Anatomy of a flop
Trump had big hopes for the summit with his dear friend Kim. He thought his charisma would win all the cards.
In a dinner at the Metropole Hotel the evening before, mere feet from the bomb shelter where guests took cover during the Vietnam War, Mr. Kim had resisted what Mr. Trump presented as a grand bargain: North Korea would trade all its nuclear weapons, material and facilities for an end to the American-led sanctions squeezing its economy.
An American official later described this as “a proposal to go big,” a bet by Mr. Trump that his force of personality, and view of himself as a consummate dealmaker, would succeed where three previous presidents had failed.
More reasonable people knew that wouldn’t fly, but that’s beside the point.
Several of Mr. Trump’s own aides, led by national security adviser John R. Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, thought the chances of a grand bargain for total nuclear disarmament were virtually zero. Some questioned whether the summit meeting should go forward.
Mr. Trump disagreed. He had taken to showing what he called Mr. Kim’s “beautiful letters” to visitors to the Oval Office, as evidence he had built a rapport with one of the world’s most brutal dictators. While some in the White House worried Mr. Trump was being played, the president seemed entranced — even declaring “we fell in love.”
He’s so dumb. It never ceases to amaze, how dumb he is.
In interviews with a half-dozen participants, it is clear Mr. Trump’s failed gambit was the culmination of two years of threats, hubris and misjudgment on both sides. Mr. Trump entered office convinced he could intimidate the man he liked to call “Little Rocket Man” with tough talk and sanctions, then abruptly took the opposite tack, overruling his aides and personalizing the diplomacy.
Dumb with the Twitter insults, and dumb with the goo-goo eyes.
So we live in a world where you can claim that Mike Pompeo and John Bolton (John fucking Bolton) are “more reasonable people”, and I can’t disagree.
Egotism is so often based on delusion. Trump simultaneously parades his own egotism and appeals to the ego of his constituents: as in “make America great again”; ie “make your country great again”; not far removed from “make yourselves great again.”
When one politician plays to the conscience of the electorate (eg Walter Mondale) and his/her opponent plays to the ego (eg Ronald “It’s Morning Again in America” Reagan), then the contest becomes a lay-down misere.
1980
“Let’s Make America Great Again” – Ronald Reagan
“A Tested and Trustworthy Team” – Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale
1984
“It’s Morning Again in America” – Ronald Reagan
“For New Leadership” (also “America Needs New Leadership”) – Walter Mondale
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._presidential_campaign_slogans
What’s this “bothside-ism” about? Is this inserted to make Trump feel not-so-bad? Apart from perhaps Kim thinking he might have actually landed The Biggest of All Fish, I see only one of these to having “misjudged” the situation, and it wasn’t the man under the black bad haircut.
I doubt you would be able to find a single North Korean who would agree with you there.
The survival of the Kim regime depends on the acquisition and development of nuclear weapons.
I can’t think of any circumstances where the nasty little man would voluntarily abandon his nuclear deterrent.Yes Ophelia, Trump is as dumb as a doorknob.The Kim regime’s foreign policy is a product of America’s penchant for overthrowing authoritarian regimes by force of arms. Trump is so deluded that he actually believes America can stop Kim’s nuclear program. We’re all helpless spectators, even the mighty US.
I, for one, am prepared to testify under oath that my doorknobs are all smarter than Trump. Maybe you have dumb as Trump doorknobs, but I do not.
Multiple sources have pointed out the differences between Trump’s and North Korea’s press conference explanations of the talks breaking down. Trump claimed that Kim had demanded all sanctions be lifted, and while he just could not do that and so walked away, he and Kim were going to continue negotiations and he looked forward to it. Representatives from North Korea said that Kim had asked for some, not all, the sanctions to be lifted, and that there were no plans for any further talks. Journalists have said that the North Korean story is closer to the real truth that that given by Trump. So, in other words, North Korea – North Korea! – was more trustworthy in this instance than the President of the United States.
clamboy, Mr. Liar McLiar, the champion of champions ten years running at the Lying Liar World Cup, would be more trustworthy than Trump.
I’m going to grit my teeth and try to be a little fair to Trump. Apparently (I haven’t checked personally) some of the sanctions NK asked to be lifted are actually the ones that bite deepest. So Trump saying they wanted ‘all’ sanctions lifted, while not numerically true, has some meaning in the context of effect. NK saying ‘some’ minimises what they asked for. Whichever way you look at it there is both duplicity and sloppiness involved all around.