Donald Trump went to Singapore, elevated the status of North Korea, signed an agreement consisting of 100 percent platitudes, and made an off the books deal with Kim Jong Un to weaken military preparedness. And his most notable insight was over his lust to drop some sweet condos on the beaches east of Pyongyang. Total score toward genuinely improving safety for South Korea, the United Stares, and the world? Negative four.
The only thing that makes it seem as if things might actually be better, is that Trump started off by making things so much worse. The constant threats of “fire and fury” against “little rocketman” had the world on tenterhooks, South Korea in despair. Trump’s words literally drove an increase in sales of bomb shelters. But the fire and fury threats might be less dangerous than the line that Trump is selling now.
Not one nuclear weapon has been destroyed. Not one missile. There is not a single inspector on the ground in North Korea. Unlike Iran, where months of careful planning led to an agreement that genuinely removed the threat of a nuclear weapon, Trump has managed to do nothing. Less than nothing.
Donald Trump built up the conflict with North Korea to put the world on edge, Agreed to a hasty get together in which the only prerequisites were US promises of security for North Korea—promises that Trump still will not discuss—and the only outcome was a weaker US position that features decreased coordination with a longtime ally. This is what Trump is selling as total victory.
This may be the biggest, ugliest, and most blatant attempt at packaging sh#t and calling it ice cream that the world has ever seen. It’s an attempt at spin that would have Baghdad Bob laughing.
In fact, since Trump took office, there are now many more nuclear weapons in North Korea and, for the first time, missiles capable of carrying them to targets thousands of miles away. The only thing that has changed is that Trump has agreed to weaken military preparedness south of the DMZ.
But Trump is trying to sell lack of preparedness as a money saving move.
That Trump would stop military exercises fits his pattern. After all, he saved money by avoiding sprinklers and smoke detectors in his buildings.
Donald Trump hasn’t been able to develop a relationship with US allies that has gained him one inch at the negotiating table. His famous chocolate cake and deep insight into Xi Jinping hasn’t led to the slightest gain in negotiations with China. But a couple of hours across the table from a man who murdered everyone even remotely related to him to secure his spot on the throne of a brutal dictatorship … that’s all Trump needed to know that Kim is “sincere.”
Just remember that “There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea.” Just like “There are no American infidels in Baghdad.”
And it would be really, really interesting to know what Trump actually offered Kim in that package of “security promises.”