Since today is Memorial Day, I'd like to begin with a remembrance of our most forgettable war, the War of 1812. How forgettable was this war? Well, its bicentennial passed by a few years ago, but the country as a whole took little notice. That's pretty forgettable, as these things are measured. In fact, only one event during this war has become what one might call (if one were in the mood for a pun) a "Key" moment, but more on that in due course.

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We've always been planning a meeting with Eastasia. What's that? Oh, wait... we've never been planning a meeting with Eastasia. Any suggestion of such a meeting has been tossed down the memory hole -- along with the commemorative coins we prematurely minted to celebrate it.

If ever there was a week to begin with a Nineteen Eighty-Four metaphor, this was the week. President Donald Trump, reportedly fearful that Kim Jong Un was on the brink of pulling out of the proposed Singapore summit meeting, decided to pre-emptively pull out of the meeting himself. It had all the flavor of a teenage girl insisting: "You can't break up with me -- I'm breaking up with you!"

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This is the fourth time in two weeks I've written about Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. And, at this point, I have to admit, I'm completely stumped. I have no idea what is going on, and no idea what to expect next. I suspect I am not alone in this position, either.

Today, Donald Trump officially pulled out of the planned summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. However, this might not be as shocking as it sounds, because North Korea was already seriously backing away from the meeting. Meaning Trump might just have cancelled a meeting that wasn't going to take place anyway, purely to get his own name in the news. It's certainly within the realm of possibility.

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Last night, Stacey Abrams moved one step closer to making history, by easily defeating Stacey Evans in the Democratic primary for governor in the state of Georgia. If she can manage an upset win in November, she will become the first African-American woman governor in American history. So it would be a big milestone not only for the voters of Georgia, but nationwide.

This has touched off a round of speculation about the race, centered on whether Abrams can actually win or not, in such a red state so deep in the South. From where I sit, though, she seems to have a pretty good chance at doing so (although it is by no means guaranteed).

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That's a rather jarring headline, because it's a rather jarring thought. Is Bernie Sanders "rigging" his own election? Sanders was not a big fan (to put it mildly) of election-rigging not so long ago, after all, so the charge is especially personal. Given the evidence, I would have to say that technically Bernie isn't trying to "rig" his own election, rather he is encouraging the voters to rig it for him -- which to some may be a distinction without a difference, but to me is a hair worth splitting.

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Donald Trump supposedly wrote a book on how to be the world's best dealmaker. He didn't actually write it, of course (hence the "supposedly"), and it's even doubtful whether he's ever even read it through, cover to cover. He's not a big reading guy, to put it as politely as possible. But the thoughts contained within The Art Of The Deal were indeed Trump's, painstakingly collected by his ghostwriter. What one has to wonder right now, though, is whether North Korea's Kim Jong Un is following Trump's dealmaking script better than Trump -- because from outside appearances, this now seems to be the case. Perhaps, unlike Trump himself, Kim Jong Un actually read (and took to heart) The Art Of The Deal.

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I have to begin with my sincerest apologies, since I know that it's Friday and everyone is looking forward to the end-of-the-week column; but circumstances beyond my control forced me to spend today dealing with my own personal offline world. We had to visit the doctor for a new cast on my wife's arm (she broke it a few weeks back, but she's doing fine), and I also had to deal with a sudden automotive emergency all afternoon. Between the two, there simply wasn't time to write a Friday column.

I know it's been an eventful and exhausting week in politics (just like all the others, these days), and there was plenty to talk about, from the C.I.A. chief's confirmation in the Senate to North Korea to the ever-spreading Trump scandals. Plus all the other stories of the week. I've always done everything I could to produce a new weekly wrapup column every Friday, and I am truly sorry I wasn't able to do so this week. I will try to keep all my notes and include at least some of it in next week's column. Until then, I promise to spend some time over the weekend catching up with answering some of the comments from all of last week. And again, my apologies for the lack of a Friday Talking Points column this week.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant

Mainstream media political pundits are often accused of focusing too much on "the horserace" aspect of elections, to the detriment of the actual issues being fought over in the race. It's so much easier to just watch the polls go up and down (and bang out an article about it) than it is to do a deep dive into what candidates are actually running on. At the most, the pundits will critique candidate television ads, always with an eye on how they are affecting the polls.

The pundits also have a few favorite storylines when it comes to assessing the two major political parties, which are trotted out every election cycle it seems (note: when it comes to assessing third-party chances, the theme of any story is inevitably: "Look at the funny candidates! How amusing!"). On the Democratic side, this usually takes the form of one or two storylines: "Democrats are divided and can't agree on one unifying message that can fit on a bumpersticker" or, conversely: "Democrats are running solely on not being Republicans." There's a third one dusted off when neither of these fit, as well: "Democrats have no new ideas."

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As astonishing as it sounds, the House of Representatives may actually take action on immigration reform before the midterm elections happen. Paul Ryan isn't too happy about this state of affairs, since his original plan was to do absolutely nothing about the problem caused by Donald Trump attempting to end the DACA program. Ryan had planned for the remainder of the year for the House to only hold votes on bills that might conceivably help Republicans out on the campaign trail, and being forced to confront immigration was definitely not part of that plan. But he may have no choice, since he is now being pushed from two different directions -- within his own caucus -- to hold such votes.

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Quixotic. Peripatetic. Mercurial. These are all ten-dollar words which could describe Donald Trump's approach to foreign policy matters. A less-fancy term might be "totally incoherent." Trump stands for nothing, has a situational approach to any individual foreign policy issue, and doesn't seem all that conversant with important details -- all of which add up to a foreign policy that his own foreign policy advisors can't predict. They are continually being caught by surprise by some off-the-cuff Trump tweet or statement, and regularly scramble to provide some sort of backup to whatever bee Trump currently has in his bonnet. It's Nixon's madman theory writ large, because even Trump's own White House has no earthly idea what he'll do or say next. At least Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger were on the same page in their madman gambit, but Trump doesn't seem to be sharing his thoughts with anyone within his administration.

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