While President Trump was busily packing his spray tan accessories for his trip to Vietnam to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in a second face-to-face summit meeting, he took the time to publically muse on the upcoming talks as well as the role that China has played as an intermediary in the discussions.
Very productive talks yesterday with China on Trade. Will continue today! I will be leaving for Hanoi, Vietnam, early tomorrow for a Summit with Kim Jong Un of North Korea, where we both expect a continuation of the progress made at first Summit in Singapore. Denuclearization?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2019
President Xi of China has been very helpful in his support of my meeting with Kim Jong Un. The last thing China wants are large scale nuclear weapons right next door. Sanctions placed on the border by China and Russia have been very helpful. Great relationship with Chairman Kim!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2019
Chairman Kim realizes, perhaps better than anyone else, that without nuclear weapons, his country could fast become one of the great economic powers anywhere in the World. Because of its location and people (and him), it has more potential for rapid growth than any other nation!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2019
Trump’s carrot-dangling flattery of a murderous despot stands in stark contrast to the threats and insults he hurled at Kim before the previous summit with the North Korean Supreme Leader he had once dubbed “Rocket Man” and threatened with “fire and fury.” Of course, that was before they met in person and “fell in love.”
Since that first summit — which Trump declared a grand success and decided that he deserved a Nobel Peace Prize for merely participating — North Korea has refrained from further nuclear weapons testing. However, observers have noted that there are few signs of the denuclearization that was supposedly negotiated and that both Pyongyang and Beijing derived greater benefits from the talks than the U.S. has.
With Trump convinced that he knows more about diplomacy and North Korea than any of the career diplomats in the State Department or the experienced policy experts in the intelligence community, he sent out another defiant tweet this morning sarcastically attacking the detractors who see a president so far in over his head and out of his element in the defense of Amerca’s national security that he presents a clear and present danger to our nation.
So funny to watch people who have failed for years, they got NOTHING, telling me how to negotiate with North Korea. But thanks anyway!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2019
It’s typical of President Trump to declare that he is the only person with the unique deal-making skills to solve the issue of North Korea’s nuclear threat.
However, with his negotiating “talents” so obviously rooted in hype thoroughly undermined by his actual track record as a failed businessman with multiple bankruptcies and a cloud of accusation of fraud and tax evasion hanging over his head, America should be much more concerned about what Trump will concede to the wily North Korean Supreme Leader than it has been so far.
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