get North Korea to the table, it is unlikely that China will ever again agree to a maximum pressure campaign,” arms control experts Vipin Narang and Ankit Panda noted on the eve of the Singapore summit. Tightening sanctions would only destabilize North Korea, and China fears a desperate and broken North Korea on its border more than it fears a nuclear North Korea. Even if sanctions by the United States and the United Nations Security Council remain in place, without additional Chinese implementation, North Korea will find itself enjoying considerable breathing space.”

In an interview with Fox Business on Sunday, Trump himself revealed a hint of skepticism: “I made a deal with him, I shook hands with him, I really believe he means it,” Trump said, referring to his encounter with Kim. “Now, is it possible? Have I been in deals, have you been in things where people didn’t work out? It’s possible.”

Ishaan Tharoor writes about foreign affairs for The Washington Post. He previously was a senior editor and correspondent at Time magazine, based first in Hong Kong and later in New York.

It’s hard to imagine a better quick story summing up the Donald Trump administration than the one that broke Sunday night about a bill the White House was preparing to, as Jonathan Swan at Axios put it, “declare America’s abandonment of fundamental World Trade Organization rules” by giving the president authority to break those rules unilaterally.

Let’s see:

• The policy is nuts; virtually all experts, both in trade and in foreign policy, believe global trade is very good for the U.S.

• In fact, according to Swan’s reporting, almost everyone in the White House thinks the bill “is unrealistic or unworkable.”

• Why does it exist, then? Because Trump ordered it, and sometimes the best way to mollify a president is to give him what he wants - very slowly, and without anything actually happening. Apparently this thing has been kicking around for months.

• The bill has virtually no chance whatsoever of being enacted into law.

• The draft bill has a title, the United States Fair and Reciprocal Tariff Act, which yields an acronym that had every Twitter wag making fart jokes Sunday night.

On that last point, political scientist Brendan Nyhan made the crucial point: There are actually two perfectly plausible explanations. The ridiculous title could be just another sign of an administration that routinely botches basic tasks; after all, official White House communications have been plagued by typos ever since Trump took office, and just a few days ago a prankster claiming to be Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., managed to get a call through to the president. But it’s equally possible it was a malicious effort to undermine the policy by someone in the White House or an executive-branch agency; all administrations leak, but none before this have leaked so often with information that looked this bad for the president.

So to summarize: The president ordered something inept; he’s not going to get what he wanted; and everyone in the administration has egg on their faces over it.

What’s even more amazing about this is that Trump seems to be oblivious to all of it. For all we know, he really thinks that North Korea is giving up its nuclear weapons (it isn’t), the border wall is under construction ( nope), and that he’s going to get his Space Force (seems extremely unlikely, even if Trump thinks wars against the Pentagon bureaucracy are good and easy to win).

He remains such a weak president that he has to select a Supreme Court nominee from a list supplied by an interest group. But he doesn’t appear to realize it - and he certainly isn’t demonstrating any ability to change the situation. Meanwhile, he’ll just keep ordering people to do things that (most of the time at least) will never happen, while the few competent people he’s somehow managed to put in place will continue to do things in his name whether he likes it or not. I could add a fart joke, but the whole thing really isn’t very funny.

—

Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics and policy. He taught political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio and DePauw University and wrote A Plain Blog About Politics.

Rep. Curtis, you are attempting to pass legislation without providing any real opportunity for all those affected to weigh in.

In January, you sponsored a bill that would make permanent President Trump’s horrible proclamation gutting Bears Ears National Monument by 85 percent without first meeting with the Native American tribes. Now you are pushing ahead with the “very fake” conservation bill for the San Rafael Swell without providing any chances for people in Utah (and beyond), who know, love and respect the place, to share our and their views.

You claim the bill is the product of “two decades of local outreach and public meetings.” I have spent more than 40 of my 79 years in Utah and have never heard of a meeting that invites input from anyone beyond the Emery County commissioner who crafted this bill.

Rep. Curtis, your bill falls short of protecting deserving wild and beautiful lands in the San Rafael Swell and fractures the lands it is intended to protect with too many roads. The Swell deserves better protection. The people of America deserve a better legislative process.

Peter Bsumek, Cottonwood Heights

The Fourth of July is a very important day for me. It is the day that I returned from Vietnam after serving 12 months in-country with the U.S. Army during 1967-68. Historians tell us that these were some of the most tumultuous years in our history.

Upon my return to Salt Lake City, I would sometimes stand on a corner of 200 South and Main Street and watch the people go by. Downtown was very busy then, and there were lots of people to observe.

I often wondered if these Americans knew what was going on in Vietnam in their name, or even cared as they lived their lives in peace. I feel the same 50 years later when I experience the anguish caused by politicians, ongoing wars, corruption and hatred. Does anyone else care?

2018 is very much like 1968, but I am glad that I went to Vietnam. I learned that no matter how dark things get, the sun will shine again. So, I will drink a beer on the Fourth at the VFW Hall for my buddies who did not come home, and in the words of the immortal Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Keep on chooglin’.”

Luciano S. Martinez, Murray

I am appalled by the lack of compassion displayed by Fred Burton’s letter to the editor of June 28. Mr. Burton asserts that the 43 percent increase in Utah suicides is a “trivial number” when one equates the corresponding increase with that of the state’s population.

I cannot comprehend how Mr. Burton and those of similar ilk can possibly feel that percentage has anything to do with suicide. Speak with someone contemplating suicide. Ask someone struggling to continue on with their life after a family member or cherished friend chooses to end their life.

I would like to share a piece of writing given to me by a young friend who has attempted suicide.

“The world is dark. I feel trapped in a deep, dark hole. I wish the words would just flow out of my mouth. Maybe then everyone would understand. My armor is damaged from fighting. A weight bears down on me, pushing me deeper into the darkness. I want to escape the darkness but I don’t know how. The light is lost. Nothing to lead me. I’m worried constantly about irrational things. Paranoia keeps me trapped in my room. Death seems like an escape but also terrifies me. I need help but what help do I need? I don’t know. I don’t seem to know anything anymore. I wonder why it is so hard to know how I feel. Save me from myself.”

Mr. Burton, tell her that she is merely a “trivial number.”

Gail Murdock, Holladay

Years before Jarrod Ramos sued the Capital Gazette for defamation, before he targeted a specific reporter with hateful emails and online threats, before he was charged with killing five people in the small newspaper’s Annapolis, Maryland, office last week, one person was living that nightmare every day.

She spoke for the first time Monday, giving an interview to the “Today” show about the harassment she endured.

“I was afraid he could show up at any point, any place ... and kill me,” she said. “I have been tormented and traumatized and terrorized for so long that it has, I think, changed the fiber of my being.”

She didn’t want her full name used; NBC identified her only as Lori and obscured her features.

The threats she detailed in court years ago forced her to move out of her hometown, to leave everyone behind, for her own safety.

If you dig deep enough, this is the root of a number of mass shootings. Whether it’s domestic violence or a failed marriage or a guy who got turned down in high school, a twisted, misogynistic streak helps fuel the violence.

The examples abound:

• James Huberty, who killed 21 people in a San Ysidro, Calif., McDonald’s in 1984, had attacked his wife and shot his family’s German shepherd in the head.

• Virginia Tech killer Seung Hui Cho was involved in at least three stalking incidents targeting women before he murdered 32 people and injured 17 in 2007.

• Before killing three people and wounding nine in 2015 at a Colorado clinic that provides abortions, Robert Dear was accused of physical abuse by at least two of his three ex-wives.

• Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida in June 2016, physically abused his wife for years, beating her for things like not finishing the laundry.

• Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old arrested in the Parkland, Florida, shooting, was reportedly despondent after a breakup in a turbulent relationship, and one school official told the New York Times that he was obsessed with another girl “to the point of stalking her.”

• And who can forget Elliot Rodger, who left a manifesto explaining in sickening detail why his 2014 rampage that left six people dead in Isla Vista, Calif., was punishment for all the women who rejected him.

Within five hours of those first shots that shattered the newsroom’s glass doors, we were reading the details of the column and lawsuit that launched Ramos’s vendetta with the Gazette.

Ramos, now 38, was a federal employee when he pursued an old classmate online. He thanked her for being the only one who was kind to him in the cruel ecosystem of high school. She didn’t remember him, but was nice and responded.

Quickly, online conversation became cruel and threatening when she didn’t respond the way he wanted her to.

“But when it seemed to me that it was turning into something that gave me a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, that he seems to think there’s some sort of relationship here that does not exist ... I tried to slowly back away from it, and he just started getting angry and vulgar to the point I had to tell him to stop,” the woman told the judge, according to the column that ran about the case in a 2011 edition of the Capital Gazette.

“And he was not OK with that. He would send me things and basically tell me, ‘You’re going to need restraining order now.’ ‘You can’t make me stop. I know all these things about you.’ ‘I’m going to tell everyone about your life.’ ”

Ramos turned his white-hot anger on the author of that column, Eric Thomas Hartley, and the newspaper. Ramos lost the defamation suit he filed.

There’s the pattern: abuse, denial, embarrassment, rage.

It’s exactly what happened in Santa Fe, Texas, just six weeks ago, said Sadie Rodriguez, whose daughter was one of the 10 people killed in another school massacre. I know you’re losing track of them. This is the one that happened in May.

Her daughter, Shana Fisher, had been the third wheel. Remember those arrangements? When a BFF gets a BAE, and the two become three, and it’s awkward sometimes?

According to the mom, who told me, through fresh, Sunday-morning tears, Dimitrios Pagourtzis made a move on his girlfriend’s BFF, her daughter.

“Four months prior to the shooting, he had forced himself on Shana, he tried to kiss her,” she said. “She is extremely shy, when you talk to her, she’d look at the floor and smile. Her ears would turn red, she was so shy.” Shana rejected Dimitrios, grossed out that her best friend’s boyfriend tried that.

That rejection, Rodriguez said, turned into four months of harassment. Sometimes it was so bad that she’d call her mom just before art class - the class she shared with the boy - pretending to be sick so she could get picked up and not face him.

Finally, she stood up for herself in class one day and loudly told him to leave her alone. It was humiliating for him, she said. The shooting followed. It was in the art room.

“My daughter is the only one that got shot twice. Once in the side, then point-blank in the head. That’s hate. He hated her,” Rodriguez said.

The case is still being investigated, and police said Dimitrios can’t remember anything from the day of the shooting. His father said he was the one being bullied at school, and investigators haven’t confirmed that Dimitrios targeted Shana. But it was enough for Rodriguez to hear his name often.

“I’m struggling myself,” she said. “Listen to your kids. You think that’s not going to happen, then it does. Listen, listen.”

It’s what Mildred Muhammad says to herself every time another shooting happens.

“No one wants to listen when it’s time to listen,” she told me last year, on the 15-year anniversary of her ex-husband’s reign of terror in the region as the D.C. sniper.

Muhammad and I spoke last fall as another shooting unfolded, this time in California, where authorities said a man identified as Kevin Neal shot people along the way to the local elementary school, killing five and injuring 10.

“Just wait for it,” Mildred said. “The connection.”

And, sure enough, it was there. Neal, police said, had killed his wife and hid her body in the floorboards before the rampage.

Petula Dvorak is a columnist for The Washington Post’s local team who writes about homeless shelters, gun control, high heels, high school choirs, the politics of parenting, jails, abortion clinics, mayors, modern families, strip clubs and gas prices, among other things. Before coming to The Post, she covered social issues, crime and courts.

I saw Jon Huntsman Jr. on a recent news clip with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and I noticed that Huntsman is serving as the current ambassador to Russia. Huntsman is too good for that job. He is a principled public servant who served his state exceptionally well. What must be going through his mind when he thinks about the many Russians in contact with Donald Trump’s people, before and after the 2016 election? And now it is revealed that there were perhaps a dozen Russians (with ties to Vladimir Putin) who attended Trump’s presidential inauguration and balls. Why were they invited, and not more Utahns?

If you think there was no possibility of collusion, then the safe, dark, self-deceiving sanctuary of sand is where you must have your head.

Gerald Lance Johannsen, Carlsbad, Calif.