The stakes are high, and deadly serious. But Trump disregards facts, advice, and the interests that keep America safe
The Donald Trump-Kim Jong-un show has been picked up for a second season, which will kick off with a live broadcast from Vietnam at the end of February.
The show’s producers and the TV networks were so thrilled with the first season in Singapore in 2018, the sequel was a no brainer. The thrill of the first ever meeting between leaders from the United States and North Korea – and these two leaders at that – merited round-the-clock coverage. The media was blanketed with breathless analysis for weeks on end, and on the day of the main event analysts in capitals across the globe stayed up all night to watch it live. Who could resist?
What will happen in the second season? Will Trump get Kim to give up the nukes? Will Kim keep rebuffing Trump? Will they strike a good deal that breaks the decades-long deadlock? Who knows! That’s why it’s such a guaranteed success – the world will be watching either way!
Trump knows his audience. Progress or no progress, he thinks he controls the narrative. At least these talks aren’t being done in secret, like those talks President Obama’s administration held with Iran that actually secured a deal to prevent Iran from getting a nuke… Those were so boring.
Sarcasm aside, it’s hard to take Trump’s attempt at diplomacy with North Korea (or anyone else, for that matter) seriously, as Trump disregards facts, advice and the interests and norms that keep America safe. But the stakes are high, and deadly serious. On North Korea, the only good alternative to the current path is diplomacy by a more competent president. Alas, that’s not in the cards right now.
So here we are. You go to the negotiating table with the team you have.
And so, as Trump and Kim sit down again to talk about the future of nuclear weapons in North Korea and the fate of Korean peninsula, the question remains: is progress possible?
Maybe.
