Envoy you call him? Really? Maybe NYT readers should take a moment to pull up Rachel Maddow's segment from Friday evening on this supposedly N. Korean envoy.
I actually thought Trump giving away the jobs report was the most insane accomplishment of the day. Two hours in the Oval Office with no aids to advise him, and a "envoy" who just happened to be the man that built the N. Korea intelligence agency into one of the best in the world. Best piece of reporting I've seen in years.
Wonder if this N. Korean envoy just happened to bring the Pres. a brand spanking new phone as a gift?
1
As long as the media continues to plays along with Trump's games we will be subject to his round the clock (the man doesn't sleep well or often) game-show that he has morphed the American Presidency into.
As outrageous as it sounds, the media is making a fortune by covering and headlining every twist and turn of this bizarre presidency. Try putting it on page 4 for a change. Twitter can go to page 6. Don't publicize his threats to fire anyone on the front page. Don't bother editorializing using headlines, a common practice these past few years. When something truly significant can be verified (other than his outrageous behavior and comments) then report it.
Americans are getting lazier than ever when it comes to reading the news so I understand the media models are changing. The press is caught between enabling and exposing but needs to find a new model of reporter this aberrant POTUS. You shine a light on his and he inflates like a bouncing Macy's Thanksgiving Day Balloon. Put him on a back page; stick a pin in him.
As it stands now, the consumer/voter/citizen is subjected to the Trump Show 24/7 unless they choose to tune it all out. That would be a bad thing. When enough of us do, I am sure it will be on page 12.
1
What kind of person is compelled to lie then 8 minutes later admit he hadn't even opened NK's letter when a reporter asked if he had replied to it?
Lying for no reason is sewn into the very shabby fabric of this man. No wonder his lawyers fear him testifying before Prosecutor Mueller.
Surprised he didn't drag the NK entourage down to his personal property at Mar-a-lago for his own profit.
I'm downright tired of all this winning.
3
Kim is playing Trump like a deck of cards. The picture with a letter looks like it is from a kid's show. " I have an invitation from my friend mr Kim. He is a very nice dictator. Can you say 'dictator'"
3
Just curious. Where is that “oversize envelope” now? Or do I just read to many spy novels.
1
What trump refers to the art of the deal looks a lot like a clumsy staging of Animal Farm.
3
Surely I’m not the only American cringing at the thought of Trump meeting with Mr. Kim.
Trump is a man whose relationship with Putin remains suspect and now he's rubbing noses with the leader of another hostile nation, a leader who just a week or so ago Trump felt was still hostile toward our nation. Trumpy is unethical and dishonest. He has surrounded himself with proven thugs and criminals and woos others with pardons. He lies with alacrity, too quick to come up with decisions and answers, suggesting he has not given the depth of consideration that matters of state require.
I would be thrilled if our nation had someone we can trust, along with an entourage of trustworthy advisors, meeting with Mr. Kim. Instead we have an inept egoist who drools whenever someone of celebrity flatters him. He may think he's playing North Korea's leader, but Mr. Kim may well be playing him: these are the things that conspiracies are made of. My money is on the two of them becoming aligned to join with Putin and take over the world, but I’ve probably watched too many Pink Panther and Peter Sellers' movies.
Trump's greed knows no bounds and the same can be said for Putin, and, if I am to believe the prez, Mr. Kim is simply a power-crazed megalomaniac. Can any good really come of all of Trump's machinations?
Is Congress watching this without questioning any of it?
Is anyone with two brain cells to rub together in charge of anything going on in this country?
Wake up America!
1
I am outraged that there has been zero, nothing, nada said about Otto Warmbier. Why is the president not demanding to know what happened to him before any talks or meetings take place? It is so wrong. NK killed this kid and is not being held accountable in any way or made to answer for that. It's horrible. I feel for Otto's family.
3
I'm afraid that Trump will make a terrible deal for the US all for a headline or a payoff.
2
I suspect Trump is using the same tactics as his predecessors. The only difference is his use of public Show & Tell. I doubt the favor is returned by the N. Koreans. We all know this "Summit" will be a big photoshoot. Perhaps cunning Trump can actually produce positive results for S. Korea and the peninsula in general. I believe a real end to the Korean War would be a plus for humanity.
Communists have a long history of avoiding the pursuit of agreements with America's liberals. They know America's hard-line Conservative Hawks will work ferociously to undermine and reverse them. This summit may actually produce progress with peace.
Yet, over the long-term N. Korea may be a terrific place to set up off-shore production operations for our multi-national corporations. This would be the off-shore China Model of doing business. In a few years, N. Korea may be the cheapest high-efficiency stuff producer in the world.
I'm sure this will be the "bottom line" for Trump and his fellow "America Firsters"
Both Kim & Trump are serial liars whose word means nothing, really. So why are we supposed to believe that they would adhere to an agreement? This story is not being covered realistically.
Who cares. I'd rather have a nuclear winter, than one more summer with Trump.
It’s entertaining watching liberals bounce all over the place, becoming hysterical every time Trump does something good. Ya’ll are lost in the wilderness, while the economy hums and people across the nation are giving Trump credit. His poll numbers continue to increase, the democrat’s poll numbers on the midterm generic ballot continue to fall. Now it looks like the GOP may pick up seats in California in November, that west coast bastion of liberal politics. Democrats better hit the reset button, because what folks are starting to notice is liberals crying wolf one too many times.
2
Did other US Presidents normally make themselves available to meet spymasters from other Countries? I would think at this stage, somebody from the State Department is more appropriate.
Donald must be trying so hard to get everybody to shift their attention from the Special Counsel's investigation and revelation that SDNY was able to retrieve 4 million pieces of information, including audio and video tapes, and is in the process of reconstructing what Michael Cohen tried to shred.
All indicators are that the treaty will follow some of the multiphase disarmament procedures of the Iran deal.
Oh yeah, that one.
So if The people of Flint Michigan and Puerto Rico attain nuclear capability they too might negotiate for Aid?
1
I don't get the problem. just tell trump how great and good looking he is, give trump 100s of millions of dollars and put up his name in huge gold letters and he'll promise you anything that is not his. trump will promise anything as long as you do not make it a prerequisite.
1
NK has done the worst thing you can do: they gave Trump SOMETHING TO READ. Everyone knows he doesn't read -- ever. Because he already knows it all, about everything, and can make it up when he doesn't, he doesn't need to read. When the situation just absolutely demands it, he has to be READ TO, LIKE A TODDLER. So of course he lies about having read the letter, declares it "interesting" without opening it, poses with it as if it's from Publishers Clearinghouse, does everything with it but read it. He's above literacy! If NK couldn't spot that neurosis, I don't like the chances for anything substantive happening in this relationship.
1
Kim Jong Un has more experience and talent governing a nation state than Donald John Trump, his Cabinet and White House staff combined. Mr. Kim leads a nation of 25 million with the 4th largest military and the highest per capita number of people in military uniform of any nation.
Mr. Kim leads a nation, that unlike the nuclear weapons rogue nations like Israel, India and Pakistan is a party to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. Mr. Kim leads a nation that has fewer nuclear weapons than any of them or the nation's like America, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom that are NPT parties with nukes.
Despite his prancing, preening and pretending macho posturing, Mr, Trump is coming to this summit with Mr. Kim as a bowing and scrapping supplicant. Mr. Kim is backed by China's Xi Jinping along with South Korea's Moon Jae In. While Japan's Shinzo Abe is sidelined as even a lesser figure than Trump.
1
It used to be my favorite way to start the day...Check in with nytimes.com, check in with washingtonpost.com, enjoy my coffee and read about the World I live in.
Now, the first word every morning is the T word right on the front page. Why can't the on-going frightening saga of #45 be below the real news...just think how mad that would make #45....then at least I could smile and start my day.
2
So they have the meeting.
Or they don't.
Even if they come up with some kind of agreement, what are the odds Mr. "Art of the Deal" will still feel entitled to blow it up and walk away the moment he feels like it? Look at Trump's expression in the photo. What is his problem?
Sociopathy and senility are not a good foundation for international relations...
God knows what will happen. But regardless, I am just relieved that they are talking. I am actually impressed that the two leaders are actually sitting down, face to face and talking. Too many times diplomates seem to run interference for the leaders and give them cover to duck making the tough decisions. Not this time. These two are going to have to come to an agreement or be blamed, personally, for the failure of these peace talks. Good.
When a peace treaty is announced (hopefully) I hope it includes us getting the heck out of South Korea. If the North is willing to give up their nuclear ambitions and sign a peace treaty with the South, formally ending the Korean War, then we should be willing to demilitarize the South. Use the billions of dollars we spend annually for that base and invest it here in infrastructure and jobs.
Trump can declare NO victory, if North Korea keeps its nuclear weapons.
"Mr. Trump initially told reporters it was “a very nice letter” and “a very interesting letter,” but later said that he had not actually read it. “I purposely didn’t open the letter,” he said." So how did he know it was a 'very nice letter' and a 'very interesting letter' if he didn't open it or read it. This guy gets more squirrely by the day.
2
I have to laugh at comments from former lead deal negotiators and diplomacy scholars are offering prior to the president’s meeting with Mr. Kim. I’d probably laugh even harder if their past offerings in the lead up to what will be a historic meeting were printed with the story. I'm sure they were aghast at the nicknames President Trump assigned Mr. Kim. My favorite was “little rocket man”. Their response isn't surprising given their elite educations and association with like minded policy elites. Perhaps if they’d been exposed to bullies at the neighborhood playground they would understand the method behind what they consider President Trump’s madness.
Mr. Kim has been worshiped as a deity by North Koreans. To a large extent his power depends on maintaining that aura. The niceties offered by past administrations and their elite advisors only reinforced that fallacy. North Korea is a closed society but one suspects that word of dear leader’s repartee with president Trump was getting out and Mr. Kim is aware how all past contestants fared.
Then too the tariffs president Trump is imposing have demonstrated that he is not above dismissing the welfare of “allies” like South Korea in order to protect America. Mr. Trump has also made clear that military action is an option, albeit the last option to protect America from a nuclear armed North Korea. If one believes Senator Lindsey Graham the president is determined to end that threat one way or another North before 2020.
1
Why would Kim give up his nukes? Kim's purpose for this summit is to suspend the sanctions and show his North Korean people how great their supreme leader is to meet the world leader face to face. He may promise denuclearizing, but NK will keep their nukes anyway by delaying the negotiation and rejecting the inspections.
NK is meeting China and Russia to tell them NK is still on their side, and make sure China and Russia will have NK's back if the US demands complete denuclearization. NK spent so many years to develop their nukes and after so many failed attempts, they only managed to complete it recently. They will not give up their best political weapon easily.
I would suggest that the much hyped “summit” (meeting? photo opp?) is just Trump picking the emotional, Fox-friendly narratives to distract and confound every media cycle. We’re being propagandized, driven to a frenzy of impotency as any governmental checks and balances are fading.
Of course, Trump never read the letter. It was probably more than half a page long with no bullet points.
As for the commentators who say Trump made concessions, they're right: to recognize that NK won't immediately & totally get rid of all nuclear-related material is, for Trump,an amazing concession to reality.
1
I still don't understand why Mr. Trump would consider that a Nobel Peace Prize would be in his future. He has stirred up divisions and unrest among his own people. I think the Nobel committee would take that into account and award the prize to somebody else.
1
If we are “negotiating from a position of strength” or whatever 44.5’s minions tell themselves, why are we picking up Kim Jong Un’s $300,000/night hotel tab? The so-called dealmaker can’t do any better than that?
Ah, Trump supporters. There’s one born every minute. Tragically.
1
Kim will not give up his neucler weapons - thats a given. The argument is about this pair of montebanks place in history - both can come out looking better to their people - but Kim will suceed in getting China and S.Korea to bail his dictatorship out.
1
Crooked Donald's desire for a peace prize was but a chimera, as are most of his efforts in dealing with foreign powers. The on- again, off- again meeting with North Korea is now set(once more) for 12 June. There isn't enough time to bring the president's negotiating skills up to par with those of Kim Jong-un. Trump no longer talks about a peace prize, reality having set in. I hope some accommodation can be reached, but with Trump as one of the principals, I give it less than a 50 - 50 chance for even a modicum of success.
1
RE:“It was a big day for the North Koreans and their international standing, and the contrast with the treatment of our allies and neighbors today was palpable,” said Christopher R. Hill, the lead negotiator for President
This is what is wrong with career bureaucrats like Hill. They have no common sense and no experience in the real world. The US has no allies. We do have a lot of DEPENDENTS - Europe, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Japan, S. Korea, etc.. Esp Europe. We have been supporting them for over a century: WWI, WWII, Marshall Plan, cold war, NATO, etc. Time to end the US taxpayer gravy train. Europeans might have to give up six weeks vacation, retirement at 60, cradle to grave health care and all the other goodies the US taxpayer is subsidizing.
1
The current administration is bereft of Korean experts, has no experience in negotiating an arms deal, has already given much to the North Korean regime with only the return of three hostages in return, and the American taxpayers are going to be paying for Kim Jong-un's hotel room in Singapore (I will bet the overwhelming majority of Trump's voters have never stayed at such an expensive hotel). The current administration is desperate for some sort of success that will remove the harsh glaring light of the Mueller investigation from the minds of the mid-term voters; the administration will give away the farm. The American tax payer will pay in treasure and blood when this negotiation blows up in our faces; we will have an adversary with nuclear weapons freer to act than Iran. We will be highly endangered. They say Nero fiddled, we will say Trump tweeted.
I did not vote for Trump. I won't vote for him in 2020. But I will give credit to a good job and he did a good job in his statements outside the White House after meeting with Kim. People, interpersonal relationships, goodwill, accommodation and effective listening matter. If Trump stated to Kim it's understandable and acceptable if things go slow instead of fast so long as relations are improving and things are happening in reasonable faith over time that is not a bad thing. North Koreans need a better life and we can be a big part of that improvement working with Kim instead of laying out zero sum strategies. Kim Jong needs room and space to operate at home. It's much preferable to war, death and suffering of peoples. The world doesn't need chicken hawks in leadership chairs. Trump was also spot on in giving credit to the Chinese President Xi. Trump can improve by also paying more attention to what his policies are doing in Europe, which is abetting Putin's objectives there. Making progress in one area while falling back in another in the world is not net positive.
To those of you who can't write a concise, to the point comment, but rather feel the need to write a book kindly contact Random House. Less is more!
3
Number one reason is to keep fingers off "the buttons." A friend is a more valuable asset than an enemy. Helping North Korea if vastly less expensive than a war; and will yield a profit in cash and lives.
Presedent: "Mr Jung-un" you won't need all these weapons if we can be friends - we protect our friends. We will give you money, expertise, and teachers to turn North Korea into the paradise it can and should be. Get rid of the DMZ and South Korea will pay real money to get your people and space turned into modern PROFITABLE factorys. Your cites will generate enormous in tourism."
"There is no purpose or value in conflict between our counties. Together we are stronger and safer. And both of our peoples will benefit. You are a welcome guest in our home anytime."
"Do this and history will remember as a wise man, the great grandson of the father of your country who used his wisdom and intelligence to embrace this new century."
Trump’s neck breaking turn around after the falling out over NK “open hostility” and the cancellation of the Singapore summit brought multiple non-negotiated US concessions, clearly revealing that the President is already exceedingly invested in pulling a fat white rabbit out of the hat.
The Art of the Deal — hardly, but then that was a grand fiction from the get go.
Kim is no pushover. The Donald is already in our his head and these are just the make-nice preliminaries in what is certain to be a long and arduous process of extreme head butting, or worse.
It is on until further notice. In Trump terms, that is momentarily.
1
Quote from Mr. Trump (in this article): “We’re meeting with the chairman on June 12, and I think it’s probably going to be a very successful — ultimately, a successful process.”
A successful strategy largely depends on not only understanding your objectives and ultimate goals, but more importantly, understanding the goals of your opponent or opponents. As it stands with everything we have seen over the last several months and especially what has been said and what has occurred during the past few days, it's become obvious that Mr. Trump has no clear understanding of his own goals nor does he have any idea of first who is opponents are and second, their goals.
Mr. Trump's opponent is not just North Korea. China is clearly North Korea's partner. And to a lesser extent, Russia is as well. Their goal ... to lessen the influence of the US in the western Pacific. To do that involves eliminating South Korea as a US ally. A neutral, nonaligned South Korea would particularly please China and Russia. This goal of the three parties becomes crystal clear when you understand North Korea's definition of "denuclearization" of the region. Their definition essentially pushes the US military out of the region.
The thing to watch for in this negotiation will be when China guarantees the security and integrity of South Korea. Given a choice between an erratic and untrustworthy President and a seemingly secure and stable China, I suspect that the South Koreans may take the offer.
7
I do not feel that use of the term “diplomatic breakthrough” is not warranted. This whole thing has been chaotic, with no process, structure or clear expectations; hardly diplomacy.
7
Trump’s new reality show: Diplomacy Apprentice
Season 1 : Two Erratic World Leaders with Nuclear Weapons See Who Can Con the Other
I dread what foolish agreement the vainglorious, ignorant Trump will enter into.
11
It looks like Trump is being played. Kim guides him into the moves Kim wants him to make. Mismatch.
6
So far it's an all expenses paid tour of Singapore for Kim's whole entourage.
1
Through patient, difficult work and sanctions, previous Republican and Democratic administrations managed to isolate this mass murderer and vitiate his slave-state regime. Trump is now going to confer legitimacy on him in the form of a "summit" and international recognition and what is he going to get in return? Probably nothing. And why? Partly because he is not too bright, partly because he is actively doing business with the Chinese and will make money, and partly because his predecessor, whom he detests with a pathological fervor, warned him on his way in that NK would be his toughest initial problem. He is still making decisions with Obama looking over his shoulder. Trump is destroying this country and our international prestige faster than you can say "make America great again."
7
The virulent and vitriolic anti-Trump rhetoric in comments here on the Korean nuclear talks from those on the left tells us all we need to know about Democrats, liberals and progressives. Even the potential of peace talks with North Korea and an end to their nuclear threats are not enough for them to give Trump any credit. Their hatred is such that they would rather have a nuclear armed North Korea than to back Trump's peace efforts. Tells us, please, what exactly did Obama accomplish in dealing with this rogue nation during his presidency? The answer is, of course, nothing.
5
Obama did the delightful little dance steps that they found appealing. So graceful, so stylish, so promising... And what if it was all style and no substance? Why worry? So wonderful to watch, to delight in...
2
This isn’t about peace or anything else other than the autocrat Trump wanting to look like a big shot and have Kim bow before him. Yes, I am pulling for Kim Jong Un over Trump and hope that the South Koreans - the real peacemakers here - distance themselves from this dispicable Trump administration and align strongly with China.
1
The obsequious, thoroughly weird fawning over their messiah when he hasn’t accomplished anything, and their ludicrous belief that NK will actually denuclearize, tells us all we need to know about Trump followers. Jim Jones would have been jealous of Trump’s minions.
1
It was never off. Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un have the same ambition--increasing the wealth of his nation. Just a matter of the art and theater of getting to the table, sans Chinese and Russians. Seems a done deal. Now for the particulars.
1
The subhead is not correct. There was no “diplomatic breakthrough.” This is a charade. Pompeo has started talking about “dismantling North Korea’s nuclear program,” not removing their nuclear weapons. Within a year we will be back in the same place.
5
He's done it again. Somehow the President has managed to turn high-stakes geopolitics into a sideshow. This is just like the leadup to Mayweather/MacGregor. Will they meet? Won't they? Will they agree to use lighter gloves to fit small hands? Can't wait for the weigh-in!
1
This reminds me of my junior prom. Break up? Or stay together for the gown and already rented tux? It's on. It's off. It's on again, but no one had a good time.
In my defense, I wasn't just behaving like an immature teenager, I really was just 16.
What's Don and Kim's excuse?
2
Here we have two leaders known for breaking their promises. They can't be trusted. Their word means nothing. So what good can come from all of this except that North Korea will have lifted its standing in the world?
9
"The letter delivered Friday was meant to smooth over the rift of the past week, although its contents were undisclosed. Mr. Trump initially told reporters it was “a very nice letter” and “a very interesting letter,” but later said that he had not actually read it. “I purposely didn’t open the letter,” he said." Does this strategy even make sense? How does a President comment on a letter and then lie about it, admitting he never read it. Is this why he made concessions? Is this what makes for intelligent foreign policy?
3
Another triumph for President Donald J. Trump. Such a meeting would not have occurred with the previous president because of his administration's policy of "strategic patience" toward North Korea. Strategic patience was another way of saying, "do nothing and hope for best." The DJT administration is proactive, taking the lead, and making things happen. If DJT had not tweeted his opinions about the leadership of NK early in his presidency, this historic meeting, which has the potential to formally end the Korean War (!), would have never been conceived. In other words, DJT goaded Kim to the bargaining table. Masterful! Simply masterful. DJT has revolutionized diplomacy! His style is one of a pantheon of reasons why Americans elected him to be the President of the United States of America over his opponent; they wanted something new, something refreshing, not the same-old-same old of the past. I support the President. I support Trump. May he continue to triumph through 2024! Thank you.
7
Though I do not support most of what Trump does, I do think he did goad North Korea to the bargaining table, because "strategic patience" was ineffectual. He did effectively create a situation that forced them to concede something. I don't think it was necessarily masterful on his part, but I do think his brazen personality was what was needed for this situation.
1
Wow. Such praise for the apprentice president.
Sadly, most, if not all, of your high praise is completely wrong.
I pick out one comment that stands out-"DJT has revolutionized diplomacy". Ok. If he is such a grand diplomat then why are our allies all shaking their heads in disbelief that we, America, have allowed a toddler twitter to hijack our system?
Trump goaded Kim? I believe you have that backward.
Lastly, the majority of the popular vote did not go to the grifter, therefore Americans did not elect him. The electoral college, due to its gerrymandered makeup, elected Trump.
I do hope there is some success should the meeting take place, but remember, it is not the United States in control of any peace treaty, it is the United Nations who will be the ultimate signatory body.
1
Maybe you should wait for the outcome before declaring the meeting "historic" or a "triumph." Conservatives criticized Obama for offering to have the same kind of meeting with Kim Jong Un. Where is that cautious skepticism now?
https://www.vox.com/2018/3/9/17100880/north-korea-republicans-right-cons...
1
Too much mews coverage about this summit. I did not even read the text. My friends also feel the same, too much noise nothing happens. China is sidelined by this planned summit. Singapore is a big winner.
2
The brilliant strategist in this tit for tat game is Moon.
Despite his country's impressive prosperity, South Korea remains to live under the US' shadow, hence, Moons' wants to secure his countries sovereignty. To do so, he wants to increase economic interdependence among the countries of Northeast Asia., Moon calls "Building the Nine Bridges." Economic interdependence changing relationships from adversaries to economic partners.
Kim wants , he needs sanctions lifted because of the negative effect regarding the finances of his private sector, which could very well be threatening his state control. Kim wants his families regime to be recognize on the world stage as a seat of power.
Well surely the universe heard their wishes for in comes DJT, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who believes his warrior's bravado was the catalyst for this historical summit. The only weapon in his holster are sanctions.
Kim and Moon have multiple conversations as to how to bring Trump to the table and it worked.
Kim will agree to dismantle his nuclear arsenal over a long period of time, but will not. He will walk away with lifted sanctions and shake Moon's hand for his help. The U.S. will loose face over time, The two will contiune to work on "building the nine bridges" to increase economic interdependence shoring up their seat of governing.
The honest to goodness tragedy of this entire 'made for T.V. movie 'are 2 words never spoken, peace and human rights.
1
The entire raison d'etre of North Korea has been the reconquest of the South since the armistice of 1953.
What a year 1953 was.
1
The show must go on, that's all it is, a performance, not news. It's attention-seeking, a deliberate distraction, predictable and boring. But stay tuned, and keep your expectations low America.
4
Lets be clear, particularly for the hardcore Trump supporters who believe the Left wants Trump to fail in this effort, nobody in the world except possibly a few mercenary or arms dealer types, wants this effort to fail.
The Left, be definition of being Left, wants peace on the Korean peninsula and between NK and US. Here is where the point gets sharp - as an American I very much want America to succeed in this current effort with NK. There is no childish wish that it fail just so Trump fails. I am not rooting for or against Trump to win like this is some locker room vote for our favorite quarterback. I want the US is be successful in settling Korea down for the betterment of ALL. This is about the US and the world for that matter, not Trump. He is just one player on the team.
Remember, the Pres represents the USA. He is not the country, just the current Pres. There have been many before and will be many after, from both left and right.
Because Trump is so erratic and inexperienced on this stage, collective experience says he is likely to fail in his efforts. Some may say his erratic behavior will shake things up and thats why it will succeed. That is pitting current Hope against decades of aquired Experience. Possibly a good strategy in some situations, but when the players are nuclear powers and the costs can be measured in millions of lives if the strategy fails in the wrong way, experience needs to outweigh hope. Thats not anti-Trump, its pro-success.
4
People who conduct themselves like Trump do not represent me.
trump really wants that Nobel Peace Prize (didn't former President Obama get one!). Be very concerned about what this president will do to get it. In my opinion, trump could care less about foreign diplomacy or making the planet a safer place; after all, we have the biggest arsenal on the planet and he thinks he controls it (please Congress don't let that be true).
3
Kim Jong-un is showing that *he* knows the art of the deal --not even a single meaningful concession and the US is back begging to meet.
It is just a matter of days before the US announces total capitulation. Making enemies like the EU, Canada, and Mexico we certainly need friends like North Korea.
2
Trump only wants the photo op. A picture of him and Kim shaking hands. After that he will lie about what was said and change his story as he sees fit. Just like he always does.
10
This was Round One of Donald Trump being played by Kim Jung-Un. As a first-time politician who captured the White House by promising deals that would restore America's greatness, and after tearing up or walking away from several international agreements struck by President Obama, Trump is now desperate for one. Just like he could not be bothered to read the letter from Kim's envoy, he will not be interested in any details of a deal. Like a person who visits a car dealer with a checkbook and burning desire to drive home in something new, Trump will be taken advantage of. Kim will continue to threaten his neighbors not only with nuclear weapons, but other weapons of mass destruction. And Trump only will have made Kim and his regime much richer.
5
So it has come to this. Photo ops with the two Kims--Jong Un and Kardashian--as perfect symbolic bookends for this insanity.
Reality TV and Reality Diplomacy.
Denuclearization? No longer necessary as long as I can have my picture taken with the guy who can match me insult for insult.
Meanwhile 4600 people died in Puerto Rico during Hurricane Maria, and aside from tossing rolls of paper towels during THAT photo op, Trump hasn't lifted a finger (aside from his middle one) to help them.
12
Kim has already gotten most of what he wants from this deal: a starring role, not in a Sony movie, but on the international stage; unprecedented propaganda material for his captive, cult of personality audience at home; these two alone bolsters his power tremendously. Kim, like Putin, even got to place his master spy in the office of the U.S. president! Now that's "access!" And what have we gotten in return?
Yes, our "president" is his fulfilling his promise to his audience to "shake things up," alienating our closest allies and embracing one of the most deserving pariahs on earth, working against American interests for everyone to see. Republican leadership have truly lost their minds and their loyalty to our country.
6
So instead of Kim waging a war, he will walk into S. Korea and eventually seize control. Brilliant. Just like Trump has done with the Republican Party.
5
The left want to see failure from the Trump administration even if it hurts the US. They hope the tariffs start a trade war and hurt the US workers. They hope that nuclear tensions increase. They do this in hope that the people will vote for them. The democrats are allot like the NK leadership. The most important thing is that they are in power. The good of the people is secondary.
5
You seem to believe that Democrats place party over country. How about Republicans, and more particularly Republican congressmen, do you have faith that they are putting country over party? Do you have any faith that if Mueller finds that Trump is guilty of obstruction, collusion with a foreign power or money laundering that the Republic led congress will impeach him? I don’t. Based on the actions of Devin Nunes and the committee he sits on where they shop information to the White House, I they have shown they they’re willing to ignore any and any behavior if it helps their party. What you complain of is hearsay based on punditry, what I see from Republicans is callow action in office.
1
It will be off again, unless trump buys dinner for Mr. Kim.
1
And of course, don't forget the beautiful piece of chocolate cake.
1
A treaty formally ending the Korean War would accomplish more than individual talks about each one of the issues, from nukes, to missiles, to removing US troops from South Korea. And formally ending the war is by far the easiest thing to accomplish, as the reasons for the war, stopping the spread of the Soviet Union, is no longer relevant. And neither the North or the South care for that war, neither does the North have any reason or intention to invade the South.
And the main reason the US does not want the North to attain and keep nuclear weapons is only because the 2 countries are formally at war. There still exists the notion that the US does not want the North Korean regime to exist, and so the North perceives the US as a threat.
Other than that the North possessing nuclear weapons poses no threat to even a single country. Unlike Iran, North Korea has no interest in anything that goes on beyond its borders, it has no declared enemies, and so its nuclear weapons do not threaten anyone. This is even more so in regard to the US as there isn't a leader on earth who would want to nuke the US and face the consequences, with the possible exception of Iran if it it feels the time has come to usher in an end of days war.
3
On/Off. Off/On. Like a light bulb that no matter how many clicks remains forever dim.
Korea? It really doesn't matter, does it?
Trumpy has no clue, and he's not about to get one.
He doesn't know or care what happens to the Korean Peninsula. He just found out where it is.
He cares only about getting a photo-op, giving the appearance he's doing something.
If anyone thinks for a second Trumpy knows anything about of Korea's History, or the History of the United States for that matter, is deluding themselves.
Trumpy is a cipher, a Chauncey Gardner in the flesh. He knows all he does by watching TV. That is the total sum of his knowledge. Scary, but true.
Even more horrible is millions of deplorably poorly-educated ignoramuses think this guy's the cat's pajamas. We now have a way to measure stupidity. Count the number of Americans who voted Trumpy. There's your baseline.
Sorry, Trumpets, no excuses. If you voted Trumpy you are certifiably ignorant. There's just no way getting around it, because there is no redeeming value in Trumpy; as a human, a husband, a father, a reputable businessman, and most certainly, a president.
Trumpy's a charlatan. He's spent his entire life sponging off the good will of others, playing them for the fools he thinks they are.
Don 't be mad at me, Trumpets. You should be thanking me for that dressing down. You made a horrible mistake the worse since re-electing Nixon. The worse is yet to come, but it is coming.
DD
Manhattan
12
What would a successful agreement with North Korea look like (keeping in mind the reasons Trump gave for pulling out of the multi-national deal agreement with Iran)?
It would include: Elimination of all nuclear weapons; removal of all uranium that has been enriched to more than 4-5%; elimination of all infrastructure to enrich uranium; destruction of all data on how to build nuclear weapons; verifiable commitment to not export any such knowledge to other countries; destruction of existing missiles and components capable of carrying nuclear warheads, as well as all missile manufacturing capabilities; commitment to allow without interference no-warning, intrusive inspection of all North Korean known and suspected nuclear facilities by US and other foreign inspectors as determined by the US; join as soon as possible the UN NPT and to comply with all of its provisions, etc., etc.
By implication, Trump's efforts will have to be considered as a failure any agreement that does not fulfill the demands Trump stated were deficiencies to the Iran deal. Any takers on bets that this won't happen, but which nonetheless will claim as an historic success?
4
Trump simply babbles; his thought process is confused:
“I don’t even want to use the term maximum pressure anymore because I don’t want to use that term because we’re getting along,” Mr. Trump said. “You see the relationship. We’re getting along. So it’s not a question of maximum pressure. It’s staying essentially the way it is.”
With such a disheveled thought process, Trump goes into this negotiation severely disadvantaged.
And Mattis's comment isn't any firm statement about this president's behavior at the summit:
"Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Saturday that one concession sought by the North, a reduction of the American military presence in South Korea, would not be discussed at the summit meeting."
Given the uncontrolled nature of this president, Trump will talk about whatever he wants to talk about. This is the problem with Trump: he is so disorganized that no one can speak for him. Mattis should know that by now. And we should know that by now.
6
Looks like this meeting is just turning into a photo-op for both Kim and Trump, which is probably what both truly want.
It would be great for all concerned, especially the people on the Korean peninsula if real progress was made but I am afraid this will just give Kim some degree of legitimacy and Trump a chance to brag about his some non-existent victory.
9
Well, as it turns out it was smart to save your commemorative coins since the Singapore Summit has risen again. There two of arguably the world's most untrustworthy leaders will meet in a showy embrace of a "peace in our time" photo op that will play well for both, but probably yield little of major substance other than a treaty ending the Korean War and some "feel good" comments about working toward a framework for the "denuclearization" of the Korean peninsula. For North Korea's Kim Jong-un it will give him major power status appearing with the U.S. President and perhaps some minor economic benefits with a loosening of a few sanctions in a show of goodwill. For our deal breaker in chief it will be branded as a major accomplishment on the order of a Nixon in China moment worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize and electing Republicans this November. So, let's all "give peace a chance," but also remember to ask, "Where's the beef?"
9
You would think the liberals would be jumping for joy at the prospects for peace on the Korean peninsula.Maybe nothing will come of this summit but at least we are talking and that is a lot better than not talking which has been the strategy of the past few administrations.Communication is the key component in any relationship.When the communication stops so does the relationship and that is never a good thing.
2
Such diplomatic communication usually begins with an exchange of ambassadors. They haven't even negotiated that.
1
I am a psychologist and this comment about dialogue versus not talking is exactly right. Even if the motivation is mostly narcissism and greed I prefer those to a nuclear showdown.
1st item negotiated has already been successfully completed. The US will pay all the expenses for Kim and his contingent to attend. Estimated to be approx. $300,000/night (lodging, food, and miscellaneous hotel charges only).
1
So complete and verifiable denuclearization as a prerequisite for a meeting has disappeared entirely, and the nuclear issue itself seems to be fading as the President talks more about incentives for NK to come to the table (something that NK has wanted to do for generations.). Candidate Trump correctly warned that the NKs could not be trusted and did not keep their promises. But now it seems that he may promise to guarantee "protection" to a brutal dictator in exchange for promises of good behavior. How far we have fallen, in a little over a year, from our position of defender of human rights. Sad.
3
North Korea will make a peace deal with the South and the country will become “unified”. There will be North Korean troops in Seoul inside of a year.
1
Its funny that everyone (well not me, and many Trump observers) are now commending Trump for his, "We'll see...we're gonna take things slow..."attitude. When in reality that's not him talking, its scripted Trump. Its the, "Look I'm reasonable and in control Trump."
I want Vegas to give us odds,and I want to lay down some money, on how quickly Trump agrees to a deal IF he thinks its the deal that crowns him the Bigly, most tremendous peace-maker of all Admins ever, everywhere. IF he thinks its a deal that makes him look good now, in the current moment he will agree to it.
Even if his advisors say to slow down, lets actually negotiate, take baby-steps...IF Kim presents a deal, even if its obviously Kim only playing and poking around...IF it hits the right button in Trumps head (the "this serves me" button) he will agree.
If there is any sort of a closed door, Trump and Kim (+translators) only meeting, maybe a sauna together - I'm betting on Trump claiming there's a real deal made,and crowning himself King of the Peace-makers. And that claim of a deal will completely bumfuzzle Pompeo and State, China, Japan, South Korea, and any other pertinent players.
I simply do not think Trump can control his urges. Not when he's looking for a Bigly win. Something to crow about, and make grandiose claims of, "The best, The Only, Never done before..."
8
Bad week for the 24/7 hate Trump all the time media.Trump on the verge of securing a Nobel. Economy booming. Peace and prosperity. Democrats hoping for massive unemployment and World War III. Ain't happening.
9
Spot on Steve -- the Trump haters would prefer nuclear devastation, the great depression, etc. to Trump succeeding. What a pitiful group.
1
Let's see, if the North and South Koreas are going to declare an end to hostilities, if I get in there with threats and ultimatums, when I back off (Just kidding!) I can take the credit for calmer heads prevailing and Trump will be a hero for unifying Korea! I'm the best President in the history of the world.
2
I viewed the White House visit by the North Korean second-in-command as theater. Even President Trump flubbed his lines regarding his reading of the letter.
Showering enemy countries with the media attention that comes with diplomatic visits to presage a “summit” , and then placing tariffs on our allies, is screwed up foreign and economic messaging and action.
No one can deny the virtues of a peaceful settlement with North Korea. Since North Korea’s policy, since I can remember, is taking over the entire Korean peninsula, one can envision the inconsistent US administration allowing North Korea to retain their nuclear designs while the US reduces its military presence in the South making North Korea’s aims much easier to achieve.
Perhaps the theater we witnessed at the White House was purposeful peremptory documentation for the Nobel Prize Committee rather than intentional efforts to reign in the nuclear rogue state.
President Trump is being too friendly with enemies and too cruel to allies. None of this makes sense unless the intent of the administration is to destroy the current order.
8
WAPO article today says the US was considering picking up the hotel tab of the DPRK delegation, w/the presidential suite alone $6000 a night. Illegal under treasury regulations, the WH will apparently try to lay it off on S`pore.
2
Agreed, $6000 a night is way too high a price to pay for a unified Korea. Much better to pay to keep all our troops there at a fraction of the cost. Like anyone cares about treasury regulations but them.
Looks as if Trump's strategy is 'working' !
9as opposed to Obama 'strategy' of 'begging".
5
Remember Otto Warmbier? - Along with countless North Koreans - tortured to death by this family - Their tyranny has earned an American president's praise - unbelievable - Do you love your children? - Remember suffering of Otto and his family. RIP Otto.
13
Wow.
Reading the comments, you would have to conclude that Democrats just do not want peace on the Korean penninsula.
Hoping Trump fails, the Democrats new plan.
10
We're not hoping Trump will fail but we know he will.
2
Ken in VT. Nope. Not fail, but not be too big a dupe.
The meeting yesterday was all theater, giving Kim and his cronies completer legitimacy...all without any mentions of the tyranny. (Not Trumps, but Kim's. We can go back to Trump's.)
Now Kim is a good guy. Now Kim is a reasonable guy. Now Kim has the legitimacy he craves,and it only plays well forKim.
While the rest of us remain very wary of Kim, and his cronies, knowing the history of such negotiations, the WH is so high on themselves, they appear like addicts who just got a long-overdue hit.
So while Trump is glad-handing torturers, he slaps tariffs and insults on allies. Up is down and sideways is now forward.
Oh...and I seem to recall Repubs wishing for the same fails for Obama. Yup, so much so...McConnell even said so on camera...so please stop the hypocrisy and the phony patriotism.
10
Ken, there are many curses life forces us to have to live with. We just have to accept them for what they are and keep going. Kvetching about every little ache and pain only helps doctors to become rich, it certainly doesn’t make them go away.
Waste of a good reporters time.
2
Moon: Hi, Kim
Kim: Hey there, Moon.
Moon: What are we gonna do about Trump?
Kim: Hell if I know. Is he back on today, or is it off again? I didn't send any more missiles over Japan. I admit, I doubt I fooled anyone except Trump when I claimed to destroy my nuke facility after some jerk scientist blew it up by mistake.
Moon: Well, as of three hours ago, it was back on.
Kim: Three hours? With Trump, that's back in the last Ice
Age. What did he say ten minutes ago?
Moon: I don't know. I don't get Fox.
Kim: Nor does anyone else in their right mind. Look, I'm running low on hard currency again Please pass the word that we welcome the opportunity, etc. etc. You know what to say. Don't make it look like I'm too eager. First off, I'm not. I know what a dork he is.
Moon: No arguments there.
Kim: Besides, if my generals detect anything they see as a sign of weakness on my part, I'm toast. You really don't want that. Compared to them, I'm Gandhi.
Moon: I'll tell Bolton you hope Trump cancels again. That should make sure Trump will not only come, but bring you a Big Mac as well.
Kim: Hey, I have a weight problem. Just make it a salad.
Moon: Trump will flip. Just slip me the burger under the table.
Kim: OK, thanks. Look, we had better break it up soon. If Bolton sees us talking for too long, he'll think we're planning to have Samsung infiltrate the NSA or something.
Moon: They did. About five years ago. I'll tell you all about it next time.
Kim: Can't wait. OK, later.
7
Brain addled left once again can't stand the thought that Trump might accomplish what all the dems since Truman failed to do. Figure out how to work NK. Sorry folks. Trump pulls off a workable deal you'll not win in 2020. And that's that the left cares about. They'd rather have NK be a festering sore or even have it nuke Los Angeles than give credit where credit is due.
The left is full of people who don't care about the US, they only care about power. Trump is willing to figure out DACA, but not the left, because they'd rather have it as a political weapon to use against Trump and Repubs. Really sad.
And the left wants to keep pushing this ridiculous russian investigation because that's really their only hope. Sad group.
6
Very kind of Trump to share his learning process with us all!
2
President Donald Trump has shown great maturity & sagacity in accepting this Summit meeting with Comrade Kim Jong-un.
On the President’ Part its an act of Pure faith.Faith that there should be complete denuclearisation & freedom for the much suffering humanity in N Korea.
Across the President’s table will sit a leader,who is really unknown to the world,as is his nation.
Except for sporadic overtures to the world at large.
My humble advice,
The President should not follow the principle of appeasement,it’s a Summit with a specific purpose & nothing short of achieving it will be termed as a success.
There are better places to play Golf.
On behalf of all Mankind I sends good wishes to the President in his worthy endeavour to bring onto the Korean Peninsula lasting peace & free from weapons,to which i add mine.
Best of luck,Mr President
4
This is simple. Jong-un like all good dictators wants to live a long time. He sees Trump as a loose cannon on deck. Jong-un thinks Trump might do something silly. The false alarm in Hawaii indicating incoming missiles might have been a warning to Jong-un. His best chance of survival in these no dictator times is to heralded as the leader that opened up North Korea.
This administration is like watching an info-mercial for the Ron-co Pocket President. Just when you think you've heard about enough, you hear, "But wait! There's more!" And the so called Deal just keeps getting better and better, then, whoops! There they go again....changing it up once more. I think I'll pass up the opportunity to "call in the next 7 minutes...."
3
Serial TV cliffhanger drama, Trump's meeting with Kim Yong-chol, Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un's envoy with "the letter" at the White House in brilliant sunshine yesterday. Glaringly obvious, the absence from the meeting and the drama were Vice President Pence and Nationional Security Adviser Bolton, two of the president's ever-present sidekicks. No sign of them bigly hawks during the love fest. Just Pompeo and the dignified envoy, Kim chon-gul, and interpreters, Despite predicting success at the hastily patched up Singapore Summit in 10 days, our Big Mullet didn't look happy. He scaled back his hastily planned, rejected in sorrow, picked-up again summit meeting and said 12 June will just be "a getting-to-know-you meeting" between him and Kim. Like with Anna and the King of Siam. Otherwise, as Mitch McConnell put in his two cents yesterday -- "if you fall in love with the deal...you may get snookered." Snooker, anyone?
2
Ok...
Let's wait for tomorrow's position.
And let's see what happens...
4
More media gamesmanship from Trump. This summit will not happen and anyone who thinks it will is a fool.
4
All I can say to the naysayers is this: don't cut off your own nose to save your face. Let him try.
6
I doubt there is any way the Hermit Kingdom of starving synchronous marchers will transition smoothly to an open economy with open borders after living under a total war footing for three generations.
3
With an attitude like that, nor is anything else positive possible. On the other hand, thanks to synchronous marching even the tiniest little ants can build huge pyramids. The collapse of the Tower of Babel proves the power of autonomy.
Trump was seen pandering to Kim’s henchman, what a guy.
7
So Trump foolishly hosts the head North Korean spy (this person was in charge of, among others, the SONY hack, the hacking of South Korean banks, and a $81 million internet heist through the NY Federal Reserve Bank) IN THE OVAL OFFICE FOR TWO HOURS! What can possibly go wrong?
And, of course, at last report Trump is still using his own unsecured cell phone. You cannot make up this stuff. SNL will have a field day with this.
Is it any surprise that North Korea wants to have a summit with Trump? They realize they can easily manipulate this Dunning-Kruger president (let's not forget that China is really calling the shots here).
Let's hope this summit eventually is not held. If it goes through, California will be a province of North Korea, and Trump will think he won!
5
I dont know the President may cancel the talks after landing at Changi Airport and might return to Washington by Airforce one.
This was announced yesterday.
And we're dealing with the Fickle Finger of Trump.
Anyone know if the summit is still on today?
1
We would all be safer if Trump stayed home. I doubt that with his limited knowledge of foreign diplomacy and his unrestrained ego, he will only ruffle the feathers of another despot. Don't know who brought up the possibility of him winning a Nobel Peace Prize, but he now has that on his brain. Remember all his campaign rhetoric where he claimed only HE could do this or that. Delusion is one thing, but having him put so many people in the world in jeopardy is not worth whatever small gains he may elicit from Kim, who has much more experience is international manipulation. Keep Donald busy at home. I could even put up with the tweets if it meant he couldn't do further harm. We need to stop putting expectations of normalcy on his presidency. It is not a year and a half and he has proven that is not in his tool box.
2
This is a joke-
Trump has destroyed this country's reputation for honesty and ethics. Why should anyone believe anything that he says?
This will amount to nothing- and when it fails, Trump will do what he has always done - lie and deflect cause it's never his fault.
This used to be a reputable country, a world leader- now we are just the local joke.
8
On again. Off again. That's is pretty much how Trump policy works. North Korea? Tariffs? TPP? DACA? Why does anyone trust him to do the right thing and keep his word? Not that I trust the North Koreans, but they have everything to gain and it sounds like Trump will give it to them.
1
I recently finished reading Mr. Bakers book "days of fire" which was an incredibly balanced and informative review of the g.w. bush presidency. It made me reflect on some of my previous perspectives on his presidency. Unfortunately this article doesn't follow this precedent. Trump's letter to Mr. Kim and his proclamations about cancelling the meeting were based on bellicose North Korean comments in response to U.S. statements. The letter and Mr. Trumps comments indicated an open ended response that left open the possibility of rescheduling the meeting if North Korea toned down the rhetoric which they did. He has not reduced sanctions or agreed to gradually reduce sanctions in response to a gradual denuclearization process. Mr. Trump's erratic nature may indeed result in a failed process; but dont exacerbate the chances by what I consider an unbalanced perspective in this particular matter that contradicts your proven journalistic abilities.
Rachael Maddow walked right up to a clearer explanation of why the summit is back on. She had more information on the North Korea spy / hacking master in with Trump for two hours meeting today. In addition to leading the nuclear weapons development, North Korea spymaster spent precious resources looking for your people with coding skills, then put them in special internet spying/hacking schools. This rapidly developed North Korea in a premier internet world hacker, which by some competitions is more skilled and powerful the Russia, the Chinese, and the Americans. Their attack on Sony was just an example of their power and ruthlessness. My speculation is Trump was likely sold that by adding North Korean hacking of the midterm elections, a huge boost power to the Republicans, to Soviet hacking of the midterm elections, he can beat the rap for all his crooked / criminal activities, including those documented by Mueller investigation.
1
This is the biggest diplomatic joke of all time. Trump has already given up,the barn on his way to given up the farm. He has backed away from maximum pressure which was somewhat working, given the world stage to this despot, backed off from denuclearization and will end up with a deal if he is lucky 10per cent of the scrapped Iranian deals.
And I want to know what happened to the Republican hawks like Ryan and McConnell and all the Republicans who with Obama in office though he was soft on No Korea, Russia, China which is militarizing the South China Sea and all our adversaries. I think Trump and the Republicans actions make Neville Chamberlain look like General McCarthur.
4
I get a kick out of the troops that can't find anything right that this President does. Fact is that Trump called North Korea and China's bluff when he cancelled the meeting. He cancelled because there was nothing to be gained and everything to loose with their lack of respect. North Korea desperately wants this meeting and bowed to Trump in order to restart the process. This is a differant North Korea than we have seen in the past. The combination of trade restrictions and changed times brought North Korea to the table. Fact is the cannot continue their wicked agenda. Stop this Liberal song of Trump hatred and give the man credit. No one knows what will come out of this meeting. My guess is that it is simply a start and Trump will be a better player than past Presidents.
4
Nothing will come of this meeting between the wannabe dictator and the real dictator; nonetheless it will be the best deal ever for Trump.
1
Deal or no deal this will be spun into the greatest diplomatic achievement in the history of the world.
1
So, last year the President's war of words with North Korea was reckless, irresponsible, and could lead to nuclear war; this year, his renewed agreement to go talk with Mr. Kim is feckless, irresponsible, concedes too much, and could lead to, peace? Well, let's skip that part! What's clear from the slant of this story is that the press and foreign policy establishment are desperate to deny Mr. Trump credit for anything even when he lurches back on the path to negotiations, which is supposedly the thing that we all want more than war. The only thing that's consistent is their hatred of the President.
2
But that’s 10 days away! Gotta have some wiggle room for other plans, don’t we? I mean it’s just only about nuclear weapons. No big deal.
Tomorrow is always just another day in Trumpworld and the Republicans just settle for stand-by. Some day something terrible is going to happen and they’re going to act surprised.
2
Let's face it! It's all a show! No substance all appearance. Why are we actually wasting time with all this? He's being used by the North Koreans because he is giving them credibility and legitimacy. Let's just hope that the mess Trump creates won't survive him.
5
The US NK team is lead by a toddler. There is no clear goal or objective and the team members are fighting each other.
What could go wrong?
2
Trump's "latest head-spinning twist." He has only one operating mode. No planning or preparation, don't read anything, just impulsively react in the moment. All in service to his needy ego and pathetic narcissism.
Forget diplomacy or any discernible accomplishments. This man is an ever-present danger. And as we've seen, he's only getting worse. Each and every day. For those so inclined, let's pray that our democracy can hold together until voters can remove his Republican enablers in November.
4
If there is any way Trump can put lipstick on a nuclear pig he will do it. The goal for Trump is not so much denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The goal is to boldly go where no president has gone before and emerge with a 'deal' that looks like a win. Just go back and look at the video of Trump's face when his supporters were yelling "Nobel".
However, as much as I despise Donald Trump, we need to all hope that he is as successful as possible. While I think the likelihood is greater that he will get snookered, Donald Trump is a 71 yr old man with a lot of negotiating experience. There is a chance he'll pull it off. I hope he does and I hope he gets the Nobel Peace Prize because if he pulls this off he deserves it.
Then, when the dust has settled let's remember that he colluded with the Russians to win the election and impeach him ASAP.
He negotiated himself into several bankruptcies. A very shrewd negotiator NOT!
Smart move by President Trump to offer U.S. aid to North Korea. If he can bring peace to Korea he will surely be remembered as a great president. We hope he will give increased aid to Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria also and help in effort to see a new state come about inside Syria
2
The "news" is that trump is now distancing himself from expectations of anything significant in terms of "denuclearization" (who knew Healthcare Legislation could be so complicated). He has changed his spin from a "sure" deal to "these things don't happen over night"
8
Media should not fall into the trap of allowing Trump to set the conditions of success. Trump has already handled this summit like a soap opera, making the cliff-hangar "whether or not Trump and Kim meet". There are many things wrong with conditions here, and it would be surprising if Kim agrees to what Trump has in mind. Then even if Kim agrees, what is he getting in return, and how will the "deal" be implemented. By going directly to a summit, Trump has already conceded a great deal that would have not been conceded in diplomatic orthodoxy. Truth is, a deal should already be made by the time there is a summit. Trump has provided Kim a legitimacy and status that he has longed for, and now both are using the summit for cameo appearances before the camera to burnish their prestige. But the diplomacy is nowhere.
13
This Trump announcement was worth about three paragraphs midway down the page. When it actually happens and issue a boilerplate joint statement, give us another five grafs and when they actually produce an agreement (sometime next year) that's worth a top story with all the details. Meanwhile, can we get a sane healthcare system, safe schools, a living wage for all our workers, and affordable higher education?
22
Every good salesman instantly recognizes the rube who really, really wants the car.
43
...and it is N. Korea !
Great to see Trump smiling in the Oval Office with the North Korean chief in charge of undermining our national security when Trump would not shake hands with Merkel, barely smiled with Macron on his last visit, and the day before insulted most of our allies with tariffs in the name of national security. Great negotiating!
46
Diplomacy is an art, people who are good at it have years of experience and work to understand the details of an issue from both sides. Progress is often slow, but steady.
“Deal making”, as practiced by Trump and his enablers, swerves from side to side like a severely drunken driver careening down Main Street. No concern as to how the end is reached, who is hurt, or what the final condition is when finished.
We have power drunk amateurs trying to reach a deal about nuclear weapons with a government that is dangerously at odds with the world and that oppresses its own people to a degree that is hard to comprehend.
What could go wrong?
25
Couldn't be any worse than that stinker of a deal which Obama and Kerry brokered with Iran.
The US has succumbed to the ultimate blowhard.
2
The Master Negotiator. Who always caves. Shortly to be played like a fiddle, as he gives away the store.
16
So, we're imposing tariffs on Canada and Europe but we're scheduling friendly chats with untrustworthy dictators and befriending Russia?
Oh. Sounds good to me.
Can you use a needlessly staggering portion of my personal income to pay for some if it?
Cool, thanks.
23
Trump has temperamentally more in common with Kim Jong Un than he does with Justin Trudeau.
1
Trump is nice to dictators and authoritarians that have been our enemies for half a century or more, and spurns democratically elected leaders of our allies.
Let’s face it, Trump is a traitor to his country.
38
Just like Republicans criticized Obama for all the concessions he gave the Iranians, so are the Democrats criticizing Trump for the two (or more) concessions he's given N Korea - before the talks had even begun.
Bu the difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is that the Democrats will respect any agreement with N. Korea. They will not tear it up just because it was Trump's accomplishment.
Having said that, Trump will soon realize that total denuclearization by N. Korea is a pipe dream.
10
NK is now a nuclear power and it will remain a nuclear power; we have better to learn to deal with this.
A meeting, without any result, is better than a war ...I hope!
2
I love the frenemies plotlines. It's the main reason why I watch these old episodes of The Hills.
Wait. WHAT????
5
Instead of taking the proposed US-North Korea dialogue for what it deserves due to its global repercussions Trump is rather playing hide-and-seek with his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-un in a strange on-now-off-again funny mode. But what else one could expect from the President who grabbed the power position only through questionable mischievous means, and treats his constitutional position simply as a break from his equally dubious family business.
7
Unfortunately the two of them will come up with some sort of bogus statement that they've agreed to bring peace to the world - it'll be a complete charade - and Fox news and Trump's base will love it. Such a nightmare this loser.
17
Korea will scam Trump with fake promises, the same way Chaing Kai Shek scammed FDR. Chinese will be manipulating always in the background. Aid to NK is like aid to Iran, Russia, Libya.
3
It's certainly better that they are talking instead of trading nuclear threats. But the North Koreans have tacitly lifted the travel ban on the person who is responsible for so many bad things, at least for one high profile trip. What are we getting out of this trip? At we are getting some respite from the war of words between Trump and Kim. I'm still skeptical that Kim really wants to give up his nuclear weapons.
Hmmm; economy moving forward, unprecedented
and unparalleled diplomatic breakthroughs with North Korea, focus on both US workers and the sale of domestic made products, hmmm, thank you Donald; stay focused.
11
The stock market is not the economy. The economy is doing fine bc of the lasting effects of Obama’s policies. Mr Trump and the right Republicans are doing many things to the economy which are loosening regulations- regulations which protect us from the swings of pure market forces.
We’ll all see the results of Their efforts shortly- and I don’t feel we’ll be very happy then
1
Man, we really are bending over to make this party happen. It's pretty clear, Kim's not giving up his nukes. And when did a U.S. President ever meet with a third world country's No. 2? Reagan Republicans are turning over in their graves.
7
How about Trump bidding out the contents of the unread Kim letter to the gathered reporters? Maybe the fool will puff himself up enough to explode. No doubt some folks are praying he will.
1
Mr Kim will never give up his nukes but Mr Trump will never give up his photo ops. A summit that was to cap a denuclearization deal is now a summit about "getting to know you," and is already deemed a success because it's going to happen. These men are a match made in heaven, my only question; Who brings the rose?
3
Trump wants a photo-op to announce his 'mission accomplished' moment
Then, he will leave it to the minions to work out the real details
6
Why should anyone believe anything that Trump says? He lies constantly about everything.
15
It's insulting and embarrassing that we have a Dolt in the Whitehouse that seems enamored by these autocratic butchers, no concession or anything, but Trump is going to give Kim Jong Un a platform for propaganda.
12
I never thought I could hate anyone more than Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, and Newt Gingrich. I'm learning all sorts of things about myself.
18
I expect more from the this paper than I do from Trump. Thus it is highly disappointing that the Times refers to this as a "diplomatic breakthrough." It is merely today's noise, no more a breakthrough than when Trump said the opposite awhile back, and the opposite of that awhile before, and the opposite of that awhile before that, ad nauseum...........
18
Kim must be happy to be meeting with our POTUS who makes Kim look like a reasonable and honorable guy. Trump had Michael Cohen to be his fixer in Trump's murky real estate business now John Bolton may assume that role in Trump's murky administration. This will be the first real test of Trump and Bolton on the world stage.
Trump is certainly taking a different approach than most highest level summit meetings. Hopefully the meeting will not be derailed by the growing pressure from multi serious investigations of the Trump administration and Trump infamous lack of preparation.
Mr. Trump initially told reporters it was “a very nice letter” and “a very interesting letter,” but by the end of a conversation with reporters, he said that he had not actually read it.
It just never ends...
29
He is an idiot. Call a spade a spade.
13
trump must have agreed with Kim on pence. trump demands include guaranteed income from hotels, golf courses and a Nobel prize. In exchange he will give anything that does not belong too him.
1
At this point, does anyone take seriously any diplomatic anything seeping out of the White House? Is there a single serious or thoughtful person anywhere near 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue? It sure seems as if our foreign policy is now dictated by the interests of the Trump and Kushner families.
10
Trump is the gift that keeps giving to the North Korean, murderous despot. He will leave that summit (if it comes to fruition) fulfilling the dreams an aspirations of his father and grandfather. He will have world -wide credibility. He will be blessed with the stature reserved for world leaders. He will be invited to all the right parties and hit the links with the right foursome. With the new friends and new haircut, he will maintain his nuclear arsenal while dangling the possibility of termination before the free world. Let us not forget the "free world", the one in which his countrymen will never be a part of...He should brand his favorite poisons of choice with the Trump name. Like his use of poisons to reinforce his base of power, so has Trump. Trump, in an attempt to satisfy his blood-lust to show-up his predecessors and fuel his own narcissistic desires, he has stumbled upon a rare opportunity to do something both beneficial to the world and presidential in stature. However, rest assured, he will not . It will be smoke and mirrors, along with a right-wing propaganda scheme, working overtime. His summit will be an accomplishment more successful "than the world has ever seen"...The sycophants will praise him. He will bestow upon himself the mantle of the ultimate negotiator, again. And, when the smoke clears and the parades end, The Chairman will be the world leader actually invited to the United Kingdom.
5
I want to know about the money deals being made. Will the Trump family empire somehow finagle a gain out of all the wheeling and dealing involving not just NK and SK but China and Japan? Will American taxpayers have to finance Trump's Nobel Prize-winning diplomatic "win" with an aid package? I have never felt threatened by "Lil' Kim's" little nukes and so do not want our government to pay him to put them in mothballs. We need every dollar at home.
3
Cmon now...do you honestly think that was it ever cancelled. I like to think that It was never cancelled, at least to those in the know. I can’t say that I know for certain or have any insight but I can only assume that this all part of the the show/drama that this administration craves; attention and praise. Set your DVR, get some food and drink and enjoy the show. No meaningful agreement will be reached but it will be great TV. Cheers.
3
President Trump is doing what the previous Presidents could not do and the liberals commenting here are doing their usual P&M. Face it liberals you lost and President Trump will probably do what Reagan did when he ran for a second term--bury the Democrat who runs against him.
7
True. No previous president is about to get rolled on the world stage by a North Korean dictator the way Trump is about to.
6
Trump is evidently confident he can get Kim to exchange his rocket-man gig for ownership of a Trump-branded resort in Pyongyang.
9
I really need to hear more about what the "adults" are thinking. Trump is irrelevant.
12
I will believe it when I see it.
3
Some commentator a ways back questioned Mr. Baker's integrity as a journalist...in other words, implying fake news.
I believe he was from Texas and signed off with his retired military i.d. He implied that Mr. Baker's reporting was really "opinion" and said Mr. Baker was unaware that the world had passed him by and that he hadn't accepted the results of the 2016 election. It was a personal assault.
This is the most common trope among Trump supporters and signing off with some military background implies "hyper patriotism."
As a New Englander whose family has fought on land and sea since the French and Indian War and who feels extremely patriotic about this country, opposing Donald Trump is a sacred duty. I recently visited the homes of Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In the visitor centers at both places was a photograph of a smiling Donald Trump. It is impossible not to feel embarrassed when you see that. Several people in my tour group commented about the irony.
Teddy Roosevelt won a Nobel Prize for brokering an end to the
Russo-Japanese War. FDR guided the ship of state through the Depression and World War II. Donald Trump is an absolute comical joke when compared with these two men. He is not going to broker any end to Korean hostility.
11
"He is not going to broker any end to Korean hostility."
How do you know?
2
Most of the readers here do not seem to like the person, but whether we like him or not, President is our messenger, and here his message is not just to safeguard US by whatever means necessary but also a message for lasting peace in the Korean peninsula and the adjoining regions.
4
Another bunch of flip-flops in this one story. The flip-flop king is outdoing himself. He's proving he's always as good as his word, which is not good at all.
4
This summit offers the prospect of denuclearization meaning the gradual destruction of nuclear weapons and the means to produce them in a verifiable way. It, of course, will require reciprocal concessions by the United States. When neither party in the negotiations has been defeated in battle, as in World War two, this is to be expected. The exact time period over which this will happen and the concessions we need to make are what the talks will be all about. Those who demand more rapid progress are raising expectations to diminish what this administration may very well accomplish. All Americans, regardless of party, should be comforted by the prospect of peace on the Korean Peninsula and the end of a threat of a nuclear attack on our great cities. I don't much care if it is Trump who gets the credit or if had been his predecessors in both parties.
6
Let us not build false equivalence. DPRK is no democracy, nor it has rule of law as we understand it. The negotiation even then makes good sense and could well succeed.
Most of the objectives the two parties seek are not mutually contradictory and hence not subject to zero sum game paradigm. Except for denuclearization where US expects the mutuality be limited to Korean peninsula, and this seems to be acceptable to North Korean leadership.
Negotiation shall succeed only because there is such a disparity and only if both perceive it as a fair game.
3
Do you think Kim will get Trump to stop expanding the US nuclear arsenal?
No, nor will Russia, India or Pakistan. The issue is not that but nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula and the threat he perceives to his regime and the sanctions imposed on North Korea by the failure, so far, to achieve a peaceful settlement. Kim wants to stay in power and bring prosperity to his people. He is really not concerned about our nuclear capacity vis-a vis other nations. Today there is cause for optimism. Let's hope for peace and not get distracted by political differences.
Wow. I'm so relieved. The coins are good to go. Again.
12
Folk are going to have to take a good look around in the next election. Do they want to throw a wrench into conditions that improving in every dimension by electing hard left "progressives"? I suspect the answer will be no, except for the most hard left "progressives" commenting here, which won't count for a hill of beans.
5
Ah, see, that's interesting. We have Nazis in the street, and coarsened public discourse. We have an Administration that is dismantling our government (senior staff are leaving the VA, as well as other departments). We have a 'tax cut' that expires for the middle class, and which funnels more money to the wealthy. Our allies no longer trust us. And yet, you'll say that "things are improving in every dimension."
Maybe I'm rising to your bait, but I don't care. I don't think that being concerned about my country and its citizens, or those who wish to be here, makes me a 'hard left' progressive. I don't think that hoping for decent jobs and social mobility make me a 'hard left' progressive. I don't think that caring about civil rights makes me a 'hard left' progressive. You tell me why that doesn't make me an American, first.
Oh, and one other thing, Jaco -- if Scott Pruitt keeps dismantling environmental protections, consider yourself lucky if you've got a hill of beans left to sit on. I think that the government is coming for that, too.
8
The news that the "summit" (if one can call it that) is back on seems "uninspiring" to say the least. This won't be anything resembling "Nixon in China."
5
So the President hasn't read the letter he was given. Why!? Is he fearful that it will be more than one page and have no pictures? Or maybe that there will be big words in it?
And this summit in just ten days... I have this feeling that he'll make some huge concession like to withdraw our military from South Korea in return for some magic beans, save nothing will grow from them at all.
5
Trump is handling this like he handles his ridiculous real estate scams. Random moves, right and left. Thinks he is cleverly confusing his opponents. Got himself into bankruptcy repeatedly in the real estate sector. Not encouraging when dealing with something of real importance. At the end he will try to 'give away the farm', i.e. US interests, to get a 'win for Donny'.
12
So Kim now is one of the good guys, now has achieved world status with a meeting with the US president, and makes Trump look like the petulant one who cancelled the summit.
Long road ahead,, and do remember China and Russia have their own agendas here to complicate things.
Will be interesting when Kim plays the victim of aggression and asks for US withdrawal of troops along with other free candy.
Now there remains the influence of Bolton, the NK elite who have to support Kim if he's serious as well.
Hope is not to be abandoned but boy, lots can go wrong here,
2
Is anybody else just a little concerned that we're waging a trade war against our allies while cozying up to dictators? I mean very recently North Korea was showing fun montages of them blowing up the United States. The Russians spent billions hacking our elections and yet he's getting direct advice from Putin through back channels. What's next a State Dinner for Erdogan?
But Canada the country that took all of our airplane traffic for a week after 9/11. Their citizens opened their doors and hearts to uprooted Americans but Trump calls them a national security risk.
I thought Trump would be a buffoon. I had no idea he would actually take purposeful actions to dismantle our countries position in the world. He must owe the Russians a lot of money.
78
It makes more sense to just give them money and help them economically than go to war. Wars cost lives and money too.
4
If you can not keep such friends as Canada and the European Union how can you expect to influence favorably a country like North Korea that has shown itself willing and able to manipulate the US every time it negotiates with us.
Friend? Foe? Trump seems not to know the difference only seeing what his ego wants him and us to see.
12
Folks who expect some miracle coming out of this meeting between US and NK, just think about the ruthless killer trying to con a neophyte in international diplomacy who brags about the letter from Kim as "a very nice letter...a very interesting letter" but he had not read it. What a joke!
8
Odds on this so called summit is off again by Next week. Donald is too insecure and too scared to go. He's been had by Rocket Man, and he knows it.
3
Political relations between countries will alter radically in the next seven years of this new century which has already ushered in unprecedented political changes in how countries themselves are now being governed. Be it in the Middle East, Europe, Asia or the Americas, the people are demanding government reforms no matter the place their country occupies in the worlds economic arena. The planet has awakened to the abuses of colonialism, battleship diplomacy, and the military conquests of the past that have defined the last few centuries. President Trump is in position to play a major role in these transitory times to help set up new guidelines for the nations, both economically, and militarily, which will have to become more suitable for the times we we find ourselves in. This world does not belong to the few, it never did, the abuses of the working class brought on by the force of weight of the stronger countries no longer serves a useful purpose, and has no place where our time is headed by design.
2
I don't have great confidence when I worry that whether this actually happens depends mostly on if there is an even or odd number of days until it is scheduled.
Question Why would reaching an agreement with North Korea with Trump in charge be any better than the multi nation pact with Iran reached under President Obama? The latter pact was working well with Iran complying with its part of the bargain and some tweaking could have been further agreed upon with a little diplomacy. But it seems that Trump's attempt to destroy that pact had a lot to do with Trump's ego and wanting to prove that he had the power to do it.
Now Trump wants to make a unilateral pact with North Korea to gradually decrease its nuclear weapons with little planning or input with others. Modern agreements such as this need a web of countries to insure success and Trump has proven that he does not want to even consider this. An unstable publicity seeking man can not create an agreement that will ensure that the North will do anything but manipulate our egotist in chief who insists that no one can do anything more effective than himself.
3
I am glad that the June 12 meeting is back on. Looks like the Trump Administration is going into it with realistic expectations in that they view the meeting as a start to a long process involving regional partners including China, Japan and South Korea. I hope we all end up in a good place because we may not be able to live with the alternative - literally.
2
I think we're giving the machinations of this too much oxygen. The media is obsessing over the hour by hour (minute by minute?) utterances and on again off again proclivities of Trump, just like it did during the campaign. That excess did not serve us well then and it isn't now. North Korea, while a threat, has always been a minor one with or without nuclear weapons. It's pursuit of them has always been totally defensive in nature, which is in no way a reasonable course of perspective for them to take. My advice? Cool your jets, turn down the klieg lights a bit and orient your finite resources toward more pressing and useful issues.
8
that should have read "in no way an Unreasonable course of action for them to take". (Have to do a better job proofreading.)
I wouldn’t trust Trump or anything he brags about achieving with Kim—
As far as I can spit with the wind blowing against me.
11
I remember when changing your mind once on something benign was the worst thing ever to the GOP propaganda machine e.g. John Kerry was for it before he was against it. Their hypocrisy re Trump on just about everything is reprehensible.
10
as a moderate liberal I am beginning to find it amazing. hard line liberals mocked and trashed trump when this whole thing started and he was calling kim "rocket man". we said he was going to start a war and he needed to be stopped. then talks of a meeting happen. and trump is again mocked and trashed for his stupidity and how kim outsmarted him. then kim makes "hostile" comments and the meeting is cancelled. and again trump is mocked and criticized about how he is being played. then kim comes back to the table, because he really needs a deal, he's desperate. and again hardliners criticize trump. as a moderate liberal, I feel the party has no other position other than hate trump. I don't think you even want to see this NK situation come to a positive solution. I have come to believe you would rather see it fail, just so you can bash trump. what kind of a political agenda is that? do you realize you are losing me and many other moderates and centrists who are thinking and hoping good things can come out of this. for the entire planet. have you become so small minded that the good of the country and the world is no longer your priority? I find it frightening.
14
Considering the way Trump has been acting since before he took office; at best, if I were you,, I'd take a "believe it when it actually happens" stance.
Trump is more aggrivator than negotiator; he simply can't be trusted to do the greater good, based on his overall performance. The time has come and gone for making excuses for how he's doing.
One needn't be a hard-line liberal to see that. It's not so much that the far left wants Trump to fail; his incompetence, ignorance and demeanor give more than plenty of doubt as to whether he will succeed.
7
I do see your point and peace in that neck of the woods will be great no matter how it will be achieved. But the success is in the details and Trump has shown little ability or aptitude in working out details or letting others create those effective details. We must of course wait and watch, but I remain truly skeptical do to Trump's record with pacts up to now.
4
" I feel the party has no other position other than hate trump."
bingo!
Reduced to nothing more than a photo-op.
8
Oh boy, from complete de-nuclearization to a pot-luck dinner(?) to get to know each other. WOW, tough negotiator. At least we are economically attacking Canada,Mexico,European Union. Still have Turkey and (don't say it out loud) Russia on our side. maga
10
What a charade. This whole farce reminds me of the section of The White Album in which Joan Didion describes what is was like to hanging out with people in the music business. I quote...
"we would have dinner at nine unless we had it at eleven-thirty, or we could order in later. We would go down to USC to see the Living Theater if the limo came at the very moment
when no one had just made a drink or a cigarette or an arrangement to meet Ultra Violet at the Montecito.
In any case David Hockney was coming by. In any case Ultra Violet was not at the Montecito. In any case we would go down to USC and see the Living Theater tonight or we would see the Living Theater another night, in New York, or Prague."
Except, that unlike Joan Didion doing research for her book, most of us don't want to be in this damned situation. Argh. I want it to stop.
7
What is the real reason for Trump grovelling for a meeting with North Korea?
Could it be a deflection from the Russia investigation,
and the Stormy storm that is rocking the foundations
of his mind?
Mueller is due to publish the first report of the investigation,
and Trump knows the content which is bad, very bad.
Everything has a context - and Trump's behavior has a context to his lies and devious culture of corruption.
5
The prospects for North Korea giving up their ICBM and nuclear weapons programs (and even joining the international community at some point) have never been better. Yet so many on the Left demonstrate an intellectual arrogance and would apparently prefer to have the negotiations collapse, with the inevitable consequence that the only way to then disarm North Korea would be to use military force. Of course, some on the Left such as Susan Rice (Pres. Obama's national sec. advisor) who are perfectly willing to permanently accept a nuclear armed Korea and, for that matter, a nuclear armed Iran. Pres. Trump's efforts are infinitely preferably to that.
2
North Korea JUST got nukes and the ICBMs to deliver them within the past year!
What makes you think they will actually give them up?
Their demand is that we give up ours, too. Sure. That's gonna happen, right?
1
My concern is not the nuclear treaty or denuclearization. No matter how much North Korea promises, its never going to give up nuclear program. What should be concerning all of us is that a man who killed and jailed millions of his own people was welcomed in the White House.
4
What are you gonna do? It's not like Trump can order Kim to be prosecuted. I feel in the current circumstances, he's doing the best anyone can.
1
I am glad we have a President who 1) is willing to deal with the North Korea situation and 2) kept his promise and tore up that lousy Iran deal.
Sanctions should have never been lifted against Iran in lieu of some marshmallow treaty.
3
Just curious AZ, why do you consider the treaty with Iran signed by many of our allies, and considered being upheld by inspectors " marshmallow"?
4
Fat lot Trump cares about Korea or any other country. His only goal is recognition and he will do anything to get it. He will undo everything that previous administrations (especially Obama) have done and do things they have prudentlyavoided. This rank "outsider " is unprepared for any diplomatic negotiations, both by temperament and knowledge, period. Kim Jong-Un is a cunning fox and Trump whose experience is limited to stiffing contractors and workers and declaring bankruptcies is no match for Kim. China Russia, and Iran are watching Kim's back. Nothing substantial will come out of these meetings but Trump can go into the mid-term election campaign boasting that he is bringing "peace to the Korean peninsula" which no other president could. His base can chant "Nobel, Nobel" but the Norwegian Nobel Committee knows better.
4
I expect more from the Times than I do from Trump. Thus it is highly disappointing that the Times refers to this as a "diplomatic breakthrough." It is merely today's noise, no more a breakthrough than when Trump said the opposite awhile back, and then the opposite of that awhile before and the opposite of that awhile before that, ad nauseum....
10
First you say you will, and then you won't.
First you say you do, and then you don't.
You're undecided now, so what are you going to do?
My neck is getting sore.
7
it's called negotiating from strength.
I am sorry but didn’t Trump announce this last Saturday, the day after he canceled the meeting. Can someone explain what is new here?
2
What's new is trump made kim come back asking for the meeting. it reveals that Kim's hand is not as strong as he would let on. like in poker, when you raise the stakes on someone you think doesn't have the strong hand they are betting into. pay attention. it's called negotiating.
3
This is not negotiation. This is playing games. The only question is who is better at it.
2
More like Kim has Trump on the hook and doesn't want to release him until he gets the face-to-face his royal line has been seeking for decades.
Kim wants legitimization. This meeting puts him level with the Leader of the Free World.
He will be seen as the man-god he tells his people that he is.
Meanwhile, most Americans will continue to see Trump as the man-baby that HE is.
3
So so many comments calling out Trump for not reading the letter. Geez people get a clue. Trump is communicating to Kim Jong-un and the world that actions not pretty sounding words and promises are what matter. Thank God the US again has a president that understands the real world / real life.
George Washington's motto was: Deeds not words.
3
Who could have ever known that watching 3 card monty scams on NYC streets, would end up being lessons in international diplomacy. Now you see it. Now you don't. Place your bets.
7
If Kim were smart he should use this meeting to fracture the coalition of nations imposing sanctions on N. Korea. Meeting Trump without agreeing to disarm but not to further tests of their modest nuclear arsenal may placate China and the USSR enough for them to lift those sanctions to enable food and oil to flow into N. Korea again without complete denuclearization. Kim is also not going to blindly buy anything Trump is selling, look at his track record of walking away from treaties, antagonizing allies, his rollback of foreign aid. There won't be any historic breakthroughs based on the character of the men involved here.
6
but trump is an experienced enough deal maker not to make a bad deal. just for his legacy.
4
When Trump came from the meeting it was if he was doing reality television from the lawn.
Anyone really think Trump is capable of interest in a negotiating process with North Korea?
Every time he's interviewed about it, he talks in circles.
And why lie about opening the letter? Already he purposefully lied.
When he visited parents in Texas just recently, one of the mothers said Trump talked like a child, repeating himself.
I bet he was sitting with NK's delegates barely paying attention, looking at his watch---and thinking about a cheeseburger.
It is almost time for him to retire to bed. Insiders say he's there by 6:30 pm with that cheeseburger.
1
If he hasn't even opened the letter, how does he know it's "very nice"? And after all the drama of bringing the North Korean envoy here explicitly so he could hand-deliver the letter, why did Trump "purposely" not open it? Let me guess....he could tell by the weight of it that it was going to be longer than 1/2 page long (and probably had no pictures).
First tip on diplomacy: things will go faster if you actually pay attention to what the other guy is saying.
2
I'm all for it. What could possibly go wrong?
1
I don’t know what type of political regime we have in this country anymore. A person clearly not in his right mind is making all of us look like dunces and there is no mechanism to stop him? Shouldn’t this type of behavior in a leader ring alarm bells? Shouldn’t the constitution provide Congress the power and obligation to interfere? Otherwise what is the difference between a crackpot dictator and this man we supposedly “elected” president hopefully by mistake?
6
If the talks are successful, and there is peace with North Korea, and they verifiably give up their nuclear weapons, Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.
2
You left out a lot of ifs.
3
"...newest diplomatic breakthrough..." Really? Trump cancels the meeting. Then he agrees to meet. That's a breakthrough?! Trump is playing to his supporters. He creates a crisis and then he "fixes" it. No other players involved. Hence, this is nothing more than Trump playing with himself...which his fans seem to love.
3
So Trump tells reporters that Kim's eagerly-awaited diplomatic letter is "interesting" and "very nice" - then moments later admits that he hasn't even read this momentous letter yet.
Apparently Kim's advisors haven't yet bothered to explain to him that this American president is functionally illiterate. Anything longer than a 240-character tweet is far beyond Trump's comprehension and extremely-limited attention span.
I hope someone remembers to bring the crayons, construction paper and a few Sharpies to this June 12th meeting in Singapore.
Oh, and two sets of translators. One to translate Korean to English, the second to translate English to "Tweetish".
27
Kim's mastery of the English language far surpasses that of Donald's; remember Kim was educated in Switzerland.
I very much doubt the inclusion of translators in Kim and Dennis Rodman's friendship.
What an odd article. The author, Peter Baker, takes sly digs at Donald Trump even in a piece that is a report rather than an opinion. Why the hostility?
In my view, Donald Trump is handling North Korea in a shrewd and savvy fashion. They are no dummies, but neither are we. There is clearly a deal to be made here, but of course no one can predict whether one will be made.
It took a lot of guts for Donald Trump to stand up to Kim Jong Un's bluster last year. And to stand up to him again when he treated us with "open hostility". Barack Obama would never have done that. Nor Hillary Clinton.
So what happens now? As Donald Trump always says, "We'll see".
8
someone who sees through the "hate Donald" mania and can see the actual reality of what is going on. thank you, I was beginning to despair.
3
I don't believe Trump or Kim have any intention of going to actual war with each other under any circumstances. That being the case, I suppose at this point I'm favoring a result in which Kim eventually blows this whole thing off and blames Trump, thereby making Trump look like more of a fool than he already does.
6
really? so you'd rather see it fail so you can blame trump instead of it working and achoeving a peaceful solution?
1
Remember the good old days, when the President of the United States had morals? When he refused to negotiate with terrorists and decried human rights violations? Now we are stuck with a man who wants to be chummy with murderers like Putin and Kim and could not care less about another human being other than himself (OK, maybe his hot daughter).
His followers harp that he has done more for the Koreas than any other President, yet he has done nothing so far and everyone with a brain knows he never will.
If Trump said tomorrow he was going to build a monorail to Mars his followers will say "well, let's give him a chance. No one else has had the guts to do that."
The elections cannot come fast enough.
23
About the elections, Paul Smith. I thought I was excited too. The primaries are rekindling citizen involvement. But then I remembered that this president and Congress have done NOTHING in two years to secure our process from the interference that happened in 2016. The one think Trump HAS been good at is his media shell game. The daily and hourly outrageous tweets have diverted our attention away from a legitimate electoral process while most of his actions convince him he is Emperor. With his vision of absolute power he is indeed pulverizing our democracy.
Let us hope the talks fail and there is a nuclear war that kills millions of people, because that will make Trump look really bad.
8
said by a true alt-left mentality.
2
Definition of "irony": the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.
1
Here's the deal...NK will get hundreds of billions in so called "foreign aid assistance" which is nothing but bribery, they will be able to keep their nukes, he will be given free memberships at all Trump's resorts and golf clubs, they will get a written declaration never to invade NK regardless of circumstances, they will remove all US Troops and defense systems from SK and Japan. In return Trump will be allowed to build a Trump Tower and gold club there, be able to sell Trump and Ivanka merchandise there, and if he's lucky, they will award him a Nobel Peace Prize. No prize, no peace. This is going to make the Iran deal great by the time he gives up the store and more. Of course, we will never hear of the details...executive privilege thing he'll use as an excuse not to divulge the truth.
2
But why hasn't he opened the letter? Am I missing something here?
Even Trump has a hard time keeping up with his own antics: "That was a very nice letter I received from His Excellency the King of Korea. Oh, wait, I haven't read it yet. I must have been thinking of the one I got from Sean Hannity. Very sweet. Anyway, the summit is definitely off. I mean ON! The success of this summit is unbelievable already. Because we are getting along. Kim has stopped putting maximum pressure on me, and I feel a great relief."
8
you realize that it's kim looking for relief from the economic pressures right?
3
You don't think someone briefed him on the letter? Trump did not become president by getting mired down in trivia.
The true test of what the US and N. Korea might negotiate is the in person meeting. Trump did not read the letter because Kim Jong-un did not write it. Some assistant wrote it.
3
For now.
Everything's for now with Trump...until somebody else whispers something in his ear. Or until he opens the envelope. Better yet, maybe he can get Steve Harvey to open the envelope.
2
You watch the deal Trump is going to make with Kim Jong-un, he will make disgraceful concessions BUT it will keep his thumb of the nuclear trigger for now.
3
I don't think so. and speaking of legacy deals, let's not forget the iran deal.
1
trump, the "great" negotiator, has surely promised the world to the North Koreans.
Maybe trump's lack of any coherence will yield something positive, but I'd give that about a five percent chance (unless all trump's forthcoming boasting about winning -- with no real results -- is a "positive").
Only one thing is guaranteed: we gave the North Koreans what they wanted (recognition and food). They likely pledged to "dismantle" their nuclear program, which fell apart anyway.
4
I just want to know, after a two hour meeting in the oval office, how come no one opened the hand-delivered letter- the ONLY thing that really matters in this "breaking news" story- and read Kim's words to Trump and/or the United States government. I doubt he has much regard for the president after all of the dopey and very-personal comments made about him before the entire world. In any event, South Korea is doing much of the "negotiating" in my opinion and I they know how conduct themselves during THEIR meetings with the north. The people on both sides of the DMZ want something concrete to happen since they're the ones with the bullseye on their backs. I wish them the best as always.
But DT can't even relate to Americans if they're not screaming at his rallies as he gestures and waves his arms around, much less the poor folks "6000 miles away" as the US Navy patrols back and forth off their coastline.
Nukes are no joke and this is no game. Peace guys, Peace.
3
Donald Trump is lying.
Kim Jong-un never said the North is willing to denuclearize. He said the North is willing to aim "complete denuclearization", i.e. denuclearization not only of the North, but also the entire world (this includes the USA).
The way Trump says it, it gives the impression North Korea is simply capitulating because of his "maximum pressure" doctrine (i.e. the economic sanctions imposed on North Korea). That's not the case.
Not only that's not the case, but North Korea has adapted and, after the catastrophic 90s (when, at the same time, the USSR was dismantled and the country was ravaged by a historic drought), it is growing economically. Mutatis mutandis, it is only a matter of time until North Korea fully copies the Chinese system and take a huge step forward, entering forever in China's zone of influence and burying once and for all South Korea/West's collapse/decapitation theory.
7
Representing the United States we have an individual who calls himself Trump—
Who has absolutely no diplomatic skill whatsoever. And it’s debatable whether he even knows how to make a “deal“, let alone keep one.
8
Trump thinks this will take more than one meeting with Kim Jong-un. It takes a while to iron out the logistics of dismantling a functional nuclear weapons program and then proving same, not to mention the disposal of the already existing bombs. Then there are the sanctions and how and when they will be eased or dropped completely. So, plan on a second meeting; three, tops.
This is from a guy who operates on 13-week "reality" TV time frames. It's like the Saturday morning 10-cent matinees my buddies and I used to go to, every episode ending with the rickety old wooden, horse-drawn wagon loaded to the top of the side boards with bottles of TNT, careening down the steep mountain cliff-side road with a dead-man's curve just ahead, the wagon driver having leaped off at the last second and our hero no where in sight...
Return with us again next week to those thrilling days of yesteryear...
The Lone Ranger Donald Trump is most emphatically...not.
4
It's unlikely N.Korea will dismantle - all - their nuclear weapons but maybe their nuclear missile capability in exchange for US troops and our local nuclear deterrent is possible; we can still destroy N.Korea from N.Dakota so it's never really gone. Plus, South Korea has a strong military. Nevertheless, dealing with America is never easy. We incessantly insist on cultural reform. The establishment is already whining. Yes, Americans should live under nuclear missle threat until N.Korea is nicer to its people.
2
And now I finally can confirm what a shill Trump is!
6
One day until it's off again? Maybe when he actually reads the "nice" letter from Kim Jong Un, and somebody explains to him that it means he's gonna get humiliated in front of the world?
Two days?
Who's taking odds?
12
It's on and then off and then on and... Is that the art of the deal?
8
actually, yes it is.
1
Those who gnash teeth and lapse into deep analysis regarding this meeting is fool-hardy are missing the big picture from Trump's perspective
The meeting is all Trump ever wanted...he is not interested in disarmament
He thinks it will protect him from impeachment by giving the GOP and his popularity a lift in November
And as long as Kim doesn't test any more bombs and fire any missiles for the next 6 months...Trump can claim détente has been achieved and boast that we are well on our way to denuclearization of the Korean peninsula
Then he will left sanctions on "Chinese companies dealing with NK" and Trump will get more trademarks and get secret loans for his properties by the "cooperative and beaten" Chinese government
And the GOP base and many of the left and right punditry class will proclaim that Trump has indeed succeeded in a brilliant, unconventional manner and has accomplish something that none of the previous Presidents could have done
This is a big con being perpetrated by two bad actors; one N. Korean and the other the American President and the American people are their willing marks
17
Trump wants that Nobel or to look like he deserved it.
Now he is at least guaranteed that he can distribute all of those
already minted commemorative medals that otherwise would
have only been reminders of a failed deal.
4
The cake walk the left thought they had in November 2018 just hit a pothole. If Trump gets anything from his summit with Kim the messageless Democrats are in trouble.Trump and Kim both realize they need each other. Now all they need to figure out is how each of them, Trump and Kim,can come out of the summit looking like a winner. Trump always the master showman will parlay anything he achieves at summit as The Master Deal Maker at work. Trump may come accross as a scoundrel but as long as he is winning nobody seems to care.
3
Hooked on irony, I fear that a summit between Trump and Kim will prove abysmal.
3
What is this the modern version of ping-pong diplomacy, first it's on, then it's off, now it's on again.……..please tell us when something comes of it?
2
It appears that Kim has Trump twisting in the wind. The meeting, if it actually occurs, is unlikely to go well for Trump or the United States. Trump, who doesn't play chess, may simply be outmatched by someone who does.
5
Trump commented on a letter hand delivered by a high-ranking North Korean official from Kim Jong-un, to reporters about it being a "nice letter" and an "interesting letter", then revealed in the next breath he hadn't even opened it? How offensive. To me, this does not inspire confidence, nor trust, nor bode well for negotiating anything with Kim Jong-un. I would not want to be the interpreter for the North Korean leader at that conference, always correcting what was just stated. Whatever goes down, I hope that somehow someway, please God, that super war hawk, John Bolton is kept away from that conference. Bolton has already infuriated the North Koreans with his comments comparing North Korea's situation to Libya's in 2003, when Libya gave up its nuclear weapons after the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
No doubt Trump's supporters are already chanting "Nobel, Nobel" again.
3
Clown car diplomacy. The on-again, off-again “summit meeting” is back on again... For now. If it does take place, can anything good come of it? That is highly unlikely.
4
"We’re getting along. So it’s not a question of maximum pressure. It’s staying essentially the way it is....I see it happening over a period of time. Frankly, I said, ‘Take your time.’"
One must resist the temptation to view the Kim and Trump Show in policy terms -- as if there is a comprehensive nuclear arms for economic aid deal waiting to be hammered out through laborious negotiations. For Trump this, and everything else he is currently doing, needs to be understood in one simple framework: Trump wants to survive politically through the end of the year.
More specifically, Trump needs to keep his domestic approval rating high enough for Republicans to retain control of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections. If Congressional control can be maintained, then post-election he can fire Rosenstein and dismantle the Mueller probe with the support of a grateful Republican Congress.
Besides offering the prospective joy of basking at the center of a world media spectacle, the concept of a Singapore fling with Kim has already reversed Trump's domestic popularity slide. He wants the Singapore glow to last as long as possible. A friendly but inconclusive first meeting can be followed by equally inconclusive second and third meetings. Enough vague diplomatic followup process will be generated to keep critics at bay and the poll numbers elevated. Kim buys status and a delay from reckoning.
But after November a failure to reach a nuclear accord will matter much less to Trump.
7
I hate to say it but we need Trump to fail in Singapore. If this malignant narcissist does well then we’ll be stuck with him until 2025. At his submoronic rallies they’re already chanting “Nobel, Nobel” to Trump’s gloating delight.
Trump is fishing for a photo-op. Wait til he reads Kim's letter than does not agree with any of the U.S. terms for an agreement.
Having a photo-op does not resolve any issues with N. Korea. I expect we will have to leave that to S. Korea and China without sabotage from the United States. In other words, don't hold your breath.
5
Trump is being played like a fiddle. Nothing will come out of this meeting except it being a photo-op for two of the biggest threats to world peace.
7
Trump is just playing games. He likes the fact that he's making a deal with an enemy he'll be applauded for. But some might say he'd keep the Iran deal if it was his which is wrong. He is a private ally of Jews and Israel. He does as they wish. North Korea is no real foe to the States or Israel. It's just an obsolete communism no longer welcome in the world. But Iran is nothing like it. The ancient Iranian civilization has a bespoke agenda especially made for Iranians and no one else. One which can be that of the world.
2
Please don't confuse all "Jews" with Israelis. While I'm of a Jewish heritage, I hold no deep love for Israeli policies and their oppression of the Palestinians.
Trump isn't a secret ally--He's very public about it. And don't forget that evangelical Christians, due to their wacky end-times beliefs, are the most supportive of Israel. It is they who have driven much of the embrace of Israel and had the most political influence with this and past administrations.
4
You are possibly a troll or maybe not. Trump is looking for an opportunity to win the Nobel Price and NK is his only gateway. It is also a photo op that distracts from the nonsense coming out of the WH.
He doesn't know enough about the Iran deal to be against or for it. It has Obama's name on it and therefore must be 'bad'.
I only know the Iranians I've met in life and what I've learned about Tehran from an Iranian co-worker. It was very westernized and young.
I hope all good outcomes are met, globally.
Kim 1 - Trump 0
Scoreboard open
8
Trump has all the credibility of a TV reality show clown. The Republican Party has sold this nation out in order to fill the pockets of their wealthy mega-donors. Kim Jong-un and Putin laugh themselves to sleep every night while Americans awaken to yet another gut-wrenching Trump-filled news day.
9
There is plenty of time. President Trump can't win the Nobel Peace Prize until 2019 anyway. (He wasn't nominated for 2018...who knew?)
3
This is not going to have happy ending - maybe not in short term bit in the end North Korea’s ugly true nature will rear its head and bite us again, as they have been doing for the past 70 years. A self-proclaimed genius who is over-confident and ignorant of both the nature of the gargantuan task at hand and about the details of such undertaking, will surely be manipulated by Kim Jong-un. Trump is being played again.
4
Folks, this is what this guy does. To keep you watching him.
6
I would feel a whole lot safer if NO ONE would meet with Trump.
9
Cynically, Trump needs something to increase Republican Election changes. Let's hope if he meets with Kim he doesn't give up the equivalent of the Louisiana purchase for an agreement. The outlines of an agreement is clear: Kim gives up his arsenal and aggressive posture, U.S. removes sanctions, conceivably offers aid, and sign non aggression pact. True North Korea is a terrible country to its people. How about our ally Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni war.
1
Nothing still has happened. Just announcements. More and more contradictory announcements.
3
Why speculate about Trump's motives or forecast his failure? His commitment to "peace" has been on regular display from Tehran to Jerusalem to Charlottesville.
5
if the members of the Nobel Committee (they’re dealing with their own sex abuse scandal so they’re of the same kind as Trump) give Trump a peace prize, might as well give one to Mugabe, Putin, Duterte, Maduro, Ali Khameni, Salman, and Netanyahu too.
If it’s just a political bribe, just drop the act and say so.
3
"Trump says... Trump says..."
The law is wrong... he's right and the legal system is wrong... criminals like D'Souza deserve pardons... he's going to release his tax returns... election fraud (by him) is a hoax... climate change is a hoax... Puton and Duarte are good guys... the KKK has some "good people" in it... etc, etc, ad nauseum...
Haven't we has more than enough "Trump says...' headlines and "news"? What's the latest on the (multiple) criminal investigations OF Trump and his gang? THAT'S real news!
11
At the Singapore meeting, North Korea is going to be legitimized as a sovereign state and Kim Jong-un is going to appear as a statesman. With legitimacy, it will be increasingly difficult to maintain existing sanctions, which are already being undermined by the comments of Lavarov and now from the so-called potus. Agreeing to the meeting, the so-called potus has given North Korea a gift. It remains a mystery what the U.S. got in return. Will it lead to negotiations that will succeed in converting North Korea into a non-nuclear state? Will it lead in the destruction of its short range missiles and artillery? Highly unlikely. In the long run, this is a big first step for North Korea.
7
A "very nice letter" that the Creamsicle Clown hadn't even opened. Even when there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to lie, the Creamsicle Clown chooses to lie.
An inveterate, psychopathic, compulsive, and unrepentant liar is going to negotiate with North Korea over their nuclear program.
So he says.
10
Of course the North Korea summit goes from off to on to off to on. The whipped-up drama serves to make it look terribly difficult, so doing it will merit awards.
Creating immense obstacles provides the illusion of immense victories.
If you crave accolades, always make your task look difficult.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
5
Off again, on again, over silly personal comments; not a good way to handle important things.
Not enough time before the 12th to pull it together well, according to Trump's own people.
Kim seems to be playing Trump, and doing fairly well at it; when Trump starts feeling he's being outplayed he'll walk out.
State Dept in relative disarray, with a new Sec. and some of the people most knowledgeable of NK gone; a weak way to get into such discussions.
Trump will always say "Best __ ever" (best first 100 days, best first year, whatever); he'll make that claim regardless of how it actually went.
Trump's attention span is short; he'll move on to something else soon rather than follow through with all the attention this matter needs.
Kim and Trump both have histories of not keeping their word; neither will trust the other, or feel obliged to be honest.
Any real solution will take some time to discuss and more time to implement; both seem to be looking for a quick agreement.
I hope it goes well, but that just doesn't seem likely given the players.
3
Trump derangement syndrome has afflicted you guys to the point you're rooting for Trump to fail. Talk.about cutting your nose to spite you face. Never mind ww may be closer to peace today than nuclear war. Snark away, because its clear you prefer a nuclear showdown if it means Trump doesn't get a W
4
You are right in that we should all HOPE for a negotiation that leads to peace, or at least one that minimizes the risk of war. Sharing that wish, though, doesn't mean we should not analyse the process. At the moment, the process seems very odd, indeed, and raises many questions. Nonetheless, I will continue to fervently hope an odd process yields a good result.
4
It's impossible for Donald J. Trump to be out front and truthful. Quickly this was reported:
"... North Korean dignitaries met with Donald Trump to deliver a mysterious letter from the North Korean regime. ... A while later, Donald Trump held a press conference ... Reuters reported that Trump had said the letter “was a very nice letter, a very interesting letter.” Around 8 minutes later—according to the Reuters time stamp—Trump confessed that he hadn’t opened it yet."
"Say what you have to say, not what you ought. Any truth is better than make-believe. "
--Henry David Thoreau
5
Common sense at last......
Wow! Talk about flip-flops. He does that every other day. Or is it every other hour?
trump is truly a very dangerous man to be holding the office of POTUS.
Please, Mr. Mueller, I know it takes time but trump must be taken out of the Oval Office, soon, before he does any more damage to our once great country.
If that doesn't happen before the mid-terms it will be up to us, the citizens of the U.S. of A. to do it.
All Democrats, Independents and anyone who has any morals, ethics and patriotism for this country, need to vote Trump and the GOP out in local and national elections. Sitting back and letting the “other” person do it is a sure vote for trump and the GOP. We must not let that happen.
MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN - DUMP TRUMP and all of his crooked sycophants in the GOP.
3
Meh. He's trolling again. He'll change what's left of his mind three more times before Tuesday. Because that's what happens when your chief executive has been robbed of executive function.
4
Strangely absent from American news media was the cancellation of joint US South Korea yearly military exercises to appease Kim.
9
Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump are working this like a couple of professional wrestlers; lots of staged drama and a fixed outcome. If this show gets good ratings (or takes America's eyes off the Mueller Investigation), they'll be sure to take it on the road.
3
This is worse than a Bollywood movie. I call it the Trump Tamasha.
2
This is all just a show -- it will be highlighted with Trump receiving his medal, and a big PR push from Fox & his base for a Nobel. And, since we're clearly living in an alternative universe, he'll probably get one.
Scotty, beam me up!
2
At least it would be for a real accomplishment unlike Obama who did absolutely nothing!
Even Obama seemed mystified as to what qualified him for a Nobel peace prize, but there was nothing be could do to stop the committee from honoring him - Trump, on the other hand, appears to think he deserves the prize ahead of the fact.
1
Once Kim gets his photo op, Trump will have already given away the farm.
4
Why does the Times refer to this as a "diplomatic breakthrough?" It is merely today's noise, no more a breakthrough than when Trump said the opposite awhile back, and then the opposite of that awhile before and the opposite of that awhile before that, ad nauseum....
3
The Koreans didn't say a word. They clearly didn't make any promises. This really is a reality show.
3
“Trump, who has sought to impose ‘maximum pressure’ on North Korea through economic sanctions, has insisted that it give up its arsenal of nuclear weapons, but Mr. Kim has sent conflicting signals about his willingness to consider that.”
While Kim Jong-un’s emissary, Kim Yong Chol held talks with Mike Pompeo in New York, Russia’s top diplomat, Sergey Lavrov visited the North Korean leader. Lavrov’s trip to Pyongyang aimed to make Russia’s voice heard amid the flurry of preparations for the summit between Kim and Trump.
Kim took advantage of the occasion to rally Russia’s support for his denuclearisation plan which he said would be implemented on a “stage-by-state basis." He said he was willing to give up his nukes, but on his terms. Should Trump refuse to accommodate, Kim would have China and Russia – two UN Security Council members with veto power – on his side. He could argue it was all Trump's fault
7
It is an happy irony that Trump is the president who can develop a positive relationship with North Korea and openly address the ending the Korean War. It is known that Kim Jong-un wants to benchmark the Vietnamese model in changing his own country.
If the sanction lifts and the peace treaty is signed, the U.S. government does not need to worry about spending money on North Korea. Capitalism knows what to do with a country that has a highly disciplined labor pool and undeveloped rich natural resources.
2
Peace for the Korean peninsula has been a long time in coming. Let's make it happen. I'm just curious about one thing, why it is okay to speak with the North Koreans, but not with the majority of Americans when it comes time to solve our problems.
8
This would really be fun to watch - the con man getting played - If it didn't involve the threat of nuclear annihilation. Both countries would greatly benefit from some grownups in this process.
8
On again off again, who cares. Kim knows how to play political games with Trump. Kim also sidelined China's Xi Jinping political leadership in China. Kim visited China and met Xi twice before he agreed to meet with Trump. Now what? Kim will visit China again after the summit? This summit will have more media coverage than any other leadership meetings in our memory. Lets hope we will have a denuclearized world after this historic meeting. But I don't think Kim will give up nuclear weapons so easily. What else we may hope for?
2
He wants us to keep tuning in to his antics, and the only way he believes we will is if he causes chaos. Like a cheesy 80s soap opera, he always leaves a cliffhanger. Who shot JR? Tune in next season! Will Trump change his mind about a historic meeting with the equally volatile North Korean leader? Tune in next week! He has no clue that he could behave normally, not tweet and still command the news cycle by virtue of being the leader of the free world. Sigh.
14
How much do you want to bet it will be off again in a matter of days?... diplomacy in the era of the Idiocracy...
6
The risks of military confrontation (most likely nuclear, but possibly conventional) during various phases of the negotiation process with North Korea:
1) Current risk: Somewhat elevated, particularly since Trump’s “all or nothing” negotiating style.
2) During the summit: Low.
3a) If negotiation fail: Risk will escalate to where it was in 2017 or perhaps even higher, particularly if Trump resorts to threats and bluster to force North Korea back to the negotiating table.
3b) If negotiations succeed: It may seem perverse, but the risk of war will be extremely high for several years, at least. Based upon North Korea’s history, there is a very high likelihood that Kim Jong-Un will cheat on the agreement while striving to hide his violations of the agreement secret. If/when material breaches become known, the risk of war will be much higher than when North Korea broke previous agreements because it will likely make Trump and his Administration feel betrayed and thus angry. When the Clinton Administration negotiated an agreement with North Korea, the positive public fanfare over the deal was matched with internal recognition among experts that North Korea would probably violate the deal. If a possible Trump-Kim deal collapses, however, the Trump Administration is likely to react with surprise and anger. The resulting threats and insults will lead to period of very high risk of war.
2
I'll believe it when it actually happens.
4
If he gets deal, and with the great jobs report Dems will be in trouble. Cuz they got nothing.
3
Sigh. Trump announces something and the Times gives us pretty much a fluff piece about it, designed to make Trump look trivial. I am no fan of Trump, but "head-spinning" and a tangent into Trump as TV impresario shed little light on the subject. What, for example, have Mike Pompeo's meetings in the last few days been all about? What happened at the meeting today?
5
From the accompanying article - Adding, “This was a meeting where a letter was given to me by Kim Jong-un, and that letter was a very nice letter. Oh, would you like to see what was in that letter? How much? How much?”
But in here:
Mr. Trump initially told reporters it was “a very nice letter” and “a very interesting letter,” but by the end of a conversation with reporters, he said that he had not actually read it.
“I purposely haven’t opened the letter,” Mr. Trump said.
There is a jumble of lies in this man's head.
7
"This is a confused, elderly man with signs of dementia."
Perhaps the previous sentence should precede the printing of his every utterance?
4
If Trump truly succeeds in bringing a meaningful peace to the Korean peninsula, then he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. And if Trump supporters truly care about democracy, the Mueller investigation should proceed.
3
It's President Moon Jae-in of South Korea who deserves -and by all accounts will get- a Nobel Peace Prize. He's the one who has strived for a number of years to bring about a rapprochement between the two Koreas...and last week saved the June 12 meeting. He will be re-elected in a landslide and will achieve his country's objectives in bringing these two nations together.
The United States ought to remain as an observer, same like China, Russia and Japan. We no longer have any business there.
1
What about Moon Jae In and Kim Jung Un there would be no meeting and negotiations without their effort either.
1
Moon deserves a Novel ONLY if this brings a true denuclearization of North Korea WITHOUT us giving the farm away. Moon has gambled his country by giving two unpredictable calculating clowns opportunities to meet. We will see where it goes.
1
Peter, as is the case with much of your White House coverage, the story's true "lede" (the sentence that begins "The reversal follows") is buried far down in your opinion piece that purports to be straight news.
Language such as "head-spinning," "confused," "scrubbing," "hosting a reality show," and "scar tissue" belongs in supermarket tabloids, not in a Times story about a highly significant international development.
Trump wanted a deal with Kim and -- don't be shocked, Peter -- come June 12 in Singapore, despite all of Trump's deliberate bluff and bluster, he's going to get it, and pretty much on his terms, not Kim's.
What terms, you may ask? Try Rice Diplomacy, to help feed Kim's starving millions who might otherwise revolt against North Korea's economic malaise.
Get real, Mr. Baker, the world is passing you by even as you continue to lament last November's election results.
Bob Orkand
Lt. Col. Infantry, U.S. Army (Ret.)
Huntsville, Texas
2
Your president isn't fit for anything but a supermarket tabloid. And if you don't believe me, ask future Cabinet member Kim Kardashian West.
7
Bob, it does my heart good to see your embrace of incompetence and ignorance wrapped up in your MAGA hat disguised as patriotism. Can’t wait to put this country on the right track in the elections of 2018 and 2020. Your support of this carnival barker is truly a laugh riot. How many more times must this woefully unqualified person embarrass our country before you see the light?
5
Colonel, with all due respect, I think we should maintain skeptical stance until proven otherwise. North Koreans have been deceiving us for the past 70 years, and the world history is littered with abandoned peace treaties and non-aggression pacts. I just don’t think NK will give up all its nuclear armament plus all the ICBMs plus all its nuclear capabilities in return for some vague promise of economic aids. If the US withdraws its troops completely from the Korean peninsula, not only will it be a complete strategic defeat not seen since the end if Vietnam War but an insult to all the sacrifices the free world and this country has made to keep South Korea a beacon of prosperous democracy in the entire Asian continent.
2
North Korea supports itself by playing off the competing interests of China, Russia, and the U.S. They’ve made their living this way ever since they separated from the South, and they are good at it. But after multiple iterations of this shell game spanning many decades, the ruse is getting old. We know once they get paid off, the Kim regime has no intention of keeping any promise (such as dismantling their nuclear program) that would undermine their leverage to keep playing the game again the next time around.
Pompeo actually seems to understand this really well. But Kim has done a masterful job of getting Trump’s ego invested in a “successful” deal. If the deal tanks, Trump’s approval ratings may go down with it. Kim knows this, and he is going to use it to maximum advantage in the talks. So Kim and Trump both have their own incentives to collaborate with each other on a deal that is better for themselves than for their people.
5
This is nothing more (or less) than a continuing episode in this reality show for this White House, and to a certain extent to the Pyongyang regime as well.
Let's be realistic.
The June 12 meeting (if it happens) will give enormous diplomatic prestige to Kim Jong-un, who is playing the long game. The Chinese are in it, as well as (now) Russia. The President of South Korea will soon be re-elected in a landslide, and will be deservedly seen as the architect of the new order on the Korean Peninsula. There will be no denuclearization by North Korea, even if they agree to it. It's been reported by the CIA that it has no intention of doing so....and it would take at the very least 15-20 years to achieve it.
20
Meeting is still two weeks away. Plenty of time for trump to manufacture some excuse to not attend the gathering. If I were Mr. Kim, I wouldn't hold my breath that anything is going to occur in Singapore.
7
As if the summit itself was the endgame of the problem at hand...
TV show reality.
4
I am worried that Trump will give up too much, in exchange for personal flattery.
Then again, I'm not sure it matters since nobody trusts the US after pulling out of important agreements on a whim.
I don't understand why Kim is exploding his nuclear sites without any agreement. It may be a bluff.
It is possible that Kim is desperate after so many sanctions.
Though not a lot of this really makes any sense.
3
So what the heck was the point of all that?
1
I wish Trump, Pence and the entire Republican Party would pack up and relocate to North Korea then the US could be a true world class nation.
25
I wonder how much of the U.S. taxpayers’ money Trump is going to spend in pursuit of his Noble prize-winning meeting with N.K?
8
I wonder if trump will show kim a picture of the electoral college map.....
10
Hey, this is great news. President Trump is having quite a week. With his tariffs against steel and aluminum he has alienated all of our closest allies—Canada, the UK, Germany, the whole gang. But no biggie—we're going to be BFFs with North Korea!
43
It's no way to run a country.
10
God, please save us from this man!
18
Ironic, isn't it? Trump's focused on cozying up to a murdering dictator who starves and enslaves his people to pay for nukes, missiles, and an enormous military. Meanwhile, he's driving our closest long-term allies away with broken treaties, tariffs and erratic policy statements.
Something is very, very wrong here.
203
The Great Deflector is at it again. Yesterday (or was that today?) it was putting tariffs on putative friends (but not real friends like Putin), today it is trying to keep people glued to his message for another 12-14 days as they wait for -- what? If he manages two weeks of we, the rabbits, staring at the snake's lair, it will be the greatest deflection of all time since no one will be able to remember, let alone think about, Mueller, Stormy, Ivanka's brand name gift from Xi, Jared's sale to the Qataris, Pruitt's rape of the environment, the Dreamers (remember them, or has his deflection worked that well?), his effectively neutering Congress, the list goes on and on. This is another step on his way to exhausting his opponents by 1,000 deflections, each more incredible than the last. Anybody out there remember Charlottesville?
22
Will the Congress ever wake up? They are so "bulldozed" it's impossible to believe most of them are supposed to be educated people
1
For some reason, this makes me think of an earlier "reality tv" debacle:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mystery_of_Al_Capone%27s_Vaults
1
Speaking of whom, things didn't end well for Capone, who had his own "personal Vietnam." And lost.
We must thank Kim Jung Un for doing what no patriotic American has been able to do, erase chief warmonger John Bolton from the most important national security meeting of the Trump presidency.
Now, if only Bolton will get the hint and resign. I doubt it because his separation from the Korea issue frees him to lobby for a splendid little war with Iran.
Keep tuned.
7
Would you buy a used summit promise from this man?
7
How does schizophrenia help diplomacy or, more importantly, our nation?
3
Kim Jong-un is not a good guy. His political opponents have been reputed to show up dead. President Compulsively Boastful is far from a good guy either although I am aware of no lethal crimes to pin on him. It follows that I hope a meeting between these two nuclear-armed, power-obsessed dangers to all life on Earth reach an accord that protects us all from annihilation.
5
Who is captivated? I'm just disgusted.
8
In 1987, Reagan demanded - tear down the wall…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_reunification
“…In May 1989, Hungary removed their border fence and thousands of East Germans escaped to the West…many people inside and outside Germany believed that a real reunification would never happen in the foreseeable future…
“…On 28 November 1989—two weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall—West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl announced a 10-point program calling for the two Germanys to expand their cooperation with the view toward eventual reunification…
“…Initially, no timetable was proposed. However, events rapidly came to a head in early 1990…East Germany's economy and infrastructure underwent a swift and near-total collapse...
“…Discussions immediately began for an emergency merger of the German economies. On 18 May 1990, the two German states signed a treaty agreeing on monetary, economic and social union… came into force on 1 July 1990, with the West German Deutsche Mark replacing the East German mark as the official currency of East Germany…
.....
Though we ostensibly "lost" in Vietnam a decade earlier - the formal reunification process happened on a similar timeline…
Today, unified Vietnam’s population a bit more than unified Germany’s – but its GDP is less than a tenth as big…
However – the Vietnamese have figured out how to really win, and are making up for lost time…
Starting from the bottom up – with running shoes…
heads i win tails you lose -- this is a very old game
3
I hope Trump has thought long and hard about what Kim Jong-un's long game actually is.
The NK regime only survives right now, because it can - credibly - claim that it is still threatened by the US and needs to stay on hair-trigger alert. However, the moment the border between North and South Korea opens and the people from the North can see what the South looks like, they will also want it. Kim will immediately lose his grip over his regime and before long he will be history, i.e. dead. This is a very rapid process. The East German regime was gone within days after the Wall crumbled.
Right now, the only thing that keeps Kim alive is his brutal grip on his people. He has made so many enemies, once he shows only a hint of weakness, he will be flayed alive.
He cannot afford a mistake, so my bet is, he will milk Trump for all sorts ofconcessions, allow him to build a hotel and a golf course in return, and Trump will giddily call it a total success!
6
Do you really believe this could happen?
1
Today on “As the World Turns”: Will Don meet with Kim? What about his tiff with Justin and Angela?
And you thought daytime soaps were dead.
7
Coming up on Season Two of The Apprentice, filming on the Korean peninsula!
6
Terrific. I’m happy we’re talking to N Korea, an enemy.
BUT why are we messing with our long-time, reliable allies and friends. Canada and the EU deserve better from us.
4
Mr. Trump initially told reporters it was “a very nice letter” and “a very interesting letter,” but by the end of a conversation with reporters, he said that he had not actually read it.
Quite simply we elected someone as President who doesn't know how to read. My guess is someone read it to him and he got the vague impression it was nice because he wasn't called a dotard, but wasn't really paying attention.
8
Accomplishing in just about 18 months what no other post-Korean War President has been able to do, our President worked this meeting with the savvy only a Beltway outsider could muster.
This possible detente with NK has no doubt a bumpy road ahead, but President Trump inviting this despot-ravaged country onto the world stage (and eventually into this millennium) and fostering the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is an feat of incredible ability.
Sore losers will continue to doubt, nitpick and jeer, but generations of and broad demographics of voters throughout the country are watching, and remembering, your antics. If the left thinks sneering at our President's numerous accomplishments will help them this fall or in preventing the President Trump landslide-2020-2nd-term re-election, they are in for a bout of hysteria even they haven't conjured up yet.
1
Another useless tete-a-tete with someone named Kim.
5
Clearly NK's charm offensive towards Trump is paying off, since Trump has embraced the Juche philosophy of self-sufficiency and imposed sanctions on his own country.
2
Trump and company isn't going to suddenly decide that Kim may retain his small arsenal of nuclear weapons.
Kim isn't going to give up his nuclear capability because of Trump.
Trump(even as foolish as he seems) isn't going to start a war with North Korea.
They'll meet, have a bite to eat, talk and neither will seem as
"wild" as they did before this little get together.
These two people can't make a deal because they believe in
opposite solutions to the problem.
They will return back to their own countries after a fairly polite exchange. This is better than before.
North Korea will remain the ninth country with nuclear weapons.
N.K. is no more dangerous than two or three other nations with nuclear capability.
Why is it that U.S.A can't stand the idea of a "nuclear" Korean
peninsula but we are just fine with nuclear (Israel) in the
world of Israel, Palestine, Iran,Syria,Egypt etc.(The Arab world).
As additional proof that we are a bit "mixed up" here in the U.S., we forget to consider that Pakistan is a current member of the nuclear club.
Pakistan is just another "member" i prefer not to have as my neighbor.
Trump and Pompeo should sit at the lunch table with some other nuclear nations.
That would be putting things in their true relations and relative importance. That is known as --Perspective which we could use--about now.
3
Hope for a successful summit must be tempered by knowing that both parties involved are notorious deal breakers. The best chance for lasting peace would require a multilateral treaty approved by the U.S. Congress as well as China, Japan, North and South Korea, and perhaps Russia and the United Nations. As Ernest Moniz, the author of the Iran Nuclear Accord, said borrowing from Reagan in dealing with Iran "Distrust, but verify, VERIFY." Since there is already great distrust of both Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, any proposed deal or framework must include other trustworthy parties to ensure that both honor their commitments.
1
It has become rather tiresome and useless to offer commentary of this subject and the tariffs on trading partners because
Trump changes from week to week.
I will wait until the Summit actually happens and an agreement is reached either signed or verbal to render judgement.
The most fascinating thing will be if an agreement is reached, will it be less stringent than the Iran agreement that
Trump withdrew from and will NK retain some nuclear and missile capability together with some loosening of economic sanctions against NK and how will Trump enforce and verify said agreement or will it all be a photo op with future promises.
5
This is the only thing that came out of Trump presidency. Of all the Democratic and Republican presidents, Trump will be the first to solve and lead the Korean peninsula into a great positive direction. Encouraging.
2
meant to say "the only thing positive that came out of Trump presidency"
Well, I guess it's nice they're pen pals. Kim writes to Trump, Trump writes to Kim. It's just like fourth grade.
7
Kim has played Trump perfectly. He has waited for an administration that would talk to him mostly as a diversion from the fact that it is rabid for positive ratings. This, for all the promise, is a nasty game of brinksmanship which threatens the very existences of millions of people on the Korean peninsula and further afield. There is no guarantee, even if the summit goes ahead, that whatever comes out of it will be favourable to peace and equanimity in the immediate effect, able to achieve long term stability in the region, or will ever be implemented given the mercurial nature of the two polarities involved.
It is Trump I distrust more than Kim, however. He has demonstrated the mercurial side of his vicious ego many times, while Kim simply reacts as expected. It is a body blow to reason that the potential of nuclear war rests with the diplomatic aptitude of a man under so many investigations for criminality, so unfit for leadership, and so repugnant in thought and act.
2
Maybe Trump has his Kim's mixed up - it's Kardashian that's wiling to meet with him, any time, without concessions on either side. The perfect photo op and success story!
3
Kim knows that its nuclear weapons have no value, but since he is a smart guy, not like Sadam Hussein and Gadhafi, he will use his nuclear program to the maximum leverage to get most out of Trump that benefit his country and him personally. Trump is very smart to make such a deal after making Kim to understand it that is better for him and his country. By cancelling the summit when Kim started to misbehave after starting to behave better, Trump showed Kim that he is not Obama and he is not interested to appease to get a deal, any deal. It appears to have worked and again proved that liberal pundits were wrong.
4
If Trump were capable of learning from experience, his own on again/off again history with North Korea would teach him that the best thing he could say is nothing - not until this is a done deal.
2
The master negotiator is being played like a cheap plastic harmonica. But the real question is, will the cheap plastic commemorative coins be available again in the White House gift shop?
2
Americans have very short attention spans and theTrump Carnival Government is pandering to that deficit. Real change is difficult and requires patiences and expertise; this administration possesses neither of those qualities. Trump is getting played and he, in turn, is playing the American people in the only game Trump truly understands...the ratings game.
3
Apply maximum pressure, threaten military strikes, go Libyan on'em, pull troops out of South Korea, send more troops to South Korea, trade wars, real wars, sanctions, tariffs -- Art of the Deal tactics gone wild, keep the Trump name in the news , patent the brand, leverage the deal, make money.
3
This announcement suggests that in the ongoing battle for influence over policymaking between SecState Pompeo and NSC director Bolton, the former is ascending, and that is good news. Notice that Mr. Bolton has not appeared in any photos of late; only Mr. Pompeo and his aides, together with North Korean representatives.
Too early to know what will happen but this is an enormous gamble by Mr. Trump and if it pays off, he will certainly go down in history, as will Kim Jong Un.
4
Negotiating with an unstable, ill-tempered nuclear-armed despot with virtually no experience in international diplomacy is risky business. I hope Kim is up to it.
628
What is more dangerous? People of North Korea feel the same way ....
"Negotiating with an unstable, ill-tempered nuclear-armed despot with virtually no experience in international diplomacy is risky business. I hope TRUMP is up to it."
4
You missed the irony.
Brilliant!
21
I'm eagerly awaiting the astute, unbiased commenters here to explain to us all why getting the meeting back on track is, despite appearances, actually not a good thing -- indeed it is a terrible, simply awful thing that demonstrates the malice and incompetence of Trump.
To summarize them all:
"Up is down: here's why."
3
If I may quote G.W. Bush, "Fool me once, shame on, shame on you. Fool me, well, you can't fool me again."
All kidding aside, IF this was a President who did not endlessly grandstand, brazenly lie and court chaos, and IF this President had a few legislative wins under his belt, and IF the very legitimacy of this President wasn't called into question by a major Special Council investigation and potentially nefarious ties to Russia, then yeah, I'd say "this is great news!" But those are pretty big IFs, don't you think?
With the exception of Trump's staunchest supporters, even mainline GOP (the few that remain) are curiously silent about this development.
Anyone who is not wholly skeptical of this development is being willfully naive.
5
Norman, I already anticipated your reply:
"Up is down, here's why."
Who has paid for the nuclear weapons in N.K?
And why?
Key issue, overall.
1
The meeting was called off because the NK were unwilling to agree to de-nuclearization. Have they now done so? I doubt it. So what changed? Trump wants a photo op, that's what. This is so obvious it's pathetic really.
88
Why is this amateur maneuver being dignified as "the latest diplomatic breakthrough"? Anyone who didn't expect Trump to grandstand and play with everyone's expectations the way a child torments a kitten was likely born yesterday. He's a known quantity by now.
The thing is, he thinks he's playing with a kitten, but he's dancing around a full-grown tiger, and it's just been waiting for him to spin back towards it. Now he's within reach again.
26
you gotta admit he's closer to something good than the past three presidents. And if his technique fails, he's no worse than those other guys, except they talked a lot more with the "experts"
5
Heaven's, not that. Experts?!
2
Sure if you call perpetually flip flopping getting closer.
2
He’s telegraphing to every nation America is a mercurial nation which can’t be trusted. Bad for America!
5
Lavrov in NK:
In the short term, Moscow “cannot afford to be remembered as the country that had no hat in the ring leading up to June 12,” he said.
Our hat’s a tacky red ball cap, made in China.
:(
I miss the America I knew.
8
Have you all noticed how often this happens? Meetings, policy decisions, deadlines, being set then cancelled then set back again.
It's no coincidence. In Trump's idiotically simplistic "I'm a tough guy" (deluded) view of himself and the world, knocking people off-balance and keeping them guessing (supposedly on their toes) confers him an advantage and positions him as the winner. He doesn't realize it makes him seem mercurial, weak, and frankly, unhinged.
Oh, this transparent manipulation is also is core feature of narcissistic personality disorder. Guess who's the poster boy for it?
17
I'm curious as to what Trump is offering Kim to give up their nukes beyond time on the world stage with the Fake President. Trump said that he would guarantee Kim's security and Kim would be very happy.
So what might that look like?
A) Kim gets asylum in the US, a new identity as a doorman at Trump Tower and a two week pass to Disneyland.
B) Kim stays in North Korea. Our troops on the border are moved north to defend Kim against a revolt of the North Korean army joined by the peasants and Kim gets a membership at a new Trump golf course in Pyongyang.
C) Kim gets a "Get Out of Jail Free" card from the Fake President, passes "Go" and collects $200.
The real question is who is conning who? I think Kim and Trump are in cahoots to con the rest of the world. You see, what's on the table is Kim giving up his nukes for the word of Trump (less than worthless) and the prospect of getting sanctions lifted and a trade deal making Trump ties. Now if you're Kim what do you have to lose? Your power. Your life. So is Kim going to give up his nukes and end up like Muammar Gaddafi? No. Which means there's a game going on and Kim and Trump are playing everyone for fools.
3
"President Trump announced on Friday that the summit meeting he had canceled with North Korea’s leader would be held after all, the latest twist in a nuclear-edged diplomatic drama that has captivated and confused much of the world."
No need to be confused anymore. It is clear: we have become a country led by a man who has no idea what he is doing and is "governing" the way a reality-show host would. The problem is that in reality TV it doesn't matter who wins or loses--it is just entertainment. In the world of global politics, it does, and it looks like we are losing.
9
Did Trump promise the North Koreans the June jobless report in advance?
1
Yeah, I'll believe it when it actually happens.
6
I have already been up the mountain and back down on this summit a couple of times, so best to wait for the NYT June 12 before going up again. In any case North Korea won't be giving up its nukes -- they're what's keeping Kim alive and he knows it. But Trump, if he goes at all, will certainly declare meeting the greatest deal in the history of the world.
9
I’m just going to say it... with all of the ugly, hate-filled, immoral news coming out of the White House, I don’t really care about North Korea. Now egomaniac Trump can once again ignore what’s really important: healthcare, safety in schools, the environment, and the disparity between rich and poor, to name just a few...
22
If a peaceful solution to the “NK versus the civilized world” problem cannot be found, you won’t have to fret about “what’s really important” to you...
Readers, this meeting is going to take place. that's the reality. It doesn't matter whether you think it's just a ploy by Trump to distract from the Russia investigator. It doesn't matter whether you have any faith in Trump's negotiating skills. It doesn't matter if Trump gets a bounce in approval ratings. None of that matters. The meeting is on.
It's outcome could affect the future security of this country, and the world. It could either bring us closer to peace, or, if it fails, closer to war.
So, we must as a nation put aside our differences, no matter how intense they are. We must, for our common good, put aside contempt for Mr. Trump, difficult as that may be for many.
For our own future, for the future of our children and grandchildren, we must support Mr. Trump in these negotiations and stand united behind our efforts to achieve a lasting, just peace with North Korea. Politics must take a back seat now. We are all one.
7
Only a true Trump supporter would expect anyone else to back the most ignorant incompetent and greedy narcissist to ever fill a political office, whether by fraud or not..
6
well this represents hope that something very significant can be achieved over there. because trump is the equivalent of a sleazy used car salesman his negotiating team will have to ensure a purely symbolic role for the president. added to his ignorance and lack of historical understanding of the region this is especially important.
the u.s. had better be prepared to leave the korean peninsula and associated territorial waters to get some concessions from nk; they can't however be expected to dismantle and get rid of their nuclear arsenal. there's just too many unknowns for this to happen. will any sovereign nation with a nuclear arsenal do this? not gonna happen!
1
To achieve a sort of peace agreement would be - of course - great. But i do not think that the Trump administration was going for that goal...they demanded that North Korea should get rid of the nuclear arsenal ... which they actually continue to build up. Those are two different things and it looks like as if both "the media" and the White House are deliberately mixing them up. Achieving a peace agreement and officially ending the Korean appears to be the lower hanging fruit here. But unfortunately - as with everything the President has done so far - we are witnessing a barrage of hyperbole and overly optimistic expectations for this meeting. The President will have to follow his own advice here that you have to deliver on your promises - sometimes. Anything else but North Korea agreeing to destroy their nuclear weapons will look like a big loss for the President now. But - he has set that goal himself - which will turn out to create some backlash for Mr.Trump.
3
To Trump supporters, his word is gospel. He called off the meeting, they cheered him. Meeting is back on, brilliant maneuver. After the meeting, Trump will just tell his flock that we got “the best deal in the history of deals” and they will applaud.
Whatever happens at the summit may be irrelevant. Bolton waits in the shadows, whispering to Trump, manipulating, beating the drums of war.
2
It'll be on... It'll be off... It'll be on... It'll be off... He love's me... He love's me not...
how are those cable news ratings anyway...
5
Why do you say it was rescheduled. Trump had it cancelled for about a day and went back to the same date I thought.
On a different point, I don't see why North Korea would give up its nuclear weapons any time soon. Regime change would follow soon.
1
I hope this is good news but I'm tuned out on Trump right now. I've got his number and it's boring and all for show. @starvingforstability
24
June 12th is far away, these are two unpredictable, crazy leaders the world has ever produced, anything can happen before June 12th, I will be surprised if this meeting ever happens and something good comes out of that meeting. Kim Jong Un will be a fool to give up his nukes, he is not going to do that. Donald Trump is craving for the Nobel Peace Prize because President Obama got it. Trump might go for any deal with the North Koreans to get the Nobel. the Nobel Peace Prize is a joke, even Yasser Arafat got it
8
And let us not forget how Teddy Roosevelt got the Peace Prize. He got it for "settling" the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. He settled it by allowing Japan to take over Korea, withdrawing American recognition of Korea as a nation, closing the US embassy there and thereby abetting Japanese expansionism.
2
If W Bush or HRC and the Washington establishment were handling this there would already be thousands dead, trillions spent, endless war and a tanked economy. Give Trump a chance.
1
Wrong!
Especially if HRC were handling it, it would actually be handled. There would be preparations by qualified people BEFORE a meeting was announced. There would never be these unprofessional on-again, off-again tweets.
She also would have spent hours learning everything there was to know about the situation and be prepared for the meeting. I’m not sure Trump even knows where N Korea is.
Trump does it the stupid way. It might work. I’ll be happy if it does. But what you said is 100% wrong.
1
HRC never did anything right...including, cowardly, supporting the Iraq invasion.
To those here writing that NK or its leader needs the summit for their legitimization: They don't need that, because they already are as legitimate as Saudi Arabia and its leader / leading clan or as legitimate as Israel with its nuclear arsenal.
1
Really?
The first problem for N. Korea is determining how much they can trust the US. The next problem is determining how much they can trust the the US. The next problem North Korea faces is determining how much it can trust the US, esp. under its current autocrat. The next problem .....
ps. As we decide who our enemies actually are, let's develop a calculus for doing so. Has Korea ever attacked the US? Has the US ever attacked Korea? Has Korea worked to define the US? Has the US worked to define Korea? Do these questions matter to you?
The North Koreans waited and chose their moment well. They waited for a failed businessman with no diplomatic experience to occupy the Oval Office. Then they negotiate.
13
As far as it is concerned Putin and Xi are happy since both Trump and Kim will do exactly what they want at this summit. There is money at the end of this meeting for both individuals. Unfortunately America and the rest of the world may get nothing and since all parties involved have very strained relationship with the truth so verifying what was actually agreed to will never be known. So let me write the headline for June12th - Trump and Kim announce an agreement- Kim surrenders all weapons (maybe).
1
Remind me again what was the Republican reaction when Obama said he wanted to meet with the leaders Iran, Cuba, N. Korea etc.?
45
Mazel Tov! For the moment...
Both China and Russia are supporting Kim. Neither would approve a deal that eliminates Kim's threat to our country. Kim needs their continuing support, and will not act contrary to their positions.
Kim will never give up his weapons. Trump will be humiliated. And Putin will laugh . . .
2
Here's how I think it will play out.
Kim will tell Trump how very smart and very handsome he is and Trump will give NK a billion dollars.
Kim will put the billion dollars in an offshore account and go live in Europe, where he went to college.
Easy, peasy.
5
Kim’s recently delivered confidential letter to Trump must have included some type of offer that would benefit Trump’s bank account. Dear Donald, why don’t you and I meet for a few days in Singapore? I will agree to sell my nukes to China and give you a cut of the proceeds if you withdraw the U.S. troops from the South. Sound good? Let’s meet and close the deal. Your new pal, KJU. PS if you could send a few barges of your fabulous “clean coal” it would really help me get through the heating season next winter.
Still have 12 days to go before the summit so Trump or Kim need to figure out who's gonna cancel it next?
6
What does the magic 8 ball say about whether it will be cancelled again when the Donald wakes up crabby or someone looks at him cross-eyed? "Reply hazy"
6
Top shelf entertainment
More ginned-up, reality TV theatrics, you say?
1
Yeah, this will go well.
2
Is Melania going with? Is she still around?
4
According to her husband, her name is “Melanie.”
2
But just a few days ago POTUS Trump told us....
It's on!
No, it's off.
No, it's on again!
The Reality President wastes no time turning every national and international event into a sad rerun of Survivor or the Apprentice. Except this time, the stakes are nuclear. Congratulations, Americans, you got the government you voted for.
25
How quickly we forget! We got the government courtesy of Russian hacking, gerrymandering and dirty tricks, de facto and de jure, to disenfranchise as many voters as possible. Tweety lost by 3M in the popular vote but achieved the presidency with 77K votes in 3 states that gave him the electoral college. The problem is that our votes were subverted, not that they were insufficient!
I'm highly skeptical that Kim Jung Un will follow through with his promises. I mean if they have a hard time agreeing on their summit how you expect them to resolve the disarmament of the nuclear weapons. We'll have to sit back and see what happens.
1
At his spontaneous press conference following the Oval Office meeting, Trump claimed he didn't cancel the summit--but he did and it made wide-spread news reports when he did. And then, two days later, he was back on it. He also claimed he had not opened Kim's letter, delievered by this special envoy, but other outlets have seen a leaked letter. Trump/Sessions hate leaks but there were only a few WH staff in attendance: Kelly, Bolton. And the word is that Trump didn't like what the letter said. He kept telling the press that it may take one or two more meetings to handle something as delicate as this. Harrumph! He thought it would be like one of his construction projects where he leverage the lowest bidders knowing he would later stiff them.
5
My 8 year old is more skilled in diplomacy than Trump.
6
My cats are more skilled in diplomacy, too.
1
Another chapter in the Who's On First reboot. We know that Trump will not, has not, and won't read the briefing documents his staff will diligently research and write for him. Then, factoring in Bolton's hawkish bellicose rhetoric and the talks may be doomed from the start. But then Trump probably doesn't care about that. He can have the networks scrambling for a few days while the country is distracted from Mueller's investigation into what appears to be Trump's obstruction of justice shenanigans. It's all for show.
9
He loves me, he loves me not; he loves me, he loves me not; he loves me, I love him not; I love him, he loves me notl...
Maybe I will, and maybe I won't...
TELL CHINA AND JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA!
Tell them what?
I love him, I love him not....
12
If all goes well during the next 11 days, the diplomats (do we have any) there will be a meeting. Nice photo-op Trump, meeting with the wonderful Kim Jong-un, "He's a wonderful guy, the meeting went very well, etc etc." Then what. Cannot denuke overnight, cannot trust NK, so will have to have inspections. It will be amusing if it turns into an Iran copy/paste. But no doubt Trump will have to remove sanctions, or remove the Military.. Long way to go.
5
I don't believe it was ever off. These two publicity-hounds are playing this summit for all it is worth. The media swallows it all like a trout after that juicy bait on the large hook. Careful, pulling that out--it can hurt. It's all about ratings and airtime and Trump's personal celebrity. Who knows where this nonsense will go from here...
9
Sure it's on for now, until it's off again. Regardless of whether it ever happens, Kim Jong Un will never give up nuclear weapons. They are his best and only security, his insurance that he'll stay in power for life, and his son after him. Without them he'd end up like Khaddafi.
So all this on again off again drama only obscures the main important fact, that North Korea will never agree to abandoning its nuclear weapons, just as America will never do so.
11
You're wrong. And when you realize are, you'll have to swallow your pride and vote for Trump in 2020.
Steve, I'm right. When you find that out, will you vote against Trump?
We are neither captivated nor confused by this. We are bored to death and exasperated with Trump's drama-queen behavior.
139
I'm even getting tired of the late night comedians, who formerly have given me so much comfort.
2
It was nice to see president Trump so happy today. Trump continues selling the North Korea Apprentice show, ignoring the reality that he is recklessly damaging our relationships with our closes allies, Canada, Mexico and Europe, while getting nothing in return from North Korea but photo ops. Maybe this is part of the reciprocity that Trump always talks about? "You loan me $500 million and give my daughter the trademarks she wants, and I will be nice to North Korea, President Xi."
28
The boy that always cried "Wolf!" was quickly ignored, and so it is with Donald. On again, off again, now up, now down and spin around.
I am product oriented - I don't care what the manufacturer had to go through to deliver the product, I just want a good product delivered as promised. I have zero interest in Donald's narcissistic theatrics which are annoying and juvenile. Just get to work and deliver - that is what real adults do.
6
Please don’t send Donald to the summit. I don’t think he understands the issues or is intelligent enough to make any decisions.
31
The urgency in having this meeting at any cost makes sense. Trump is anxious to get a success that, in his mind, makes him more more presidential and less likely to get impeached. On the other hand, North Korea is anxious to get something from Trump, with flattery (not denuclearization), before he’s impeached.
5
Impressive. A meeting has been scheduled and rescheduled....
Now debate the type of meeting table as they did in Vietnam peace talks.
Point with Mr. Trump is to maintain a constant narrative, a spotlight on him 24/7. Like television.
No. I've looked away and believe nothing at this point. Citizen apathy and destruction courtesy of Donald Trump.
40
True, the only thing he seems to have a talent for is creating drama and getting attention.
8
This meeting will probably go ahead for public relations reasons: Trump is an incurable attention-seeker, and Kim will be pleased to meet Trump as an equal.
An important question is whether there will be any progress on North Korea getting rid of its nuclear weapons and facilities or even ceasing its development of them. What would the U.S. offer in return? Apparently not much aid or resources. A promise not to attack them, as we did in Libya? Diplomatic recognition?
The North Korean regime is not apt to open North Korean society to a free press, free travel, an independent judiciary and other characteristics of a democracy. It is also not apt to hold talks on reunification with South Korea.
Probably what they want is to continue the status quo, as they try to figure out what they want next.
2
While the meeting may or may not happen - there are days to go for more drama - North Korea has absolutely no incentive to eliminate their nuclear weapons. If the meeting happens it is only a photo op and nothing more. Highly doubtful that Kim will actually follow through - what would his incentive or even motivation be to do so? Just eliminating nuclear weapons on a whim? Really? Oh, come on!
5
The Master Media Manipulator has Managed his Mueller-diversion Magnificently.
80
A lifetime of working in the building trades in New York and dealing with unscrupulous businessmen, liars and criminals should qualify Mr. Trump to deal with the North Koreans and the Chinese.
5
But that's still not good enough to deal with the Russians, keep that in mind
1
Back on so soon? Expect it to be off again.
For Trump, a summit meeting with Kim is like taking a blind date out on a Saturday night back in his bone-spur days.
6
Mr. Trump, not being a student of history or diplomacy, fails to realize the North Koreans have no intention of honoring a deal. The North Koreans want the summit to occur to give them international credibility and legitimacy. They will say anything to make the photo op happen. After they have a picture of their “Dear Leader” and our “Dear Leader” the North Koreans will do as the please. Mr. Trump may criticize the nuclear deal with Iran, but that deal was the product of a great deal of thought, work and negotiation. This half-baked attempt Mr. Trump is making with North Korea will do nothing other than let the North Koreans use Mr. Trump, and by extension the United States, for their own propaganda purposes.
34
A meeting for the sake of a meeting with a brutal third-world dictator who, along with his father and grandfather, never do or did what they promised.
How far American has fallen in fourteen months.
Kow-towing to third-world dictators.
Sad.
130
Sad indeed! It just gets worse by the day. Thankfully, I have a Swedish passport......
7
God help this great republic! The narcissistic Mr. Trump, who has already abundantly demonstrated his complete ignorance of the risks and consequences of nuclear war, will drop any redline in his eager quest for the Nobel Peace Prize. While it's true that talking is always better than fighting, I fear that our little leader will be no match for North Korea's. The only saving grace of all of this is that Mr. Bolton's urgent quest for nuclear war is momentarily postponed -- until the summit is cancelled again!
11
China doesn’t want American Troops on its Korean border. Remember : regime change is US . North Korea doesn’t trust the US and is fearful of regime change a la Libya if it gives up its’ nukes .
Trump is not to be trusted by any sane country. Nothing much is going to change.
11
Calling it a "breakthrough" is a complete disregard for the meaning of the word.
It's not considered a breakthrough if it was already on, then you canceled it out of nowhere with a poorly written letter, and then you claim it's back on, all within the span of a few days.
5
He's walking into a trap. No matter what Kim promises and trump gleefully agrees to, inevitably NK will take advantage of the so called deal maker and embarrass the USA yet again when they ultimately renege.
1
NK has no say in this matter. Look north!
The leader of one of the poorest nations is going to meet as equal with the leader of one of the richest, this is "The Mouse That Roared" version 2018.
6
Wonder what platitudes or praise Kim wrote to the president to get him to Singapore? It couldn't have been I promise to denuclearize right away! Was it allowing a burger joint into the north is it that easy to get the president to do something. Was it a note of praise waving the Nobel in front of him. Seems he can negotiate with our enemies but is disgusted with our allies.
1
I will only believe it when it happens. I do not think it is worth reporting until Trump is actually at the Summit
3
Here is the problem:
The U.S.A. is not pulling any strings with this meeting or these talks. N.K is doing all the manipulating at this point. It was they who offered, it was they who canceled, it was they who put it back on the table.
We are not acting like a superpower in this negotiation. We are dancing to the whim of a long-time enemy. Nothing I have seen or read suggests any of this is a result of U.S. diplomacy, espionage (admittedly difficult to gauge), or policy.
We are simply trolling along, letting N.K. guide everything. We, and our allies in the NW Pacific, are not going to walk out of this negotiation happy.
2
That's not the way Trump sees it. For him it's a great show. He sees himself quite detached from all this, like the game show host he is.
In the end he will say: Who would have thought that denuclearizing North Korea could be so complicated
Summit is on, summit is off, summit is on . . . again.
Good grief, my head and neck haven't snapped back and forth this often since the Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs tennis matches.
11
I’m optimistic. Kim will agree to complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization if the US will eliminate all if its nuclear weapons. Trump will agree, if China will get rid of their nuclear weapons. China will agree if Europe does the same, and Europe will agree if Russia does so first. Soon we will have a nuclear free world and Donald Trump, Kim Jong-Un, and the rest will share a well-deserved Nobel Peace prize.
Of course, if things don’t work out just like this, it will be nuclear war of all against all. But like I say, I’m an optimist.
6
I was about to say that you have forgotten Israel, Pakistan and India, but since I am also an incurable optimist, I firmly believe they will be the first ones to ditch their nukes, just to show it to Trump.
I will sleep much better tonight already, thank you!
4
I'll keep this one short and simple...do we have a working Congress any longer, or just a wanna-be dictator/king/biggest boy in the schoolyard? Is there only one branch of government left?
39
And what will the presidency be after Trump dies? You can be sure he won't give it up until then, and you can be sure the GOP will not require it, and you can be sure the 40% of the American voters needed to re-elect him will continue to do so. Wasn't democracy grand?
2
I am so tired. So, so, tired.
wake me up when he winds the Nobel Peace prize.
4
We will see what we will see . . .
POTUS Trump said that today . . . .
is that actually a NYC idiom? Heard
it often in my youth in Brooklyn . . .
Someone please let the Nobel Committee know.
1
It seems to me that to win, Kim Jong-un only needed the idea of a meeting with Trump. He succeeded and Kim Jong-un now has had meetings with China and Russia scheduled. He can tell his people that Trump wanted the meeting and spin it that Trump begged to make it work. Trump on the other hand needs to actually have the meeting and to get something from Kim Jong-un. While I hope for the best, I doubt that Trump will get anything from the meeting. Kim Jong-un has won already. Trump gave him the high level meeting North Korean has always wanted and Trump got nothing in return. Why would North Korea give anything up at the meeting?
10
Looks like somebody got a case of the FOMO.
And went straight into the script written by both Koreas.
So much winning, folks! So much winning.
2
Kim Jong Un just wants to be recognized by the US by having the meeting period. Once that meeting happens, they can come back winners even if nothing gets accomplished at the meeting. They will have been legitimized.
35
the same can be said of DJT.
9
Reliable sources reveal North Korea (secretly) desires access to Western reputable barber and/or beauticians to remedy the hideous haircuts adorned by hermit kingdom inhabitants. Apparently, they lack access, know how to transforming hair couture. Who knew (Donald knew) such inducements could incrementally convince them to disarm? Long live beloved leader President Trump..
1
The only contribution that Trump has made to whole effort is to create unwarranted havoc that it has scared so many people about what he will do next so that they have been forced to face their differences. It may be a positive thing to see this resolved, but it certainly did not come about because of some well thought out diplomatic strategy. It is still chaos, it is still bad and we still do not have a president, just an out of control egomaniac.
The night of the 2016 election, despite great dismay, my thought was, "Let's see what this guy can do." I don't like much of what he's done, but if elimination of nukes from N.Korea happens, if it isn't another scam like what the USSR pulled in 1962 in Cuba to get our missiles out of Turkey, if the constant, belligerent war footing of N.Korea ends, then Trump will have done something beneficial for NE Asia, the US, & the world. And, it may be the necessary model for Iran whereas the current JCPOA is worthless insofar as non-proliferation, but great for the Iran, Europe, Russia and China insofar as commerce. I don't see Trump's objective as unification - just nuclear weapons and delivery system reduction. Let's see what he can do.
1
Kim will not surrender the nuclear armed ICBMs that Trump allowed him to acquire. He is now allied with China as two nuclear states opposed to U.S. imperialism in Asia. Because of Trump isolationism, the U.S. now stands alone. Taiwan will fall next.
3
Breaking News. . .Trump and North Korea almost reach a deal, but then the North Koreans say, "Wait, why make a deal when Trump could pull out of it any time - like the Iran Nuclear deal. . .? Breaking News. . .Trump claims he won anyway because thousands of North Koreans cheered him upon his arrival. Breaking News. . .Trump reports that he will. . . .or will not. . .or time will tell. Awkkk! I think the news is broken.
8
Whatever...on-again, off-again...
...and what's he going to say? "Kim, give-up your nukes. Today. No conditions."
I'm sure that conversation is going to unfold nicely. Kim will utter some specious platitudes -- essentially lies and empty assurances, as that's especially in vogue these days. They seem to work.
...and then he'll do nothing (visibly), until some fuzzy satellite photo gets released proving there has been activity going-on all along (which should come as no surprise to anyone).
...and then...? Well, we've witnessed the build-up to other wars (or non-wars, or whatever we call them).
So we continue to stay-tuned...
3
Can we keep Mr. Trump as president but take away his phone and TV previliages?
Sounds like my dating experience since I was 50. I hope they do better than I did.
8
This “on again” “off again” meeting is only, and very good for ratings, reality TV. Nothing more.
2
I can’t wait to see the note that Trump wrote this time.
Do you like me? Check one.
Yes
No
2
Can I sue the administration for whiplash?
10
WOW! I am sooooooooo surprised!......as if we did not think it was going to happen otherwise, those summit medals now on eBay will be sold at a little higher rate and The Dolt believes he is back in the running for a Nobel. HA!
13
Does anyone really know who rules North Korea? To paraphrase Inigo Montoya, "this leader is not who you think it is..."
3
Who wants to bet it will be on again, off again, maybe back on again, definitely off again, probably back on again -- absolutely not happening, possibly happening, not happening, definitely happening -- before it ultimately doesn't happen -- 12 days from now. It'll be a treat either way. Trump loses both ways. He clearly hasn't prepared and will get owned. Or nothing happens -- like everything else in this Administration. Oh, other than terrible things, like the tax scam and stripping health care from millions of people and putting tariffs on steel and aluminum -- pumping up prices on all sorts of things the middle class uses.
1
What could possibly go wrong?
9
This might mean nothing but he looked and sounded like he had his first massage in two years.
There are still — what? — fourteen days to go until this meeting is scheduled, so Twitler might yet cancel and reschedule this event multiple times to get his “drama fix.”
2
i will believe this when air force one is headed home after it happens. of course we have to see him enter and exit the plane.
3
I am waiting for him to take off his shoe, bang it on the table, and walk out during the Summit.
1
I hope he doesn't give away the store.
Eager to make a deal on the world stage Trump agrees to a meeting with Jung-un for all the wrong reasons -- namely, how he thinks it will make him look good. The irony is that he looks like a waffling, spineless fool willing to backtrack on his Reddit-style troll of a note that cancelled the original plan. This is not leadership, no art of a deal displayed. More like sloppy media grab by a reckless, feckless former reality TV show host lurching for a "win". If this meeting pans out it will nothing more than a giant photo-op for two desperate leaders willing to do anything to salvage their deplorable reputations.
32
NYT, here's an idea. It's rough, so hear me out: how about you guys create a "Trump says" column, where you report everything the president says or tweets, with the understanding that he uses words exclusively to elicit emotional reactions from people rather than to introduce ideas or convey accurate information. Then use the rest of the paper to cover things that actually happen.
42
Kabuki negotiations. Now Kim will cancel, and reverse himself in time for it to happen.
3
The president of the United States is a fool. Diplomacy is the work of years, not months. Kim Jong-un cannot be so desperate as to beg concessions from a novice without getting something in return. When this blows up—and it might before they meet—I’m saying “I told you so.”
Donald Trump has no right to hazard America’s security on a whim. Kim’s got weapons hidden that Trump can only dream about. He wants this too badly and that’s a dangerous sign.
128
@Sox -- it's not the summit meeting the president wants so badly, it's the Nobel Peace Prize. He's already made his reservations at a Stockholm hotel and he doesn't even care if his name isn't on it.
19
Why is he foolish to meet with Kim exactly? He never said he'd make a deal immediately, or that he'd make a deal at all. Simply that he'd meet. I think it's a decent idea, better to sit down and talk than limit our dialog to threats of nuclear annihilation.
2
The idea of Trump receiving the Nobel Peace Prize is beyond ridiculous. The man has done more to destabilize the world than anyone in my lifetime (just one example: moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem).
I have faith that the Nobel committee is immune to the chants of Trump supporters.
Can we keep a President in the white house but take his/her phone, tablet and TV privileges?
2
We'll see.
If Trump pulls this off, it may not rank as high on the historical impact scale as Nixon and China, but it's right up there.
Much as I despise the guy, if he can convince the N Koreans to end their nuclear program and the two Koreas normalize their relationship, Mr Trump will have achieved something none of his predecessors were able to achieve.
On the other hand, we should all be prepared for yet another, "never mind."
1
Well, that's one side of a bargain. What do you suggest we offer in return?
5
Does this mean they will be giving out the coins?
6
It's on again until Trump gets another wild hair. He loves the drama and attention he gets. The world watches in fear while it's all a reality game show to him.
2
I'll believe it when it happens. There's no doubt in my mind that it wouldn't be the first time Donald Trump has been 'stood up.'
1
Peace is always better than the alternative, especially given the nuclear brinksmanship that has been the alternative. It seems that "complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula" is on the table. Now it will finally be up to Donald Trump to deliver "the ultimate deal" he's been promising that has eluded the past three presidents. The bar is very high, but if he pulls it off, he'll certainly have a claim to his coveted Nobel Peace Prize. So, as we used to say in the '60s, "Give peace a chance!"
Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush each negotiated with North Korea to bring an end to its nuclear weapons program, only to have the deals ultimately fall apart.
The preliminary meetings for those deals probably went on without a hitch, so what does that prove? Why we always make such big deals over nothing is always a mystery to me. Sad if that's all we have to do to make ourselves look important.
4
This will give us a chance to compare Mr. Trump's success with that of President Obama's in Iraq. Will he have inspectors, and a halt to their weapons program?
13
*Iran
5
When did President Obama send inspectors to Iraq?
1
You meant Iran, not Iraq.
"The on-again, off-again summit scheduling had all the earmarks of a television cliffhanger from a president who made a name for himself hosting a reality show on NBC for 14 years..."
I think not. The dithering is more like that of a man in need of medication to control his impulsive behavior.
Governing by gut and thin skin puts the US in peril.
340
Imagine the stock value and price if this was a publicly traded corporation with such amateurish gyrations in its leadership. Mr. Trump was and remains unable to effectively carry out the office. He is unschooled, lazy, and petulant, all the things greatness derides.
38
The main success of the US/N Korea Peace Talks to date is the rise in international stature and influence of Kim Jong-in, courtesy of Donald Trump: by the United States granting equal status to a hereditary dictator of an impoverished, paranoid, xenophobic 3rd world state, Trump has given Kim a role on on the world stage believed impossible less than a year and a half ago.
we are being toyed with, as in: 'Like flies to wanton boys: they kill us for their sport.' Please stop this nonsense, we implore you Mr. Trump, and grow up.
8
Still plenty of time left for Trump or someone in the White House to say something stupid that once again puts the kibosh on the summit meeting with North Korea. Perhaps a White House gag order on the topic of North Korea until the summit takes place would be in order?
5
Flying by the seat of your pants cannot, and should not, be confused with a strategy.
The more Trump gives Mr. Kim, the more Mr. Kim will use it as leverage.
Worse, Mr. Trump needs this summit to happen -- because he said it would, and who dares doubt the word of Trump? -- and thus Kim is holding all the cards of benefit, and can jerk Trump around -- which is, not in and of itself, not fun, but which doesn't do anything to denuclearize a totalitarian state.
Diplomacy doesn't work like TV or New York Real Estate (Neither of which actually 'work,' or at least 'work in a legal and fair and open fashion.") It requires discipline, attention and principle.
None of which Mr. Trump has.
Every Republican who voted for this batch of childish goons so they could feel a burst of animal pride at 'owning the libs' will have a lot to pay for If -- not when -- America returns to principle, sanity and decency.
10
The moving of goal posts with this situation has been absurd. Remember a meeting with US was North Korean demand since a long time. Now it seems that it will be a "success" if Trump can make it happen.
The news media be on top of this and keep reminding the public.
5
North Korea has a long history of manipulating the South's desire for peace and good relations to extract concessions from it and the US. Hopefully THIS time is different, but as many psychologists will tell you, often the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.
2
Mainstream media must be very disappointed that the talks are back on and that they could be successful.
4
I am concerned that President Trump's insatiable ego is opening a gateway for deep trouble for the United States. I do not believe that he is aptly prepared to meet with North Korea. I am also concerned that if "The World" is going to negotiate new doorways with North Korea.... China's leaders have to be involved. To not engage China in this effort is perilous and injudicious. WHY do they have to meet on June 12th? WHY doesn't Trump and his staff take the time to strategically prepare for this meeting and invite China to the table. It's a no-brainer...if the World wants success in this matter, China will need to participate...
4
Is it true that this time there will be a rose ceremony, and that one country will be voted off the planet?
15
Never ending, trumped-up drama. I wish I could turn off the TV. No wait, this isn't a TV drama.
Honestly, we get what we vote for. An As-If TV drama is apparently what we voted for.
3
I hope Kim Jong Un doesn't give up nuclear weapons as those are the only things that are keeping us from 'liberating' North Korea.
3
We never seem to appreciate the work the cleaners in the White House have to do in cleaning up all those flower petals from this administration's he-loves-me-he-loves-me-not foreign policy plan...
4
Anyone else feel very uncomfortable having such a vicious, ruthless dictator negotiating with Kim Jung Un?
94
... until it is back off again.
140
My comment exactly.
8
Most definitely maybe...!!! NO it will never happen...
4
Trump is desperate for a photo opp he can brag about. That's all this will be.
316
Don't bet on it. On Putin's wish list is removal of US troops from Korea. He'll sign some faux deal that Kim will never honor but Trump will use it as an excuse to remove our troops and ease sanctions.
5
"If you will it, it is no dream..." Am I wrong?
2
Taking bets as to how long it will be until its off again
11
I won't hold my breath.
7
Does the recent Supreme Court ruling on gambling allow us to place bets on this?
55
Paddy Power of England has a lot of Trump prop bets.
Trump to win Nobel before 1'st term ends 5/6
Trump to get Mexico to pay for wall 25/1
1
That letter should have been delivered by a senior Chinese representative - they obviously drafted it to maintain full control over Asia.
6
If he is able to genuinely defuse the situation of the Korean peninsula and most importantly bring relief to millions of North Koreans, it will be interesting to see whether it will significantly increase the traction of an unapologetic bigot with authoritarian tendencies.
2
We have gone from Nixon's "ping pong" diplomacy to Trump's "let's wing it" diplomacy.
6
He finally recognized that it was happening with or without him.
3
Can’t wait to see how the all seeing all knowing diplomat from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue will embarrass our country on an international stage once again.
110
He'll have a chance to start embarassing a few days before at the G-7 summit.
10
The G-7 has been renamed. It is now the G-6+1. We are becoming a rogue nation, a banana republic with the most nukes on the planet.
Not 'truthful hyperbole. Just the truth. Sad and very scary.
He must have gotten the long-range forecast that it wouldn't be good golfing weather around June 12.
2
OR -- he's thinking it WON'T happen -- but since he's over there, might as well play a round or two THERE. Why waste MILLIONS upon MILLIONS of taxpayer dollars. We'll play some golf and claim it as a writeoff.
1
I wouldn't trust Trump to haggle for broccoli at the Farmer's Market . Let's hope all he's going to do is pose for the photo-op. Please tell me there will be adults in the room!
224
Digger- exactly. If this was any other president I wouldn't be concerned but trump only does what enriches trump. I wonder what back room deal he's got going and how many Americans he has sold to get it.
11
Sure, there will be adults in the room: John Bolton, Pompeo, Stephen Miller... what could go wrong?
11
I am staunchly opposed to almost everything this President and administration are doing, however I will be patient to pass judgement on the goings on until the details are available. (which will probably take years)
Right now it is an optics game. Nothing more and nothing less.
17
I would love to see peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, but I have doubts that two egos as huge as Trump's and Kim's would be willing to settle for anything less than a total win. I worry that Trump will give away too much and claim he won by giving away nothing. I am worried that Kim will agree to complete denuclearization and simply and literally move his facilities underground. Remember, his testing is done, now all he needs to do is manufacture.
Neither of these two "World Leaders" can be trusted and to see them attempt to negotiate is frightening.
18
That means likely they will get to secretly keep their nukes so our President can save face.
24
This is playing like a plot twist of a bad episode of House of Cards.
2
Trump needs to have a solid game plan and give us full transparency on what he's doing out there. Not just a Superbowl TV moment I hope.
2
There remain 11 days until 12 June - as Mr Elliot famously put it, «time ... for a hundred visions and revisions before the taking of a toast and tea». But I very much hope that the meeting will indeed take place, despite Mr Trump's penchant for public pirouettes, and that substantial progress will there be made towards the common goal enunciated by Messrs Kim and Moon in the Panmunjom Declaration - «of realizing, through complete denuclearization, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula». Let us hope that Mr Trump decides to let Mr Bolton stay at home....
Henri
3
Keep the chaos and drama going, it keeps everyone guessing, keeps your name in the paper front-and-center and distract attention from the other things that are bogging down your presidency.
the pattern is becoming pretty obvious and very consistent.
151
It is indeed sad that inconsistency has become consistent.
12
Forgive me if I don't hold my breath. At this point, it seems that even if these talks do take place, there is so much pressure and tension between both sides that the successful scenario is that things don't splinter immediately after.
I will be overjoyed if I am proven wrong, but this doesn't feel like it will amount to anything more than previous meetings between the two powers.
50
This is a good thing. Some may try to spin this to say otherwise, but we all should be hoping for a positive outcome of this meeting, regardless of feelings towards the president.
50
There will be no meeting.
30
@John
I am not trying to spin it. (my comment said so) However, be prepared to accept with the same enthusiasm if there is failure.
14
I suspect that Trump's expressed envy of despots has Kim convinced that being a democracy is no longer necessary to becoming a "favored nation" of the United States anymore.
15
The idea of Korean unification must be anathema to China, because why would it want to supercharge a Western-leaning economic powerhouse sitting on its borders? And it seems that anything that could nudge North Korea in that direction would be anathema to far-looking China, too. So why do we think that our aid or, indeed, our counsel would hold any sway? Anyway, it seems that anything we do in the region is in support of South Korea--which is OK, but the North Korean meeting and its importance should be about that, and the rest seems so trumped up, as it were.
75
@Blume
It will take years to find out what back deals there are between China and this President (and his family). Who knows what is being swayed in the name of pay for play.
Having said that, this so called ''trade war'' most likely will be a bargaining chip further down the road for these ''talks'',
The media will follow the shiny ball (as usual) and the powers that be will enrich themselves same as it ever was.
Carry on.
22
Blume: and how do you think Korean unification would play out with Russia, the other nation with whom North Korea shares a border? Well ... I don't know, either. This might--stress "might"--get quite interesting.
5
I want peace in the Korean peninsula once and for all please people. I am tired of the wars and war mongering in our government.
77
You can be sure that Trump will call it a success, whatever the outcome.
18
I strongly believe June 12, 2018 will become a historic day. I am hopeful that DPRK will give up all nuclear weapons in return for lifting of all sanctions, protecting current regime, and committing to denuclearize Korean Peninsula. And Trump Organization will get to build a Trump Tower (=Victory Tower) in Pyongyang.
4
There is panacea and there is pipe dream. What you "strongly believe" will happen is a pipe dream. But I certainly hope you're right.
I support success in this effort (whatever that might eventually mean). Max Weber famously said "For every opinion there are extremely inconvenient facts, no less for mine than for yours." Success in this endeavor may well be an inconvenient fact, particularly for those of us not happy with his presidency. However, I certainly hope that it is achieved, nevertheless.
84
Some facts are facts, some opinions which are not facts, and some are outright lies. The problem with the current state of politics is trying to find out if there is any fact in all the bombast.
12
Yes, of course, no doubt. However fake news is easier to certify that "Truth," which is always elusive. All I am saying is if through all this bombast some sort of meaningful improvement in Korean affairs (and in North Korea/USA relations) is accomplished, then we would need to be glad for that. We would hope it does not entrench Mr. Trump's position (and that is a major consideration as well). Nothing is ever simple.
Scams work only because the marks want so very badly to believe what is being peddled. You want this to succeed, of course you do, any rational human would... but be wary of the setup. Looking through some old comics the other day I was reminded of this: Hey Charlie Brown, let me hold the football for you, and you can kick it. It's easy to support the effort of Lucy holding that ball for poor old Chuck, but until he actually succeeds in kicking it the moon, I will remain skeptical.
1
It was never off. He just said it was. The other parties never acknowledged that it was off. Things don't happen just because he says they don't happen. It is beginning to look like China and the Koreas are playing the President...and doing it quite well...
385
Trump will do anything to deflect away from the Russia
investigation, and the first report to be published soon.
Trump knows that the content will be bad, very bad for him and his future.
Fear and panic motivates him to meet with Korea and
show him up as being controlled by China.
23
Now you see it, now you don't. Diplomacy in the form of a carnaval barker's game. Place your bets, ladies and gentleman. Keep your eyes on the ball, while the game is played elsewhere.
We are in the era of politics by distraction, and both Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim seem to be expert players at distracting attention from what it is that they are doing--meetings that are scheduled, cancelled, re-scheduled, payoffs to pornstars that he didn't, but did, but didn't know about, agreements about the Dreamers that he committed to, but didn't commit to, and on and on it goes, and we all spin our attention from one form of madness to another, from kneeling at NFL games to Rosanne, to whatever is tomorrow's silliness, while the poor get more poor, programs get gutted, payoffs get pocketed, schools deteriorate, and on it goes. Same, I suspect with the third Kim in his dynasty. I suspect he's happy to have meetings scheduled, cancelled, and re-schduled ad infinitum as he cements whatever it is that he is trying to cement, and at some point he and Donald will sign some paper promising that soon enough promises will get made to do something that will not get done, but the military-industrialists will continue of cash their checks, and rescheduling all gets reported as serious news and we all get too dizzy to attend to what is being done to us.
555
Carnival barker fits like a glove !
35
It helps for me to keep a handwritten ledger of the events that have transpired since October, 2016, best as I can keep up with them.
My ledger is like... its like the photograph that Winston was holding in 1984. Its the proof that Trump's transgressions happened. Its my reminder that the truth, facts, and the meaning of words matters. It helps. It feels like my own little resistance every day, every time I create another entry.
Also, the Russians and Trump trolls can't hack a pen and paper, and digital media companies can't edit it. Those words I wrote over a year ago are the same today as when I wrote them. It is a small thing, but it is an empowering idea to me in this day and age when the regime in power is literally trying to destroy the concept of reality.
Happy Friday.
44
I hope you put your list in a comment. I'd love to see it.
One commentator, a person who has visited North Korea many times, Stanford’s Siegfried Hecker, predicted that it could take as long as 15 years for a deal of any kind to be made. This process will not be easy and by demanding that the North Koreans denuclearize immediately the chances for failure are very considerable.
184
It happened for Iran less that two years. Why do you think it'll take 15 years? When a Republican makes a deal, both Dems and Reps will hold on to it for ever. But when a Dem makes it, it's just unbearable for Congress to ratify it.
10
Sure. And that's fine with me. Likely nothing will come of it, but there is no harm in talking. Why not? It might reduce the tension a bit.
4
Mr. Hecker stated that it could take up to 15 years, because N. Korea already has an extensive nuclear program, while Iran didn't (at least not when the Iran agreement was signed). Harder to dismantle something already in place than to call a halt to something still in the planning stages.
Hasn't Donald already shown that the U.S. can't be relied on to adhere to treaties and agreements with foreign powers? We agreed to the Paris Accord and then withdrew. We agreed to TPP and then withdrew. We agreed to JCPOA and then withdrew. We agreed to NAFTA and may withdraw. We agreed to meet Kim and then withdrew.
Now, the meeting's back on and nobody knows what constitutes success.
What is our policy? Are we considering removing American forces from South Korea in exchange for denuclearization?
Before Donald shows up for this meeting, I, for one, would like to know what he wants and what he's willing to give up to get it.
Otherwise, it's like Kim Kardashian. A photo shoot.
480
Splendidly articulated. Thank you.
20
The US has abrogated agreements that the new administration disagreed with. Mr. Trump is acting within the law. And he is right to want a better deal for the USA. I did not vote for Mr. Trump in 2016 but I support what he is doing in foreign policy.
Its appalling how some readers' hatred for Mr. Trump obscures a rational analysis of the facts.
18
No, Mr. Haydn, the US hasn't abrogated agreements that the "new" administration disagreed with. Mr Trump abrogated agreements based on personal vendetta, spite, and a well-documented policy of economic nationalism and isolation promoted by Bannon, Miller and the rest of the sycophant chorus standing in for "White House aides". The US made those agreements in good faith, after careful measured deliberation; representative of the will of the people, under the leadership of previous presidents and elected officials.