Here in part is the plainly hypocritical way President Trump weaseled out of the nuclear summit with President Kim:
Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting.
(CNN, May 24, 2018)
Indeed, just weeks ago, both were talking about this summit like teenagers talking about their first date – complete with Trump publicly fantasizing about winning the Nobel Peace Prize and privately minting coins to mark the historic occasion.
So what happened?
Long story short, they both realized that, if they actually met, the only thing they would have in common is bad hair.
Actually, the reason for this epic failure is that Trump was blinded by the prospect of doing something no other president was stupid to do, namely, to dignify Kim with a summit without him meeting significant pre-conditions. In fact, Trump was so giddy, he said yes to what amounted to a blind date.
But anyone who knows anything about North Korea knew this summit was going to be either canceled or the worst in the history of international relations. Not least because Trump was insisting he was going to get Kim to give up his nukes, whereas Kim was insisting only a fool would think that.
Is it any wonder Kim started ghosting Trump…? His increasingly cold shoulder included having his team fail to show up for discussions on summit logistics with Trump’s team, which was headed by a very perplexed and frustrated Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
And don’t get me started on the hapless-loser way Trump is blaming his purportedly jealous BFF, Chinese President Xi Jinping, for coaxing Kim into breaking things off with him. #MeanGirls!
But this cold shoulder enabled Trump’s flunkies to finally prevail upon him to appreciate the disastrous implications of this fundamental disconnect. That’s why he seized upon this absurd pretext:
North Korea slammed Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday, calling comments he made earlier this week ‘stupid’ and saying it’s prepared for a ‘nuclear showdown’ if ongoing talks with the U.S. fail.
Choe Son Hui, a vice minister in the North Korean Foreign Ministry, called Pence a ‘political dummy’ for comparing North Korea to Libya, which abandoned its early-stage nuclear program at the U.S.’s behest, only to have its leader ousted and killed years later — with help from NATO-backed troops.
(ABC News, May 24, 2018)
That, folks, is the “most recent statement” he was referring to. Mind you, everything that vice minister said in her statement makes far more sense than anything Trump said in his Dear Kim letter.
It’s laughable enough that Trump, the grand poobah of personal insults and nuclear threats, is using this third-rate insult as his pretext for canceling the summit.
But nothing betrays his fake face-saving retreat quite like the fact that he wrongly attributed this statement to Kim. Imagine the international ridicule if Kim had cited an insult Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton hurled at his vice chairman as his reason for canceling.
Not to mention that, if hurling insults and threats were so off-putting, Trump would not have agreed to this summit in the first place. After all, the insults he and Kim hurled directly at each other (e.g., Rocket Man and mentally deranged dotard, respectively) make those this lowly vice minister hurled at Pence seem like sweet nothings.
Now Trump’s gaggle of cheerleading apologists are trying to spin this international farce as him wheeling The Art of the Deal. But anyone with half a brain knows that his Dear Kim letter was just his juvenile way of dumping Kim before (ghosting) Kim dumped him.
Even worse, his national security advisers were probably too busy mending his bruised ego to get jilted Trump to wait a day or two before publishing this letter. That would have given Western journalists time to return safely from North Korea.
As the world knows, Kim invited them to witness the destruction of one of his useless nuclear sites. He promoted this as a good-faith gesture pending direct negotiations with Trump. Therefore, he could easily have taken the timing of Trump’s letter as a humiliating betrayal, which would have justified turning those Western witnesses into hostages.
Meanwhile, no less a person than Trump’s No. 1 frenemy, Russian President Vladimir Putin, is leading the world in castigating/trolling him:
Kim Jong Un on his part did everything he promised to do, even blew up some tunnels on their sites and after this we hear the US cancelling the meeting.
(CNN, May 24, 2018)
All that was left was for Putin to add a Trumpian: #AmateurHour.
Of course, this is the same Trump who foolishly withdrew the United States from NAFTA, the Climate Change accord, the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement, and the Iran Nuclear deal without any alternatives in mind, let alone in place. He has already alienated every major US ally (with the notable exception of Israel). Now he’s doubling on his alienation of South Korea and Japan — both of whom have an existential interest in Trump striking the kind of nuclear deal with North Korea Obama struck with Iran, ironically enough.
This is why leaders from London to Tokyo and all capitals between can be forgiven for thinking the United States is being led by, well, a mentally deranged dotard.
NOTE: If you think Trump can’t possibly embarrass the United States any more than this on the world stage, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
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