Told Kim wanted a summit with him to talk about nukes and other things, the Duce has freaked everyone out by, at the White House, barging in on a meeting with some SK official and telling him to call the SK president to arrange it.
President Donald Trump has agreed to a high-stakes meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by this May on his nuclear weapons program, South Korea's national security adviser announced at the White House Thursday evening.
He had briefed the president on a message from Kim earlier in the day.
The White House said afterward that Trump "will accept the invitation," and the president tweeted, "Great progress being made ..."
South Korea's envoy Chung Eui-Yong said that in his recent talks with Kim the North Korean leader had expressed an eagerness to meet with Trump as soon as possible.
Chung said that Kim told him he was committed to denuclearization, would refrain from any further nuclear or missile tests, and had agreed that U.S.-South Korean joint military exercises the North objects to must continue.
Hat tip to Steve M. for the link to this bit of classic Trump.
Trump on North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un: 'You Gotta Give Him Credit'
January 10, 2016.
Trump rejoices in political murder ordered by a dictator unfettered by significant limitations on his personal power.
Far from being horrified at thug rule, he openly admires it and invites, and expects, his audience to join in his admiration.
The months of the Duce showering Kim with bellicose and abusive rhetoric have been Trump having a good time playing Big Thug to Kim's Little Thug.
His acceptance of a summit with Kim is more about this than anything a political pro would regard as a sensible reason to meet or a sensible agenda for the meeting.
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump appeared to praise North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, saying at a rally Saturday that "it's incredible" how he was able to dispatch his political opponents.
Trump called Jong-Un a "maniac" during remarks about North Korea's nuclear program during a rally at Ottumwa, Iowa, but conceded, "You gotta give him credit."
"How many young guys -- he was like 26 or 25 when his father died -- take over these tough generals, and all of a sudden ... he goes in, he takes over, and he’s the boss," Trump said.
"It's incredible. He wiped out the uncle, he wiped out this one, that one. I mean this guy doesn't play games. And we can't play games with him."
Steve M quotes a writer in The Atlantic who reminds us of Trump's decades old commitment to American withdrawal from its post-WW2 alliances.
Kim will undoubtedly flatter Trump face-to-face, and he'll probably try to sell Trump on the notion that a U.S. military withdrawal from the Korean Peninsula would be a money-saving deal for the U.S. [Thomas] Wright wonders whether Trump would go for that:
... Trump has always had concerns about alliances in general and the U.S.-South Korea one in particular.
Since the mid 1980s, he has argued that America’s alliances are a bad deal.
Initially his wrath was focused on Japan and the Arab states but in 2013, he said, “How long will we go on defending South Korea from North Korea without payment? … When will they start to pay us?”
In an interview with NBC in 2015, he said, “We have 28,000 soldiers on the line in South Korea between the madman and them. We get practically nothing compared to the cost of this.”
Perhaps Trump may think that an end to the ICBM program and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Korea is a win-win.I'd like to think someone will accompany Trump who understands the ramifications of withdrawal for international security and regional alliances -- but there have been rumors that his secretary of state and his national security adviser might be leaving soon, so he might just show up accompanied by a few lackeys and Ivanka.
Who the hell knows?
Bear in mind, too, that Trump has been pushing out advisors who have been urging him to not do many of the Buchananist things he campaigned on, such as putting in place protective tariffs for old, shrinking industries.
And some of his conventionally globalist national security people are on the skids.
Update.
I am guessing Trump cannot repudiate our alliance with South Korea if it is treaty-based, but arguably could withdraw all our forces from there, however much globalists would protest doing so amounts to refusing to honor and enforce an existing treaty he is constitutionally required to honor and enforce.
Such a colossal violation of his oath of office should count as an impeachable offense, though it would never come to that with a Republican Congress.
But if it rests only on an executive agreement, it is his to abandon, at will.
No comments:
Post a Comment