Is it morally reprehensible that I find myself having thoughts about wanting Trump to fail dismally in his so-called summit with Kim Jung Un? I don’t want to be so hyperpartisan that I’m like the Republicans who reflectively voted against just about everything proposed or supported by Obama because they hated him with such vehemence. The GOP would have voted down funding for subsidizing new magic bullet cure for cancer so everyone could benefit from it.
I think I have stumbled into a moral morass.
I want to see a rapprochement between North and South Korea, and it would be wonderful to see Kim Jung Un see the errors of his ways and become a humane and benevolent leader. I fail to see how anyone who fears another four-year term for Trump could not be ambivalent about rooting for the success of the summit.
I think many liberals they feel the same way I do even though they will all say in public that they want the talks to succeed, and some may even bite their tongues and say that Trump would deserve the Nobel Peace Prize if he could take legitimate credit for ending the conflict on the Korean Peninsula.
If the so-called summit fails, Trump is the loser. If it fails, relationships between the countries may return to the way they were previously. It seems plausible that Trump could walk out in a rage and this would prompt S. Korea’ President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jung Un to craft a deal between the two of them. The worst case I can come up with is that Kim might restart his nuclear militarization but even if he doubles or triples the number of deployed ICBMs this won’t change the international balance of power.
There may be no strategic reason why Kim needs to continue his nuclear-armed missile program. He will never use his nukes for obvious reasons. I doubt he will discommission them, let alone, dismantle the stockpile he already has but he might. If he is a savvy negotiator he will keep Trump guessing about this.
If Trump sticks to this as an absolute demand he will have to find a face-saving excuse lie to change his mind or pull out of the talks.
Kim has been diverting precious national resources to build his nuclear arsenal. He may finally be ready to start building his country's infrastructure, its educational, and its social programs before he has a North Korean Spring on his hands. It is impossible to determine if Kim is clinically paranoid and actually believes that the United States and its allies represent a military threat. My hunch is that he does not believe this and has been playing the long game, really the long con, to achieve his ultimate goal of negotiating with S. Korea and the United States from a position of strength.
It makes sense that Kim stands to benefit greatly by reaching a rapprochement with S. Korea and the United States. Not only will he be able to reallocate national resources to modernizing his country, but he will be able to have the sanctions loosened or eliminated, may have beneficial trade initiated, and although Trump railed against the cash Obama sent to Iran he may get monetary aid from the United States.
If Trump tries to start a war against N. Korea because the talks failed, or concocts a reason a set of lies (click for example) to justify an attack on Iran I think that would lead to his impeachment because the ranks of the GOP know that most of their constituents would be outraged. I do not think he will do it. He will, however, rant and rave and try to scare the bejesus out of our adversaries with the notable exception of Russia.
Trump’s signature puffed out chest bullying is echoed by neoconservative John Bolton. Bolton is threatening our European allies with sanctions if they don’t bow down at the feet of Trump and support the Iran deal pullout is hardly going to go over big with the Nobel Peace Prize Committee: “White House national security adviser John Bolton warned on Sunday that President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the international agreement over Iran’s nuclear program could result in sanctions on companies based in European nations that are critical U.S. allies.” (HUFFPOST).
I think there’s a point where Trump threats of preemptive war based upon ginned up reasons (lies) will also scare the bejesus out of the majority of Americans, not to mention our allies.
We can only hope.
What a cruel irony if two authoritarian autocrats, the despotic Dear Leader Kim and Trump who jokes about being president for life share a Nobel Peace Prize, and that this accomplishment propels Trump into his second term and further deifies Kim in his own country.
I find myself not wanting to hope for any accomplishment on the world stage that will enable four more years with a president who is hellbent on turning our country into a cruel autocracy, make us into a white nationalist nation which is a pariah among our Democratic allies, and who supports the agenda of climate deniers to have four more years to do it.
What do you think?