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Somebody sound the Ted Cruz Comedy Alarm: Another prominent conservative figure has stumbled into the world of online attempts at humor. Vice President Mike Pence became the center of an internet comedy trend earlier this week, when a photo of him resolutely ignoring a Do Not Touch sign during a NASA tour began making the rounds. (NASA later let the VP off the hook for his daring burst of sign-defying naughtiness.)

Now, in an apparent effort to project an image of being laughed with, rather than at, Pence has joined in on the fun, claiming that Marco Rubiothat old goofster!dared him to do it. Amazingly, Pence then doubled-down, posting a Photoshopped image of himself engaging in some other dangerous touching:

And while were pretty sure this is actually the work of some vice-presidential intern, ordered to make their reproductive rights-hostile boss seem vaguely human, theres something amusing about imagining Pence putting the picture together himself:

Mother, he shouts, clicking away at the computer. Im doing it! Im meme-ing, just like the grandkids! Sounds sinful, comes the demurred response from the other room, and in his heart of hearts, Mike Pence knows his mother-wife is right. Still, he cant help himselfthe Lasso tool has him in its terrible grip. He cruises his way onto 4chan, new meme ideas bubbling into his brain. The era of vice-presidential shitposting has begun.

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Previous Great Job, Internet! Rebel Mike Pence breaks rules when Mothers not looking

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Mike Pence discovers Photoshop, humor - A.V. Club (blog)

From what we know about Vice President Mike Pence, hes not much of a risk-taker. More like a Boy Scout rule-follower to his absolute detriment, to the point where hes afraid to be alone in a room with a woman that hes not married to, and finds the Disney movie Mulan a bit too edgy.

So it was a shock to NASA, and the world, when on a visit to the Kennedy Space Center, Rebel Pence emerged. In flagrant disregard of what looks to be a message printed on a piece of white paper attached by a piece of yellow tape, the vice president clearly touched, with his unsullied hand, a piece of vague but certainly Critical Space Flight Hardware marked with a DO NOT TOUCH sign, confusingly in quotes.

A NASA source told The Verge that it looks like the vice president is touching the forward bay cover of the Orion capsule, which is exactly what it sounds like: the thing that goes over the forward bay Our source says the sign was probably there to minimize handling of the hardware. A quick cleaning of the surface and all is okay, he says.

That is an enormous relief, but our main takeaway from this now-global incident is that NASA needs much better signage.

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Rebel Mike Pence breaks rules when Mother's not looking - A.V. Club (blog)

The following students were named with high honors to the Plymouth Community Intermediate School honor roll: Morgan Adams, Emma Assiradoo, Megan Banzi, Grace Beatty, Cilla Beltran, Melanie Benner, Sophie Bergendahl, Nicholas Bodie, Alex Bova, Niko Brini, Alli Brown, William Buckley, Bridget Campbell, Adam Capozzi, Emma-Riley Cappola, Haylie Carlon, Nathalie Carlon, Eva Chase, Amanda Cherry, Alexandra Coffey, Peyton Cohane, Jenna Cook, Robert Cooney, Madison Cromwell, Deneen Curtis, Hailey Cyr, Derek Dearing, Sofia DeCola, Ella Derby, Amy Diodato, Katherine Donohoe, Nicholas Dortona, Caileigh Driscoll, Patrick Driscoll, Kayla Dunner, Tory Durette, Nicholas Durocher, Annabella Eaton, Caroline Egan, Grace Flaherty, Hannah Flockton, Samuel Gervasi, Griffin Gibbs, Alessandro Gill, Hannah Goodrich, Kylie Grassi, Caitlin Hales, Danielle Halnen, Isabella Harvey, Nicole Haugh, Luke Hodges, Brooke Holmes, Cooper Holmes, Mariah Hovey, Muhammad Imran, Ryan Joudrey, Delia Joyce, Owen Kelly, Evan Kennedy, Abigail King, Margaret Ladd, Jaden Lodi, Gabriella Lopes, Morgan Maiorano, Anne Martin, Elizabeth Martin, Eliza Mayo, Elisha Mazzilli, Sarah McCormack, Jason McGettrick, Audrey McGilvray, Jared McLaughlin, Riley McLaughlin, Grace McNeill, Edward Millette, Katherine Mindel, Ella Mitchell, Hannah Moore, Emily Murphy, Morgan Muscato, Angela Nammour, Sky Nickerson, Luke O'Brien, Celina Ohiwa, Christian Pardue, Caitlyn Petty, Karen Phan, Alana Place, Brooke Potvin, Shay Poulicakos, Donald Proctor Jr. Brenda Ramos, Kailey Reardon, Riley Robertson, Jackson Rockwell, Carly Schofield, Liam Shanahan, Amery Slover, Tyler Smith, Cassidy Sullivan, Lana Sweeney, Maddelyn Tassinari, Sarah Tessier, Matthew Thomas Jr., Maeve Tierney, Maxwell Westberg, Ava Whiting, Charlotte Woomer and Anthony Zacchini.

The following students were named with honors to the Plymouth Community Intermediate School honor roll: Rayvon Alberghini, Katherine Allen, Maxwell Allen, Aleigh Anderson, Benjamin Anderson, William Anderson, Abigail Andrade, Mary Archambault, John Arnold, Olivia Arnold, Wade Bailey, Chloe Baker, Max Balboni, Shervine Banoey, Robert Barry, Gregory Bartlett, Joshua Bates, Emma Battles, Kathleen Battles, Tyler Beatty, Madison Bell, Caitlin Belle Isle, ,Kelsey Belle Isle, ,Emma Bent, Ruby Blackwell, Ava Boyajian, Alexandra Brassil, Matthew Braun, Catherine Brennan, Enzo Brini, Alyssa Brocklesby, Dawson Brodin, Olivia Brooks, Andrew Brown, Bailey Brown, Margaret Buckley, Kalyn Burgess, Kyle Burke, Madyson Burroughs, Erin Burt, Layla Caccialini, Tayla Cahoon, Luke Camarao, Maeve Campbell, Hannah Caple, Dylan Capozzi, Jenna-Ryan Cappola, Giovanna Carchia, Jason Carman, Abby Carpenter, Kelley Carroll, Collin Chamberlain, Caroline Chambers, Darrell Chase, Maggie Cheesman, Mariah Chuong, Justin Chuong, Matthew Clayton, Charles Cleland, Juliette Clements, Landon Cluff, Samuel Coady, Harrison Colbert, Delyla Coleman, Miranda Coleman, Nathan Coleman, Aiden Colligan, Abigail Collins, Jalyn Colon, Francis Comeau, Megan Conant, Michael Condry, Lily Condry, Celia Constantino, Aubrey Corbett, Paige Cote, Seeger Creane, Ainsley Cronin, Chloe Cronin, Sunny Cunningham, Natalie Curtin, Kyle Daly, Madison Daly, Alden Daniel, Brianna Davidson, Madeline Dayie, Dylan Dearing, Samantha Demartini, Madeline Dempster, Nora Denietolis, Isabella DiAngelo, Conner Dias, Nicholas DiRito, Emily Dixon, Liliana Dockrey, Amanda Donohue, John Driscoll, Ava Drollett, Madison Dupuis, Jeffrey Dupuis, Arianna Durette, Nathan Durfee, Lindsay Dyer, Natalya Edson, Kaylee Egan, Angelise Egan, Bilal El Sammak, Kaleigh Elgar, Julliett Ellis, Kate Enos, John Enos, Sophia-Marie Eufrazio, Colin Fabry, Tyler Ferro, Hannah Ferro, Hannah Finkel, Brooke Finlay, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brennan Foley, Madison Fratus, Riley Fratus, Rowan Freidus, Ashley Freitas, Brendan French, Eleanor Furman, Nikolis Furtado, Kallissa Furtado, Tristan Gallagher, Logan Gallagher, Brigid Geezil, Taylor Gendron, Emma George, Jack George, Isabella George, Emma Gleason, Kevin Gorman, Jordyn Grant, Sarah Grant, Ava Gravina, Lanigan Greeley, Kyleigh Green, Conor Griffiths, Brenna Guiliani, Cole Guiliani, Jason Guth, Sean Hales, Reilly Hall, Ella Hall, Evan Hallissey, Abigail Halperin, Adam Halperin, Samuel Hanlon, Megan Hanna, Ryan Hannon, Emma Harrington, Abigail Harris, Kylee Hefner, Emily Henderson, Ryan Hendrix, Mary High, Wesley Hillman, Krista Hinckley, Russell Hoch, Grace Hodges, Ethan Hogan, Christian Hohulin, Jacqueline Holmes, Tristan Holmes, - HONORS,Abigail Hooper, Grace Hovey, Shaun Humberd, Liam Husband, Mary Ivan, Steven Ivan, Shea Jacobson, Jack Jarvis, Mikulas Javorsky, Emily Jenkins, Matthew Jeppe, Connor Jepson, Brianna Johnson, Andrew Jones, Lauren Joyce, Paige Joyce, Molly Joyce, Libby Kamps, Patrick Kearney, James Keefe, Aidan Keegan, Riley Keegan, James Keep, Cole Kenney, Julia King, Helena King, Caleigh Kingsley, Emily Knox, Matilde Krasner, Olivia Krause, Lucas Lacerda, Jacqueline Lawson, Camren LeBlanc, Bryan Lehmann, Aidan Lennon, Olivia Lennon, Jaymori Leonard, Jandrix Libay, Austin Littlewood, Hunter Littlewood, Mia Londo, Molly Long, Alexis Lopes-Davin, Casey Lundholm, Emily Lunney, Samuel Machado, Greta Mackintosh, Alec MacLeod, Sean Madden, Lauren Maddock, Tyler Maguire, Daniel Maines, Madison Marsh, Katie Marshall, McKenna Martin, Parker Maslowski, River Mason, Owen Mayo, Cassandra McDonough, Rachel McGahan, Heath McGilvray, Emma McIvor, Connor McLachlan, Amanda McNeely, Elizabeth Meader, Paxton Melleby, Ayden Mello, Jordan Melville, Nicholas Miller, Matthew Montville, Samantha Moore, Robert Morgan, Joseph Moriarty, Nicole Morlan, Paige Morlan, Jenna Morris, Joseph Motyka, Braeden Muir, Matthew Murphy, Dallas Murphy, Chloe Murphy, Cullen Murphy, Aidan Murray, Connor Murray, Lee-Ann Murray, Jonathan Nammour, Johnathan Nero, Brandon Nguyen, Mariah Nobles, William Norris, Allison Norwood, Kevin Norwood, Anthony Noyes, Patrick Nugent, Kaylin Nugent, Declan O'Brien, Emily O'Connell, Thomas O'Connell, Scarlett O'Farrell, Andre Owens-Butler, Catherine Pacheco, Katherine Paglia, Caroline Palladino, Kelly Palmer, Sydney Palmer, Nicholas Paolini, Angelina Papa Cruz,Sarah Paradis, Ethan Parker, Isabella Pearson, Cameren Pease, Devon Penison, Alec Peruzzi, Amber Pestana, Jacob Petrarca, Eric Piantoni, Jason Pierce, Rosa Pina, Malik Pina, Penelope Pino, Joseph Pisano, Jacob Plourde, Christopher Porter, Dakota Porter, Paige Potter, Justinne Domini Viktoria Quinanola, Colin Raeke, Aima Rashid, Maryam Rashid, Brooke Reardon, Ocean Rego, Cole Reposa, Caitlin Reynolds, Erin Richards, Emma Richer, Sean Riley, Kevin Riley, Daniel Riordan, Kayla Rippon, Ethan Rippon, Samuel Rizzo, Lillian Robertson, William Roth, Isabella Ruscio, Tyler Ryan, Katarina Salamone, Jake Salwak, Kathryn Sanford, John Sarris, Leanna Scanlan, Noelle Schneider, Ryan Sears, Cameron Shaughnessy, Patrick Shea Jr. ,Nicole Sheehan, Sabrynna Silva, Emily Silva, Kiarra Simmons, Bradlee Sorensen, Dominick Sorensen, Ryan Spinale, Mark Sten, Hannah Stone, Aniyah Stoner, Riley Stowell, Alexa Stuart, Faith Studholme, Emma Sunnerberg, Zachary Terman, Katie Tessin, Stephen Thomas, Griffin Tierney, Abigail Tirado, Kathryn Tocci, Lilah Tocci, William Toland, Francis Toledo, Grace Tomasello, Isabella Tran, Julia Trenholm, David Tripp, James Tubridy, Madalyn Turso, Skyla Twieraga, Krystal Tyrie, Mia Vagnini, Malachi Val, Jessica Varao, Riley Venezia, Caleb Vogelsang, Samhitha Vundi, Tyler Walkup, Stephen Wallace, Samuel Wallace, Peter Walsh, Isabelle Ward, Margaret Weaver, Andi Weir, Chelsea Wennerberg, Aurora Wentzell, Brooke Wetherell, Madeline Whalen, Mackenzie Whiting, Caroline Wickham, Matthew Williamson, Li-Ann Wilson, Jeremy Wilson, Skyler Wodzinski, Brooke Wood, Lucille Woomer, Caidence Worley, Aidan Wright, Lana Yee, Yuna Yi, Benjamin Young, William Zacchini Nicholas Zupperoli and Jonathan Zupperoli.

The following students were named with honorable mention to the Plymouth Community Intermediate School honor roll: Madison Alberts, Mike Andrade, Juliana Andrews, Kaylee Ariniello, David Becker, Connor Billings, Adam Blackington, Jack Boissoneau, Mary Bowden, Alec Bruneau, Emma Buckley, Hunter Byron, Kylee Carafoli, Dylan Carrigg, Alex Casagrande, Glenn Chandler, Noah Chiano, Richard Clark, Owen Clements, Shawn Colameco, Caroline Collins, Jayden Colon, Maxwell Cordeiro, Zachary Cormier, Dylan Cormier, Luiz Costa, Talita Cunha, Jonathan Dexter, Matthew DiTullio, Quinn Doyle, Amanda Drew, Justin Earle, Adam Easter, Angelique Emerson, Zoe Enokian, Sean Fabry, Kaetanno Augusto Fernandes, Avery Folloni, Adam Garcia, Lily Hayes, Khieranie Jackson, Andrew Jacobson, Alessandra Kenney, Paige Kenyon, Stephen Latorella Jr.,Joseph Levenson, Jason Long, Maria Eduarda Maia, Anthony Martin-Manning, Quinn McCabe, Noah McCullough, Mark McKay Jr., Angelique Michonski, Collin Monaghan, Kyle Newton, Bailey Norton, Amy O'Hanley, Kyle Odoms, Benjamin Oravec, Jackson Palladino, Dhruve Patel, Daniel Peixoto, Maria Eduarda Pereira, Mia Peterson, Samuel Petty, Abigail Plourde, Lilliana Porter, Richard Roos II, Abigail Rossi, Cory Russo, Christopher Schena, Edward Shea, Richard Sheppard, Janai Simmons, Isaiah Smith, Ryan Spiecher, Phoebe ten Berge, Mahkenzie Tilton, Alicia Torres, Eryn Torrey, Cameron Urquhart, Conner Vercollone, Umarah Vinson, Kelsey West, Jacob White, Caleb White, Allison Whitelaw and Michael Williams.

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Plymouth Community Intermediate School honor roll - Wicked Local Dover

President Trumps trip to Poland and the Group of 20 summit in Germany is yet another reminder that his presidency has the qualities of a three-ring circus, with activity coming from a variety of directions all at the same time and with no easy way in the moment to decide what is most important or credible.

Two events dominated the presidents European visit: his eagerly anticipated meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday and his tone-setting speech about the future of the West a day earlier in Warsaw. Each rightly drew worldwide attention. Both could prove to be potential foundational moments in the Trump presidency.

But there were other discordant moments that distracted from the big set pieces. They were a reminder of how difficult it is to find consistency or predictability in Trumps presidency. They included the presidents public equivocation about Russian interference in the 2016 election and his dissing of U.S. intelligence capabilities during a news conference in Poland, and then a bizarre and inaccurate tweet on Friday morning about John Podesta and Russian hacking hours before Trump was to see Putin.

[Podesta calls Trump our whack job president in response to error-filled tweet]

No recent meeting between world leaders came with such advance hype as the session between Trump and Putin. Thats because no relationship has been more fraught for Trump, because of Russias efforts to meddle in his behalf during the election backdropped by Trumps regular expressions of admiration for Putin.

This was more than an opportunity for Trump and Putin to get acquainted and to take a measure of each other, more than a moment for photo ops and handshakes and other trappings that often signify little. Dangers from North Koreas nuclear pursuits, the war in Syria (where the two agreed to try to enforce a cease-fire in the southwestern part of the country) and the overall fight against the Islamic State demanded serious and presumably frank discussions.

That their meeting lasted far longer than scheduled at two hours and 15 minutes, it was more than twice as long as planned was not a surprise. The leaders of the nations with the worlds biggest nuclear arsenals and with clear differences about many issues had a potential agenda that could have kept them together hours longer. The lengthy meeting was a constructive sign, given the state of the relationship.

What isnt known is what Trump, who is quick to judge the strengths and weaknesses of people, made of Putin. Did he emerge from their two hours of talks and sparring with a different impression of the Russian leader? Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the two had good chemistry. Trump is susceptible to flattery. Did he leave with a feeling that Putin was more trustworthy or less trustworthy than when he entered the room?

Then, of course, there was the elephant in the room, which was Russias role in the U.S. election. Pregame speculation questioned whether Trump would even address it face to face. He did, but there were conflicting accounts of what was said on that topic.

Tillerson said Trump had started the meeting by raising the issue of Russian interference and that Putin had offered what is his standard denial that the Russians did anything nefarious during the 2016 campaign.

Just how forcefully Trump pressed the issue Tillerson said the president brought it up more than once is so far unknown. There was no immediate indication of any softening of the sanctions imposed by the Obama administration in retaliation to the hacking, which has been a Russian goal. But the readouts suggested that Trump had no appetite for a sustained argument about Russias behavior.

As he has signaled in other interactions with other world leaders, Trump is transactional and therefore willing to look past such things as human rights abuses and other transgressions that have drawn rebukes from previous U.S. administrations as he pursues other goals. Whether that approach will produce desired results hasnt been given a full test, although it has not prompted the kind of tough action by China toward North Korea that Trump wants.

Tillerson told reporters in Hamburg that neither leader was eager to re-litigate the past, that their differences on Russian meddling were intractable and that each was looking for a way to put the relationship between these two adversaries on firmer and more positive footing.

On one key point, the accounts of the meeting were at odds. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Trump had listened to Putins denial of interference, had accepted those statements and had dismissed the investigation into Russian interference. Tillerson said Putin, despite the denials, had nonetheless agreed to talks about noninterference in U.S. elections.

[Kremlin defends account of Trump-Putin talks]

What Trump said in response to Putins denial is a critical question, given what he said the day before at a news conference. Asked by reporters on Thursday whether he fully accepted U.S. intelligence findings of Russian interference, Trump again declined to give a clear answer. I think it could very well have been Russia, but I think it could well have been other countries, he said. Trump added that a lot of people interfere and have been for some time. Nobody really knows for sure, he said.

If that is Trumps true belief, and he has said it often enough over many months to make it seem as though it is what he thinks, then how exactly did he raise the issue directly with Putin, and how forcefully did he press the case when Putin offered his denial? Having raised it with the Russian leader, is that the end of it for the president, at least in terms of what he plans to do either to punish the Russians or aggressively look to prevent a repeat performance in 2018 or 2020?

His true feelings may have come out on Friday morning when he tweeted, Everyone here is talking about why John Podesta refused to give the DNC server to the FBI and the CIA. Disgraceful! There are any number of inaccuracies in that tweet, and Podesta, on a road trip with his wife, pointed them out in a response published by The Washington Post. Trumps tweet was a reminder that, on matters related to Russia and the election, the president continues to look for diversions and digressions, raising more questions about what transpired in his meeting with Putin.

Trumps speech in Warsaw drew more positive reviews than his address to NATO when he was in Europe in May. In Poland, he unequivocally reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to Article 5 of the NATO treaty dealing with common defense. In May, he pointedly did not.

His speech was nationalistic in tone, yet different from some in the past. Critics found the speech still too dark in tone. The Economist called it a departure from past administrations, and not that far from the American carnage language of his inaugural address, a philosophy that champions closed borders and that does not celebrate pluralistic values.

More positively, the Wall Street Journal said that, in his affirmative defense of the western tradition, Trump offered the core of what could become a governing philosophy. The editorial ended with this statement, It was an important and, we hope, a defining speech for the Trump presidency and for Donald Trump himself.

That, like the question of what Trump truly thinks about Putin, Russia and the interference in American democracy, is the persistent puzzle about this president. Are speeches like the one he gave in Warsaw genuine expressions of his views or more the assembled consensus of his advisers? Are his views expressed best in readouts by advisers from his private discussions with the likes of Putin, or by what he says during his infrequent news conferences or his more frequent tweets? Answers still to come.

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Who is the real Donald Trump? - Washington Post

HAMBURG, Germany President Donald Trump's G-20 trip was dominated by news of his "very robust" first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin but other critical issues hinged on his ability to maneuver through diplomatic channels.

After a rough reception last month during the NATO summit, foreign policy experts predicted an icy reception for Trump especially as his recent policy pronouncements on climate and trade put him out of step with the other allies gathered in Germany.

But the international trip played better than that Brussels stop, according to Jamie Fly, a senior fellow with the German Marshall Fund, and Trump seemed to have "navigated some of the differences that everyone knew would exist with the Europeans."

Optics was but one of Trump's challenges, however. These five issues are the top takeaways of the summit:

Tensions over North Korea were already high before the G-20, with urgency for a resolution over how to handle the isolated nation renewed after an intercontinental ballistic missile test earlier in the week.

"Something has to be done about it," Trump reiterated at the start of a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday, adding that he appreciates what's been done by China regarding North Korea.

That's a new tone from the one Trump took days earlier, chastising China for growing their trade relations with the regime of Kim Jong Un.

"So much for China working with us but we had to give it a try!" Trump tweeted Wednesday.

The Xi-Trump meeting lasted over an hour and a half, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters in a plane gaggle en route to Washington. It would have lasted longer, he said, "if we didn't have to get pulled out to leave."

The White House strategy in North Korea has counted heavily on a helping hand from the Chinese, but Secretary of State Rex Tillerson described their actions Friday as "uneven."

The United States has kept the pressure on Beijing sanctioning a Chinese bank last week and excluding China from a trilateral meeting with leaders from South Korea and Japan prior to the start of the G-20. That meeting yielded a joint statement from the three countries, pressing for the early adoption of a new U.N.Security Council resolution that would put additional sanctions on North Korea to show "that there are serious consequences for its destabilizing, provocative, and escalatory actions."

U.S. bombers practiced their attack capabilities at a training range in South Korea on Friday, NBC News learned a clear show of force to the North Korean regime just days after they tested the intercontinental ballistic missile.

Local media reported that the bombers flew close to the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea, but they did not cross demarcation lines.

Perhaps the most-watched policy piece of this summit of world leaders was on climate change as it related to the Paris Climate Agreement. After a climate change session, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters Trump participated and "even made a contribution" to discussions.

But by the end of the two-day summit, America was officially standing alone.

The United States was singled out in a G-20 statement for its stance on climate issues, and the other countries took the uncharacteristic step of noting America's lone position in rebuffing the accord.

"We take note of the decision of the United States of America to withdraw from the Paris Agreement," the end-of-summit document read. "The United States of America announced it will immediately cease the implementation of its current nationally-determined contribution and affirms its strong commitment to an approach that lowers emissions while supporting economic growth and improving energy security needs."

The other G-20 leaders called the Paris Agreement "irreversible" and French President Emmanuel Macron announced an end-of-year summit in France to fete the accord's two-year signing anniversary.

But the White House balked at the idea that the statement was done to brush aside the United States.

National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn told reporters on Air Force One that "it was never a situation where there was isolated forces" as "everyone accepted" the U.S. decision to get out of the Paris Agreement early on.

Another instance that set the U.S. apart from its G-20 partners came on trade, with leaders giving an early rebuttal to possible U.S.-imposed tariffs on steel imports a decision the White House is expected to move on soon.

On Friday, European leaders were direct in their opposition. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker promised, metaphorically, that "we are prepared to take up arms if need be," but hoped it wouldn't be "actually necessary."

President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel attend a panel discussion on the second day of the G20 summit on July 8, 2017, in Hamburg, Germany. Pool / Getty Images

Experts told NBC News before the G-20 that

In closing out the summit in her home country, Merkel told reporters that G-20 leaders were clear that markets must be open, while fighting against protectionism and unfair practices.

Fly, who served on the National Security Council and in the Pentagon during the administration of George W. Bush, said the Trump administration should be cautious on the pending tariffs decision.

He told NBC News that it needs to "make sure that they're not, at the end of the day, going after countries that are really not the root of the problem on that issue."

Trade tensions, he noted, are "added to all the other emotions about Trump and about Paris Climate Agreement withdrawal that the imposition of tariffs that affect our European allies would have a very negative impact on Trans-Atlantic relations."

Tillerson announced Friday that the United States, in tandem with Russia and Jordan, agreed to a de-escalation in southwest Syria, a "first indication of the U.S. and Russia being able to work together in Syria."

National security adviser H.R. McMaster said Saturday that a "de-escalation zone" will go into effect noon local time (5 a.m. ET) Sunday.

But there have been ceasefire attempts before amid the country's civil war and questions remain over who will be monitoring the ISIS-ravaged region.

Related:

"At the end of the day, this is Syria," one senior State Department official said Friday, briefing reporters anonymously to better discuss details of the ceasefire deal and acknowledging the complications there.

The question also remains of what to do with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Tillerson has said of the country's future: "There will be a transition away from the Assad family."

The White House pledged $50 million to a new World Bank initiative geared toward breaking down barriers to female economic empowerment.

The introduction of the Ivanka Trump-backed group drew Merkel, Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the podium to praise efforts to help women around the world achieve greater success.

Trump

Ivanka Trump's White House role is nebulous, but she has consistently focused on projects that support female economic advancement. Her role in this particular initiative would not be one of a fundraiser, a senior administration official insisted, but instead, one of a global champion and advocate.

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G-20 Summit: Top Five Takeaways From Trump's Trip - NBCNews.com