Well, gosh! If you haven’t heard already, Donald Trump has a potty mouth and called shithole countries shithole countries. Having visited quite a few of them on the job, I can’t disagree. I’ve been known more than once to use the phrase “third world shitholes” when referring to my work travels. Somehow, no one thought to call me a racist when I did so, but because it’s EVILTRUMPHITLER, the public outrageary is palpable.

Even Joe “it’s a big fucking deal” Biden got into the fray, claiming the “shithole” comment was not presidential. That’s not how a President of the United States should act, Biden claimed in a Tweet. But this, of course, is OK, because Biden was only VPOTUS at the time.

Of course, while the nation was outraged at the unpresidential behavior and the ostensible RAAAAAACIIIIISM, some pretty critical developments fell by the wayside.

The Trump administration de-certified the Iran deal. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) offered Iran some sanctions relief in exchange for an agreement to eliminate its stockpile of medium-enriched uranium, cut its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98%, and reduce the number of its gas centrifuges for 13 years. Iran also agreed not to build any new heavy-water facilities during this time. Trump told our European allies that the deal provides far too much sanctions relief in exchange for far too few curbs on Iran’s nuclear activities.

To quote Joe Biden, it’s a “big fucking deal.” Negotiations need to walk a tightrope. Push too much, and Iran walks away from the deal, and accelerates its development of nuclear weapons, economic sanctions be damned. Iran has already shown it couldn’t give less of a flying rat’s ass about its weak economy, its people, or the impact of said economy on their lives.

But hey, the President said some countries in the world were “shitholes” and that makes him racist, right? Even though unemployment among African Americans during Trump’s first term has fallen to its lowest rate in decades. All that shit is unimportant. He’s still a RAAAAACIIIST, according to the left – unlike their hero FDR in front of whom they genuflect to fellate his desiccated sausage, who stuck a bunch of foreigners into camps. And unlike El-Bee-Jay, who regularly dropped the N-bomb when referring to black people. That’s OK too, because, he signed the Civil Rights Act, despite calling it “the N****r Bill.”

You know what else happened while the country was outraged? China reported its highest trade surplus with the United States yet, bolstering Trump’s claims about a massive imbalance. Angela Merkel took a big step toward forming a coalition and cementing her next term as German chancellor, which will have a big effect on the country’s – and really the EU’s migration policies.

Domestically, Republican Martha McSally has joined the race for Arizona’s U.S. Senate seat. If you don’t know who she is, you might want to look her up.

“I will gladly work with our president” on issues including defense and immigration, she said, pledging to never use “the droning, empty platitudes of the politically correct.”

Ms. McSally, an Air Force veteran who was the first female fighter pilot to fly in combat, enters the race as the clear favorite of mainstream Republicans. A general election featuring her against Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, the front-runner for her party’s nomination, would be one of the most competitive Senate races of the year.

McSally also successfully challenged the military policy that required U.S. and U.K. servicewomen stationed in Saudi Arabia to cover themselves when traveling off base. At the time of the lawsuit McSally – a Major (O-4) and the highest ranking female fighter pilot in the Air Force – alleged “the regulations required her to send the message that she believes women are subservient to men.”

This is a woman who is used to challenging bullshit, and I bet she will do so in Washington, without toeing the line for ANYONE!

McSally will face Joe Arpaio in the primary. This is also a pretty big deal. The race will determine who will fill Jeff Flake’s seat in the Senate. We need a strong, conservative coalition and a sure fire winner in that seat. But hey, outrageary over the world’s shitholes is much more important, right?

Oh, and by the way, Trump canceled a state visit to the UK to formally open the new U.S. embassy in London. This is also a pretty “big fucking deal.”

Why?

Well, we are supposed to have a special relationship with the Brits. We are two of the biggest NATO allies. We share intelligence. We have close political, social, economic, and military ties. And this particular move gave the Russians a reason to crow about the decline of these close ties. Considering the Russians consider NATO (and ultimately, the United States) their most significant national security threat, advancing the message that the strongest relationship in the transatlantic alliance is in trouble can give them an advantage in promoting false messages to its former Soviet states and other Eastern bloc countries. The alliance isn’t strong enough to defend you. The alliance is falling apart. You should sidle closer to your old buddies in the Kremlin.

The second- and third-order effects could be significant, and the relationship bears watching, no matter why the visit was canceled (reasons range from London Mayor Sadiq Khan being a pernicious dick drip to the costs of security measures).

Oh, and it’s entirely possible that FBI official Peter Strzok and his piece of ass Lisa Page leaked sensitive information about the Russia counterintelligence investigation to the press. Text messages between the two, which were reviewed by The Hill, show they discussed how they might make it appear they “innocently” discovered the article using news alerts or similar means.

But hey, leaks aren’t important either, because Trump is RAAAACIIIIIIIST, right?

Lots was going on while the country was chasing a bright, shiny object like a bunch of cats high on catnip. Outrage is apparently more important than actual news, and situational awareness about what’s going on in the world needs to take a backseat to deranged indignation about Trump having used a word in private that I would bet millions of people have used in the past when escaping the numerous countries Trump appeared to have been referencing to come to America.

Hell, I used it about my former homeland!

But hey, while the country was focused on the latest outrage, shit happened, and no one seems to care.