Will Trump be so busy preparing for the June 12 Summit with notorious Kim Jong Un to sit down for an interview with Mueller? If so, the only one who may be surprised is Rudy Guiliani, who come into his job as Trump’s newest personal lawyer promising to wrap of the interview in three weeks. But we digress.
Trump is set to meet to negotiate with one of the cruelest and craftiest national leaders — a guy who regularly starves his people and occasionally kills a relative. Now that Kim has nuclear arms, he no longer needs test sites and he’s sold Trump on the notion that his tearing down those sites and stopping tests is a “concession” that justifies a summit with the President of the United States. Oh, and he released three prisoners whom he shouldn’t have been holding in the first place.
In past U.S. Administrations, North Korea released prisoners just to get visits from non-administration officials like the Governor of New Mexico. But, Trump has already honored Kim with visits from two of his Secretaries of State and now Trump himself is going to sit down with Kim. So, what’s changed? The United States now has a President who craves publicity as much as the North Korean leader. This summit will be a great photo op for the President and is planned as a kickoff for his midterm campaigning.
So, watch closely for any real concessions by North Korea, they will probably get lost in the klieg lights.
But we can hope. We can hope that Trump will take knowledgeable negotiators to the Singapore Summit and be willing to follow advice. Such negotiators would include nuclear scientists and career military and State Department career officers who have deep experience with North Korea. If Trump listens to them, and authorizes follow up talks, something good may come from the show. But, another factor is China — whose sanctions Kim may fear more than anything in Trump’s playbook.
Read more:
New York Times, “China May Hold the Cards,” 5/11/18
New York Times on economic motives, 5/10/18
Share this: