‘Rocket Man’ and some ‘very fine’ neo-Nazis in Charlottesville

In the latest instalment of our series recapping an unprecedented presidency, Joe Sommerlad looks at an absurd war of words with Pyongyang and Trump’s failure to condemn tragic far-right violence at home

White nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the alt-right clash with counter-protesters in Virginia (Getty)

Donald Trump’s feud with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un would escalate further in the summer of 2017, with the president reacting to the latest defiant missile launch by asking on Twitter on Independence Day: “Does this guy have anything better to do with his life?”

For a man who would later prove to have spent no fewer than one day in five of his presidency on the golf course, this was rich.

Trump’s rhetoric would become even more waspish on 8 August after Pyongyang said it would subject the US to “thousands-fold” revenge for its latest round of diplomatic sanctions.