Photo: Getty 
 
 President Trump gave a speech at the United Nations in September of 2017 where he famously called Kim Jong Un, “rocket man.” Now, in one of the most bizarre stories we’ve heard this week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will deliver a CD of Elton John’s song “Rocket Man” to the North Korean dictator today. Our world is truly beyond parody. 
 
 
 
 When President Trump and Kim met during their historic photo-op on June 12th, Trump reportedly asked Kim if he’d ever heard Elton John’s 1972 hit song. According to the South Korean media outlet Chosun Ilbo, the 34-year-old Kim replied that he’s never heard “Rocket Man.” So now Trump is sending a signed copy of the CD to Kim. Not signed by Elton John, mind you. The CD is reportedly signed by Donald Trump. 
 
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 Trump repeatedly called Kim both “rocket man” and “little rocket man” on Twitter and at his “campaign-style” neo-fascist rallies over the past year. 
 
 Mike Pompeo arrived in North Korea today for a two-day planning visit with officials from North Korea. The meeting is the third for Pompeo as they begin to lay the groundwork for another meeting between Trump and Kim. But skeptics wonder if this next meeting will actually accomplish anything. 
 
 So far, the United States is the only side that has given any concessions by agreeing to cease military drills in the region. North Korea has supposedly agreed to work towards denuclearization, something the country has agreed to many times before but never actually done. Experts have been cautiously optimistic that the meetings have staved off a Trump-created crisis, as he’s repeatedly threatened war against North Korea. But they also worry that Trump is setting expectations for disarmament that won’t be met. 
 
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 Photo: AP 
 
 “On this trip, I’m seeking to fill in some details on those commitments and continue the momentum toward implementation of what the two leaders promised each other and the world,” Secretary Pompeo said in a written statement from the State Department. “I expect that (North Korea) is ready to do the same.” 
 
 
 
 For whatever it’s worth, Rocket Man is a damn good song. But Elton John hasn’t given Trump any kind of endorsement. 
 
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 Trump’s obsession with the song “Rocket Man” predates his presidency. Trump used the song repeatedly during his 2016 campaign at numerous rallies. But Elton John insists he never gave permission for use of the song. 
 
 “I don’t really want my music to be involved in anything to do with an American election campaign. I’m British,” Elton John said at the time. “I’ve met Donald Trump, he was very nice to me, it’s nothing personal, his political views are his own, mine are very different, I’m not a Republican in a million years.” 
 
 [Chosun Ilbo] 
 
 Update, July 7, 2018, 11:10am: The U.S. State Department has come out denying that this story is true. 
 
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 From the Washington Post: 
 
 Speaking as Pompeo arrived in Tokyo, Nauert told reporters that the only thing Pompeo had left in Pyongyang was a letter to the North Korean leader from President Trump. “He didn’t leave anything behind other than a letter,” Nauert said. 
 
 But when Pompeo was asked about the CD directly he didn’t confirm or deny the story: 
 
 Pompeo was asked about the CD earlier by a journalist accompanying him to North Korea; the secretary of state laughed but did not confirm or deny the report. 
 
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 So, I guess, make of that what you will. 
 
 Update, July 10, 2018: President Trump has confirmed the existence of the CD but said that Pompeo didn’t deliver it yet. 
 
 “They didn’t give it. I have it for him. They didn’t give it. But it will be given at a different period,” Trump told pool reporters before departing for Europe this morning. “I actually do have a little gift for him, but you’ll find out what that gift is when I give it.” ||||| Donald Trump applauds while delivering a State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018. 
 
 Donald Trump made his way to Great Falls, Montana, on Thursday (July 5), primarily to slam Democratic Sen. Jon Tester and accuse him of failing to live up to his promises in Washington. 
 
 However, among the digs at Tester, Trump made a particularly interesting comment, originally noted by Deadline. He compared his oral skills to the talent of the great Elton John. "I’ve broken more Elton John [attendance] records, and I don’t have a musical instrument," he boasted. "I don’t have a guitar, or an organ. This is my only musical instrument–the mouth–and hopefully the brain is attached to the mouth. The brain is so much more important.” 
 
 The President and the music icon have had a bit of history during the 2016 campaign. Trump used "Rocket Man" during a lot of his rallies, and often refers to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un as the song title. 
 
 “I don’t really want my music to be involved in anything to do with an American election campaign. I’m British,” John told The Guardian at the time. “I’ve met Donald Trump, he was very nice to me, it’s nothing personal, his political views are his own, mine are very different, I’m not a Republican in a million years.” ||||| When Mike Pompeo meets Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang, he will reportedly attempt to smooth a path towards denuclearisation with a gift that playfully references a low point in relations between the North Korean leader and Donald Trump: a CD of Elton John’s Rocket Man. 
 
 
 
 The US secretary of state will present Kim with the CD along with a letter from Trump, who memorably turned the song’s title into an epithet after the North stepped up its ballistic missile tests last year. 
 
 Play Video 2:26 Trump: I’ll handle ‘little rocket man’ Kim Jong-un – video 
 
 Quoting unnamed sources in Washington, South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper said the gifts reflected Trump’s belief that Kim would follow through on commitments the leaders agreed at their summit in Singapore last month. 
 
 Several times last year, Trump referred to the dictator as “little rocket man,” while Kim reciprocated by labelling the president a “mentally deranged dotard”. 
 
 Trump raised the rocket man reference during their meeting, the newspaper said. Kim said he had never heard the song, it added, prompting the president to ask Pompeo to take the CD with him to Pyongyang on what is his third trip to North Korea since April. 
 
 Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) Next stop: Pyongyang. I look forward to continuing my meetings with North Korean leaders. There's much hard work ahead but peace is worth the effort. pic.twitter.com/eozwL3Mx28 
 
 Pompeo was met on Friday at Pyongyang airport by Kim Yong-chol, a senior ruling party official and former intelligence chief, and foreign minister Ri Yong Ho. While still en route, his spokeswoman Heather Nauert said he was “seeking to fill in some details on these [denuclearisation] commitments and continue the momentum towards implementation of what the two leaders promised each other and the world. I expect that the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] is ready to do the same.” 
 
 The CD is not the first bizarre White House offering to Pyongyang. During their summit, the US and North Korean delegations watched a four-minute video, made in the style of a Hollywood trailer, setting out the North’s stark choice: conflict with a powerful enemy or a peaceful and prosperous future as America’s (denuclearised) partner. The film, a copy of which was given to Kim, casts him and Trump as the architects of a new chapter in world history – “two men, two leaders, one destiny”. 
 
 As concerns grow that North Korea is upgrading its nuclear capability, despite agreeing to work towards the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, Pompeo said he expected the North to “fill in some details” outlined in the leaders’ Singapore declaration. 
 
 Pompeo said: “Since the summit the consultations have continued. On this trip I’m seeking to fill in some details on these commitments and continue the momentum towards implementation of what the two leaders promised each other and the world. I expect that [North Korea] is ready to do the same.” 
 
 In an earlier tweet Pompeo said Trump believes Kim wants a “different, brighter future” for North Koreans. “I spoke with @POTUS while we were both in the air. The President told me he believes that Chairman Kim sees a different, brighter future for the people of North Korea. We both hope that’s true,” he said. ||||| U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo left for North Korea on Thursday for denuclearization talks and brought two gifts for leader Kim Jong-un. One is a letter from U.S. President Donald Trump and the other an Elton John CD with his song "Rocket Man." Sources in Washington said the gifts reflect Trump's expectations that Kim will follow through on the pledges in an agreement the two signed at their summit. 
 
 
 
 One diplomatic source in Washington said, "The 'Rocket Man' CD was the subject of discussion during Trump's lunch with Kim. Kim mentioned that Trump referred to him as 'rocket man' when tensions ran high last year" after a series of nuclear tests and missile launches by the North. "Trump then asked Kim if he knew the song and Kim said no." Trump remembered the conversation and told Pompeo to take a CD with the song for Kim. He reportedly wrote a message on it and signed it. Pompeo arrives in Pyongyang on Friday for a two-day visit. This is his third trip to North Korea. He is accompanied by Sung Kim, the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines and seasoned nuclear negotiator, Allison Hooker, a National Security Council adviser, Randall Schriver, an assistant secretary of defense for Asia Pacific security affairs, and Andrew Kim, the head of the CIA's Korea Mission Center. Six reporters are also on the plane. 
 
 U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo boards a plane at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on Thursday. /AP-Yonhap 
 
 Trump softened his approach to denuclearization since the summit. Reuters on Wednesday said Trump appears to have "shelved an 'all or nothing' approach to North Korean denuclearization. The U.S. State Department furtively shifted its insistence on a complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization (CVID) to a finally, fully-verified denuclearization (FFVD) after the North bristled against the former approach. Pompeo is expected to discuss the return of the remains of U.S. soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean War. Although the North agreed to return their remains, details need to be ironed out, and North Korea has not yet taken delivery of some 100 coffins that are waiting at the border. The two sides will also discuss the timing of the North's dismantlement of the Tongchang-ri missile engine test site and whether to allow U.S. monitors to observe the process. 
 
 From left, Andrew Kim, Sung Kim, Allison Hooker and Randall Schriver 
 
 But the key is whether Pompeo can get Kim to act on his vague denuclearization pledge, agreeing to dismantle a specified amount of nuclear warheads by a given date. U.S. officials remain skeptical whether Pompeo's visit will produce palpable results. North Korea experts in Washington are unconvinced of the North's sincerity, and U.S. intelligence reports leaked last week suggest that North Korea is hiding nuclear facilities and suggest it has no real intention of giving up its nuclear arsenal. Read this article in Korean ||||| Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Trump tweets about North Korea's 'Rocket Man,' dings Hillary Clinton again 
 
 President Donald Trump began Sunday with a stream of tweets taking a dig at North Korea's leader, referring to him as "Rocket Man"; soaking up the praise of his supporters; correcting a typo from Saturday night; and targeting two of his favorite foils: former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and The New York Times. 
 
 "I spoke with President Moon of South Korea last night. Asked him how Rocket Man is doing. Long gas lines forming in North Korea. Too bad!" the president tweeted. 
 
 Story Continued Below 
 
 Trump was referring to Moon Jae-in, the leader of South Korea, and Kim Jong Un, the North Korean strongman who has been pursuing the ability to launch missiles at any and all enemies. Presumably the "Rocket Man" reference was to the Elton John song from 1972. 
 
 The president also retweeted a Twitter post from Daily Mail U.S. Political Editor David Martosko criticizing a former New York Times reporter for writing that Trump was "not sending a great signal on child labor" by allowing an 11-year-old volunteer to mow the Rose Garden lawn on Friday. POLITICO previously reported that Martosko once talked with senior Trump administration officials about joining the White House's communications shop. 
 
 Just minutes before, Trump sent a note of thanks to someone named Lana Del Fenty for tweeting "we love and support Trump!" — and she responded in kind with thanks and surprise ("My phone can't handle all of this omg"). It was not clear why the president singled her out for praise. 
 
 As with past tweetstorms, the commander in chief could not resist the opportunity to criticize Clinton, who is back in the news with the release of her campaign memoir, "What Happened." The president retweeted a meme depicting him swinging at a golf ball that knocks Clinton down as she prepares to board a plane. Trump has stepped up his criticism of Clinton since the release of her memoir. 
 
 Playbook Power Briefing Sign up for our must-read newsletter on what's driving the afternoon in Washington. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. 
 
 The president also retweeted a handful of other memes, including a map depicting him winning every single state in 2020. 
 
 A little over an hour after it began, Trump signaled that he had "Important meetings and calls scheduled for today" and after two more retweets, this time about his travel ban, the president's feed went silent again. ||||| Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler is demanding President Donald Trump stop using the band’s songs at rallies, like the one held at the Charleston Civic Center in West Virginia on Tuesday (August 21). The band’s 1993 hit “Livin’ on the Edge” was played as Trump devotees entered the venue, which has a capacity of 13,500. Tyler has in turn sent a “cease and desist” letter through his attorney Dina LaPolt to the White House accusing the President of willful infringement in broadcasting the song, which was written by Tyler, Joe Perry and Mark Hudson. 
 
 Citing the Lanham Act, which prohibits “any false designation or misleading description or representation of fact … likely to cause confusion … as to the affiliation, connection, or association of such person with another person,” Tyler’s attorney contends that playing an Aerosmith song in a public arena gives the false impression that Tyler is endorsing Trump’s presidency. 
 
 The matter has come up previously with another Aerosmith song, “Dream On,” which Trump used during his 2015 election campaign. Following a similar letter stating, “Trump for President needs our client’s express written permission in order to use his music” and that the campaign “was violating Mr. Tyler’s copyright,” BMI drove the point home and pulled the public performance rights for the song. Public performance rights for “Livin’ on the Edge” are administered by ASCAP. 
 
 The scene in WV before Trump’s rally. Aerosmith’s “Livin’ on the edge” playing. pic.twitter.com/HW1qr9TBgE — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 21, 2018 
 
 During the rally, President Trump spoke about immigration, trade and politics, peppered with his usual banter about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. 
 
 Earlier in the day, Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime former personal attorney, pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts in federal court on Tuesday, including campaign finance violations related to payments made to women who claim to have had affairs with Trump. 
 
 Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, was also found guilty Tuesday on eight of 18 counts in his federal trial over fraud charges. The case involved work Manafort did on behalf of a pro-Russian government in Ukraine. Shortly after the verdicts were announced, President Trump told reporters: “I feel badly for Paul Manafort” and called him “a good man.” 
 
 On Sunday, Aerosmith was among the top-billed acts on the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards, joining Post Malone and 21 Savage for the show’s closing performance, a medley of “Dream On” and “Toys in the Attic.” 
 
 Read portions of Tyler’s letter to the White House below: 
 
 It has come to our attention that President Donald J. Trump and/or The Trump Organization (collectively, “Mr. Trump”) have been using our client’s song “Livin’ On The Edge” in connection with political rally events (the Rallies”), including at an event held yesterday at the Charleston Civic Center in Charleston, West Virginia on August 21, 2018. As expressly outlined in the Previous Letters, Mr. Trump does not have our client’s permission to use any of our client’s music, including “Livin’ On The Edge”. 
 
 What makes this violation even more egregious is that Mr. Trump’s use of our client’s music was previously shut down, not once, but two times, during his campaign for presidency in 2015. Please see the Previous Letters sent on behalf of our client attached here as Exhibit A. Due to your receipt of the Previous Letters, such conduct is clearly willful, subjecting Mr. Trump to the maximum penalty under the law. 
 
 As we have made clear numerous times, Mr. Trump is creating the false impression that our client has given his consent for the use of his music, and even that he endorses the presidency of Mr. Trump. By using “Livin’ On The Edge” without our client’s permission, Mr. Trump is falsely implying that our client, once again, endorses his campaign and/or his presidency, as evidenced by actual confusion seen from the reactions of our client’s fans all over social media. This specifically violates Section 43 of the Lanham Act, as it “is likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake, or to deceive as to the affiliation, connection, or association of such person with another person.” 
 
 Further, as we have also made clear, Mr. Trump needs our client’s express written permission in order to use his music. We demanded Mr. Tyler’s public performance societies terminate their licenses with you in 2015 in connection with “Dream On” and any other musical compositions written or co-written by Mr. Tyler. As such, we are unaware of any remaining public performance license still in existence which grants Mr. Trump the right use his music in connection with the Rallies or any other purpose. If Mr. Trump has any such license, please forward it to our attention immediately. 
 
 In addition, Mr. Tyler’s voice is easily recognizable and central to his identity, and any use thereof wrongfully misappropriates his rights of publicity. Mr. Trump does not have any right to use the name, image, voice or likeness of our client, without his express written permission. 
 
 RELATED CONTENT: ||||| (CNN) North Korea's foreign minister has delivered a scornful response to US President Donald Trump's threat to destroy the hermit kingdom, likening it to the sound of "a dog barking." 
 
 Ri Yong Ho, who is in the US for the United Nations General Assembly, said he "felt sorry" for the President's advisers after a fiery speech to the UN on Tuesday. 
 
 In his debut address to world leaders, Trump vowed to "totally destroy" North Korea if the US was forced to defend its allies. 
 
 Referring North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by a nickname he first used in in a tweet Sunday , Trump said: "Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime." 
 
 Ri, in his country's first response to Trump's speech, was derisive. "If he was thinking he could scare us with the sound of a dog barking, that's really a dog dream," Ri told reporters outside his hotel in New York. In Korean, a dog dream is one that is absurd and makes little sense. 
 
 When asked about Trump's use of the "rocket man" nickname, Ri said: "I feel sorry for his aides." 
 
 North Korean diplomats were not present for Trump's speech. 
 
 North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, left, shakes hands with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Pak Myong Guk as he leaves the Pyongyang Airport on Tuesday. 
 
 Little chance of meeting 
 
 US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is also in New York, but played down the possibility of a meeting with his North Korean counterpart. 
 
 Pyongyang and Washington do not maintain formal diplomatic relations and the presence of North Korea's top diplomat in the US could have afforded a rare chance for high-level, face-to-face dialogue. 
 
 Tillerson told reporters he did not believe he could have a "matter-of-fact discussion with North Korea because we don't know how their means of communication and behavior will be." 
 
 JUST WATCHED N. Korean FM at UN poses chance for dialogue Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH N. Korean FM at UN poses chance for dialogue 02:50 
 
 Tillerson claimed there were signs that increased international pressure on North Korea was starting to bear fruit. He said there was evidence of fuel shortages in the country after the passage of recent UN sanctions , which targeted oil imports among other things. 
 
 However, analysts pointed out that fuel shortages did not necessarily prove that sanctions were having an effect, as most North Koreans don't own cars or use fuel at anywhere near the rate of the rest of the world. 
 
 Anthony Ruggiero, an expert in the use of targeted financial measures at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, said sanctions rarely hit fast. Any lines for gas were "probably more due to the regime stockpiling fuel in anticipation that China would implement the restriction," Ruggiero, who worked at both the State Department and Treasury Department, told CNN. 
 
 Humanitarian aid 
 
 Trump is scheduled to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in Thursday, two important US allies on North Korea's doorstop. 
 
 Top of the agenda is likely to be South Korea's surprise decision to send an $8 million aid package to North Korea. The move, which runs contrary to the US and Japan's calls for an increase in economic and diplomatic pressure, marks a resumption in South Korean aid after a break of almost two years. 
 
 In statement Wednesday, the South's Unification Ministry said the decision to resume aid was in line with "the government's stance that it separates the provision of humanitarian aid from politics and it continues to provide aid to improve the humanitarian situation of North Korean residents and the quality of their lives." 
 
 The South said it planned to send $4.5 million worth of medical treatments, nursery facilities and nutritional products for children and pregnant women through the World Food Programme, and $3.5 million worth of medicinal treatments and nutritional products through UNICEF. 
 
 The precise timing and actual provision would be dependent on various factors, including "inter-Korean relations," the ministry said in a statement. 
 
 Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping about the North Korean situation in a phone call Monday, the White House said. Accounting for about 90% of North Korea's imports, Beijing is seen by many as the key to any North Korea strategy. 
 
 While China voted in favor of the two most recent UN resolutions against North Korea, Chinese diplomats have called for calm as Trump's rhetoric has heated up, and editorials in Chinese state media have continued to assail the US President's approach to diplomacy. 
 
 "It is time for the US to realize that irresponsible words and actions are backing the DPRK into a corner with no way out, and it would be a tragedy if Trump's risky game of chicken with the DPRK crosses the point of no return," read an editorial published Thursday in the People's Daily , the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party. 
 
 "Rather than hurl threats and try to pass the buck to China, the US should accept its responsibility, and do more to resolve the issue through dialogue and negotiation."
– President Trump is about to dredge up what the Guardian says was a "low point" in his relationship with Kim Jong Un, but this time around as a wry attempt to suggest "no harm, no foul" to the North Korean leader. At least, that's what appears to be the reason behind a gift Trump is reportedly giving Kim, to be delivered via Secretary of State Mike Pompeo while he's in North Korea this week: a CD with Elton John's song "Rocket Man," per the Chosun Ilbo's sources. Late last year, Trump often referred to Kim—and not in a complimentary way—as "Rocket Man" or "Little Rocket Man" in tweets and speeches, leading Kim to fire back that Trump was a "mentally deranged US dotard." Apparently the "Rocket Man" epithet came up when the two leaders met at last month's summit in Singapore, and Trump discovered that Kim had never heard the Elton John song. And so the CD (reportedly signed by Trump) ended up in Pompeo's luggage, along with a letter to Kim. Gizmodo, which calls "Rocket Man" a "damn good song," notes Trump seems fixated on the 1972 hit, which became a staple of sorts at his rallies while he was campaigning for the presidency. On Thursday, Trump once again referenced the British superstar, per Billboard, noting at a rally in Montana that "I've broken more Elton John [attendance] records, and I don't have a musical instrument. … This is my only musical instrument—the mouth—and hopefully the brain is attached to the mouth. The brain is so much more important."