The situation with North Korea, which seemed to be spiraling out of control on Monday seems to have stabilized a bit.  Unknown to most observers is the fact that the ratcheting back of the tensions and threats was the result of a direct conversation between the two antagonists, Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. White House officials have leaked a transcript of the call.

“You are a bloated, lazy, stupid oaf with a terrible haircut!”

“Hey, that’s what I was gonna say! You stole my opening line!  Did someone leak my talking points to you?”

“I will bury you in the ashes of your country and your ancestors for your insolence!”

“My weapons are much bigger — or smaller — than yours, depending on which is better!”

“My member is 5X my own body weight.”

“And mine has worn many fine actresses and models for warmth and comfort!”

“My athletic prowess is second to none — in the history of the entire world!”

“I can play a round of golf with no clubs and shoot 18 holes-in-one!”

“You are nothing but a phony, spoiled grandstander!”

“And you just inherited your wealth and power and did nothing to deserve it!”

“When you think about it, we’re pretty much alike.”

“You’re right, we are quite similar.”

“And if you’re just like me, I can’t really hate you.”

“I was never into self-loathing, either.”

“You know, you’re alright.”

“You too.”

“Should we call off the total destruction of the world?”

“Might as well.”

“But let’s keep up the rhetoric publicly for a while.”

“Why not? It does keep us in the spotlight.”

“Everybody’s talking about us and watching our every move.”

“They can’t focus on anything else.”

“That’s really great, isn’t it?”

“It sure is.”

“So we won’t really launch anything, right?”

“Well . . .”

“C’mon.”

“All right, all right.  We’ll just keep everybody off balance for a while.”

“Maybe when this whole thing dies down, we can get together.”

“Sure, that’d be great.”