Did you ever get the impression that you are living in a
confederacy of dunces? Did you ever get the feeling that the #GetTrump crowd
does not care about success or failure. No matter what Trump does they will
always find fault.
Their greatest fear of late has been that Trump might
negotiate a deal for North Korean denuclearization. Thus, when Trump pulled out
of a June 12 meeting in Singapore, the #GetTrump group was elated.They could not restrain themselves from declaring Trump to be an
incompetent negotiator and a general all-around failure.
It was a pathetic spectacle. It signaled an absence of
patriotism, a failure to understand that Trump, like him or not, is the
president of the United States. Rooting for a president to fail because you
believe it gives you political advantage is ignoble. End of story.
One thing we do know, canceling the meeting was a move in a
game. We do not know the outcome of the game. We do not know how it will
proceed and we certainly do not know how it will end. Thus, all speculation about
whether it was right or wrong, good or bad is fatuous. If our own dunces are
honorable they will admit that there is more to life than their own propaganda
and that, if they do not know the outcome, they should not jump to conclusions.
One other thing we know is that North Korea had not responded
to administration efforts to negotiate the framework for a meeting. Secretary
of State Pompeo said so yesterday in front of a Senate committee. As opposed to some other administration
officials, Pompeo seems to be in charge of his mouth. In truth, if you cannot reach
your prospective negotiating partner, you are receiving a clear signal. And
that is: he is more interested in the theatrics of the ceremony than any
substantive agreements.
You have no other choice but to postpone the meeting. If
Trump had not done so his detractors would have been rushing to the microphones
to explain that he had been had.
In addition, you will note that Trump, diplomatically, had
been speaking of Kim in very respectful tones. And Trump has expressed great
admiration an gratitude for Chinese president Xi Jinping. His rhetoric has been
exemplary.
And yet, National Security Adviser John Bolton declared that he was looking for a
Libya-like solution… which brings to mind the fact that after Libya gave up its
nuclear weapons, the Obama administration rewarded Col Qaddhafi with a bayonet
up his butt. I prefer to think of Bolton as having made a rookie mistake. Trump quickly walked back the remark. But then, Vice President Pence—another rookie?—repeated
the same analogy to Libya, apparently not knowing how this would sound to Kim
Jong-un.
The North Koreans reacted with insults and invective against
Mike Pence… which also made it impossible for Trump to continue. I cannot
speculate about Pence's tactics, but he is not covering himself in glory here. If he is speaking for the administration it is, within the White House, incoherent and unnecessarily provocative. A bad move.
And then there is the China angle. Readers of this blog know
my theory—namely that Trump and Xi made a deal. By the terms of the deal Xi
would corral his ally in North Korea and Trump would reciprocate. We did not
know what the precise terms of the quid pro quo would be. We suspected that it
had something to do with the American government’s sanctions against Chinese telecom
firm, ZTE. When Xi asked Trump to intervene in the matter, Trump instructed his
Commerce Department to solve the problem.
But then, Congress got in the act and both Republicans and
Democrats decided that it was time to get tough on China. Led by famed
grandstander Marco Rubio, the Senate Banking Committee passed a resolution that
will make it far more difficult, if not impossible, for Trump to fulfill his
end of the bargain.
Some have argued that President Xi never wanted North Korea
to be denuclearized anyway. And yet, if we assume that he was pursuing his
national interest, he would certainly have wanted to receive signals from the
United States that he would receive something in return. If not, the chances
are that he will not allow the summit to go on.
An alternate theory would have it that the world was
starting to see Kim as Xi’s puppet. This would have caused Kim to lose face.
And, to save face he needed to assert himself… to make it appear that he was in
charge. As of now, he seems not to have reckoned with the possibility that Trump
would withdraw from the summit and has stated that he will meet with Trump
anywhere anyhow.
5 comments:
"Did you ever get the feeling that the #GetTrump crowd does not care about success or failure. No matter what Trump does they will always find fault."
Yes, the only thing Trump, or any member of his family, can do to please all those against him is resign or die
Come now, Stuart! You know, I know, EVERYONE knows, the #GetTrumpers WANT Trump to fail, and care deeply, VERY DEEPLY, and want that to be soon.
They literally can't help themselves.
Its interesting you can write an entire post about the negotiations with North Korea and not mention South Korea. At least we know who doesn't matter here. If North Korea is Xi's puppet, what is South Korea?
AO: Who do you think South Korea is a puppet of?
Shit or get off the pot, Olympian One.
South Korea has a robust 1st world economy, with a 2017 per capita GDP of $25,458, and the USA’s is $52,194. North Korea is a Stalinist, proto-medieval shithole, with a per capita GDP of $1,013 last year, while China’s is $6,152.
Who would you rather have as a friend?
We provide South Korea and Japan most of their military protection. It’s called foreign policy, but one can understand how you’ve lost sight of that after 8 years of Chief Aplogizer Obama.
Fool.
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