National Security Adviser John Bolton said that an advantage of the lack of diplomacy ahead of President Trump’s upcoming North Korea summit is that Trump will be able to “size Kim Jong-un up.”
What is the plan for President Trump’s June 12 meeting with Kim Jong-un in Singapore? There doesn’t seem to be much of one.
So says National Security Adviser John Bolton, who explained why this is a good thing on ABC’s This Week Sunday morning.
Bolton told Martha Raddatz that there’s a positive side to forgoing the usual groundwork of diplomacy that go into such high-stakes negotiations.
“I think one advantage of having this meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong-un so soon, in effect, without months and months and months of preparation is that President Trump will be able to size Kim Jong-un up and see if the commitment is real,” he said.
That Trump will be able to discern whether the dictator of a country with a long history of diplomatic deception is bluffing simply by taking the measure of the man is laughable. But the idea that the president’s unique set of skills has accomplished what previous, more cautious presidents could not is now an article of faith on the right. And it’s not completely without merit. Many experts agree that the summit is at least a sign of progress, one that is hard to imagine without Trump’s bluster.
