I’m not bitter about the Trump/Kim summit. I think opening up communications is great and hopefully we will see change in NK.
But we have been here before so hopefully history will not repeat itself. NK has not earned trust and it is a bit surprising that conservatives seem more trusting.
Pretty sure had it been Obama conservatives would have been demanding preconditions for the meeting and would be pointing out that Kim has promised nothing to the servile Obama.
Trump’s minions aren’t smart enough to recognize that Kim played Trump - and that’s ok. It really doesn’t matter what they think. it’s like if Trump told them the moon is made of Swiss Cheese, they’d believe that, too.
No sense arguing about it with them, you can’t teach stupid.
North Korea credibly threatened the US with a nuclear attack, and President Trumps response was to have a one on one meeting with Kim, a goal of the Kim family going back 3 generations. Trump handed NK a huge propaganda victory and got nothing in return.
“Wait and see what happens”. This is the same thing Trump apologists always say, like on the tax cuts “we have to wait and see”. No we don’t. Anybody with eyes knows what’s going to happen and is happening on that: tepid increase in economic activity and and exploding balance sheet.
Anybody with eyes can see what just happened here. North Korea threatened the US with nuclear weapons and was rewarded by a meeting that is really a humiliation for the US. You just have to pretend its not and we have to “wait and see”. Just a tactic to keep from having to deal with the Trump and GOP face plants as they’re happening.
Going in, the US insisted on “Complete, irreversible, and verifiable dismantlement” of NK’s nuclear program.
Coming out, that language or anything remotely resembling it appears on the Kim/trump statement.
Also missing: any cocktail napkin sketch of a timetable, verification procedures, or a definition of what “denuclearization” means.
Trump is an absolutely terrible negotiator and always has been. All he wanted was some attention and pats on the back out of this deal, he was never serious about it because he’s never serious about anything but trying to look good for that day. Trump got rolled, again.