So, who outplayed, outwitted, outlasted his opponent — Little Rocket Man or The Dotard? Though it pains me to say it, both won. It was a remarkably successful summit, so long as the viewers weren’t interested in reality from their TV.
The North Korean dictator agreed to denuclearize the Korean peninsula without defining what that means or when and how it will happen. Similar promises have been made many times over the last sixty-five years in such negotiations. Then talks drag on for years without North Korea ceding anything of significance. In the meantime, research and development on WMD can continue unimpeded and uninspected.
Trump promised sanctioned would be lifted “at a certain time” and to dial back military exercises with South Korea, as recommended by Vladimir Putin, and even used Kim Jong Un’s own description of them – “provocative.” He wouldn’t want that since the president is loath to provoke anyone, unless they are Democrats, disloyal Republicans, the news media, or members of the G-6.
Trump’s rationale for not keeping the military in a state of readiness was that it would save a lot of money. By that logic, disbanding the armed forces and surrendering would be a bonanza. No word yet from Defense Secretary Mad Dog Mattis about how the idea of strategic unpreparedness sits with him.
Trump’s own lack of preparedness was on display when he said he was stunned to learn bombers fly six hours from Guam for the exercises, which he knew was very expensive since “I know about planes.” Yes, he managed to crash and burn the Trump Shuttle in just 14 months, but walked away by defaulting on its debt. The usual Trump parachute.
Toting up the takeaways, the meeting looks like a tremendous victory in every way for North Korea. So what did we get in return? Not much. Unless you conclude that Trump was negotiating not to benefit the United States of America but its president. He got a fabulous photo op, and it only required him to spend 25 hours in a foreign country and three hours in a boring meeting.
And that was followed by a full hour-long press conference in which he could force the fake news media to watch him preen. He got to claim he had done something historic that no other president had ever done — meet with a brutal Korean dictator as an equal and give him legitimacy. This, of course, is why no previous president chose to score such a historic first.
However, Trump will be able to use this supposed breakthrough as a talking point until the November midterms, describing himself as a tough negotiator, a man who defused a deadly threat, a bringer of peace in our time. In short, Singapore can be for Trump what Munich was for Chamberlain, a proud moment for a country weary of conflict. Carping critics can be branded as warmongers, backstabbers, or tools of the fake news media.
Even better, the longer Singapore leads the news Russian election meddling, Mueller indictments, porn star lawsuits, crony capitalism won’t. So, if Singapore gives Republican candidates something to distract voters with for five months, who cares if the Potemkin deal comes to naught in December? Trump will have won what he cares about. TV time.
Of course, the “win” might have seemed more plausible, possessed a bit more gravitas, if Trump could have kept quiet or, failing that, rehearsed his act instead of ad libbing. Instead his off-script remarks revealed, as usual, how out of his depth he is on the world stage, unless he’s slapping his name on a golf course.
His press conference was pure amateur hour, a festive reprise of the favorite theme of 19th Century satirists — the innocent abroad. He bragged about showing Kim a video envisioning a world in which he could turn North Korea into South Korea, perhaps not realizing Kim aims to turn South Korea into North Korea.
He also said he shared an epiphany with Kim. While watching a video of North Korean shore batteries practicing the shelling of invaders, it came to him. Kim should get rid of the cannons and build beach front condos. It could be a gold mine, with China to the North and South Korea to the, well, South. Location, location, location. If only Churchill and Ike had sold Hitler on the condo idea, all that blood on the Normandy beaches would never have been spilled.
Asked what the timetable was for denuclearization, Trump revealed another recently acquired revelation. Scientifically, getting rid of nukes isn’t easy. Scientifically, he repeated several times, as he does when he learns a new word, “I’ve been watching and reading a lot and it does take a long time, a lot of things happen.”
Wow, if only he’d known that when he reneged on the Iran deal. Like healthcare, this nuclear stuff is harder than it looks from Trump Tower. But then he immediately took it back, suggesting that “once you start the process it means it’s pretty much over.” Translation: “I’ve done the hard part, now if it’s screwed up it’ll be Pompeo’s fault, or the pencil-neck nuclear nerds.”
Trump, the spymaster-in-chief, also let slip classified information on how North Korean targets are identified by heat signature, and the fact that maintaining sanctions is increasingly difficult since Xi Jinping has weakened enforcement of them in the last couple of months.
Not to worry, however. When asked about Kim’s vile human rights record, he said “They will be doing things.” When asked about the specifics of the agreement, he said “a lot of things are included, a lot of things are not included.” Reminded that North Korea has habitually cheated on promised disarmament deals, no problem. All is well because of him. Previously, the Koreans “never had confidence in an American president.”
One can only wonder what Kim is so confident about. How little Trump knows? How much he’ll give up if you flatter him? How easy he will be for a third generation head of a survivor dynasty to outplay, outwit and outlast? Maybe, despite Trump’s claim that “North Korea is no longer a nuclear threat,” we shouldn’t pave over the backyard bomb shelter just yet.