June 30, 2019: Trump Still Loves Kim Jong-Un

 

6/30/19: Picking apart any president’s diplomatic moves is easy, mainly because diplomacy rarely bears fruit. It’s often sour, even if does. U.S. presidents have been working on an “Israeli-Palestinian solution” since 1967. It’s no surprise if Jared Kushner can’t work out the bugs now. Neither could anyone else. 

So, President Trump’s decision to step across the DMZ into North Korea today could work out for the good or could prove a costly mistake. Talking is better than bombing, in almost every situation. 

On the other hand, Trump’s continued friendly relations with dictators should worry even the MAGA hat crowd. Kim Jong-un is one of the most brutal leaders in the world today. By visiting with him, shaking his hand, touting the “beautiful letters” Kim writes, and even tweet-complimenting him, Trump elevates his foe on the world stage. He makes Kim look better, even at home, where North Koreans have little reason to cheer. 

North Koreans must cheer, however, or they end up locked away in Kim Jong-un’s massive gulag. 

Or: Dead.

 

So, when reporters ask, would Trump invite Kim to the White House, you wish he might be circumspect. Circumspect, he is not. “I would invite him right now…to the White House,” Trump responds. 

In a complicated world, where anything can happen, it’s possible Trump’s decision to cross the DMZ will prove a clever move. 

 

The “Trump Appeasement Tour?” 

Or it may turn out to be akin to saying, in 1938, that you’d invite Hitler to the White House. For once, this blogger will quote a Democrat to make a point. Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Oh.) labels Trump’s moves regarding North Korea, the “Trump Appeasement Tour.” That word choice is no coincidence. “Appeasement” was applied to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, after he caved in the face of Hitler’s threats, in hopes of avoiding all-out war. 

On September 1, 1939, Chamberlain and the rest of the world learned that appeasing Hitler had been a huge mistake. 

There are plenty of other worrisome signs. The president was accompanied on his latest jaunt by such key “foreign policy experts,” as daughter Ivanka and “General” Tucker Carlson of Fox News. What tangible results Trump’s photo op will bring remain hidden in shadows. There are hints his administration may agree to a nuclear “freeze” of some as-yet-to-be-determined duration. This would allow talks on North Korean denuclearization to resume. Again, talking is generally better than bombing. But you never know what Trump might do. Even Trump doesn’t know, from moment to moment, what Trump might do. If you haven’t noticed, the pace of denuclearization hasn’t accelerated since Trump plumped his fat fanny down in the White House. 

And…now Iran has announced that it has breached the accord worked out under the Obama administration. 

It is enriching uranium again. 

So: Who does Trump bomb first? Iran, which might start work on its first nuclear weapon? 

Or North Korea, which already has an estimated 20-60 nuclear devices? More to the point, does the president have a clue? In August 2017, he threatened “fire and fury like the world has never seen” if North Korea didn’t give up its weapons. 

“Vague threats of nuclear war?” Foreign Policy magazine wondered at the time. 

Then Trump and Kim talked and “fell in love.” (Imagine FDR saying he “fell in love” with Hitler.)

 

More recently, Trump launched an attack on Iran, called it back again, yo-yo style, and said he didn’t want to kill 150 Iranians because they shot down an unarmed drone. Two days later he said he’d “obliterate” Iran if they didn’t watch out. “Vague threats of nuclear war?” Again? 

Finally, Trump claimed that Mr. Obama was “constantly begging” for a meeting with the North Korean dictator when he was in charge. “Begging,” is his way of making Obama sound weak. It’s a Trump quirk. He’s compelled to downgrade predecessors, raising his status by comparison. 

So far, in terms of nuclear diplomacy, Trump has less than nothing to show for all his bluster. 

 

Of course, Kim looked “really well and very healthy.” 

Speaking of “clueless,” on his return from North Korea, Trump tweets (have complex foreign policy issues ever been resolved in 280 characters or less?) out a “plan.” 

Tweet 1: “It was great being with Chairman Kim Jong Un of North Korea this weekend. We had a great meeting, he looked really well and very healthy - I look forward to seeing him again soon....” 

Of course, Kim look’s “really well and very healthy.” He’s a maniacal killer and can stuff his face with every delicacy in the world. His starving people dare not complain. Roughly four in ten are malnourished. Near-starvation levels have caused the stunted growth of one in five North Korean boys and girls. 

Tweet 2: “...In the meantime, our teams will be meeting to work on some solutions to very long term and persistent problems. No rush, but I am sure we will ultimately get there!” 

No rush? What is the timeline? What is the plan? Or is the plan to pretend the North Korean arsenal doesn’t exist, and claim “victory” again?

 

As we often say on this simple blog, diplomacy is a bitch. It’s a bitch for every president, but Trump is different. Every time he’s stymied, he blames his problems (“very long term and persistent”), even ones like the ones with Iran he created himself, on previous U.S. administrations. 

We also learn, via North Korean news media, that Ivanka Trump was included in the meeting with Chairman Kim. 

And we start to hear rumblings from foreign diplomats who are panning her performance at the G-20 meeting in Osaka. Once again, Ivanka shows up, oddly enough, alongside her father, in pictures of the world’s most powerful leaders. Commenting on First Daughter Ivanka’s qualifications for her role, a diplomat from India tells a reporter, “We regard Ivanka Trump the way we do half-wit Saudi princes [emphasis added]. It’s in our national interest to flatter them.” 

 

The French go out of their way to post a video showing an awkward moment when the First Daughter tries to join in conversation with world leaders – which seems to be a shot at Ivanka from a key U.S. ally:

 

Finally, Slate reports on Trump’s claim that President Obama was “begging” for a meeting with Kim. 

Ben Rhodes, who served as Obama’s deputy national security adviser took to Twitter to contradict Trump. “Trump is lying,” Rhodes wrote. “Obama never sought a meeting with Kim Jong Un. Foreign policy isn’t reality television it’s reality.”

 

Rhodes went on to call Trump’s foreign policy a “a failure,” adding that “photo ops don’t get rid of nuclear weapons, carefully negotiated agreements do.”

 

James Clapper, the former Director of National Intelligence, also dismissed the claim during a television interview Sunday. “I don’t know where he’s getting that,” Clapper said. “In all the deliberations that I participated in on North Korea during the Obama administration, I can recall no instance whatever where President Obama ever indicated any interest whatsoever in meeting with Chairman Kim. That’s news to me.”