A coupla smart cookies
Trump’s clueless stupidity strikes again:
U.S. President Donald Trump said he would meet with Kim Jong Un amid heightened tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program if the circumstances were right.
“If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honored to do it,” Trump said Monday in an Oval Office interview with Bloomberg News. “If it’s under the, again, under the right circumstances. But I would do that.”
He’d be “honored” to do it. He is such a fucking fool.
Speaking to Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Tuesday, McCain said that Trump’s latest attempts to side with leaders like Kim Jong Un of North Korea were beyond comprehension.
“I don’t understand it, and I don’t think that the president appreciates the fact that when he says things like that, it helps the credibility and prestige of this really outrageous strongman,” McCain said, referring to Kim Jong Un. “I wish the president would consider much more carefully his comments.”
We all wish that, but it’s not a thing that Trump does. He seems to be unable to consider anything carefully, and especially anything that’s about to fly out of his mouth.
Trump sent shockwaves in the national security community after calling Jong Un a “smart cookie” and acknowledging that he would be “honored” to meet with him. To date, no sitting US president has ever held a meeting with a current North Korean leader.
Yeah but Trump’s all mavericky up in there. If it’s a thing no sitting president has done, why, it’s a good thing for Trump to do. No sitting president has called for a government shutdown before? Excellent reason for Trump to be the first!
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright also criticized Trump’s remarks on CNN Tuesday. “A president doesn’t go to a country without any preparation, and ‘honored’ would definitely be the wrong way to discuss somebody who is keeping his people in poverty and starving and control,” Albright said on CNN’s “The Lead.”
Trump doesn’t care about that. He might manage to care about it for a second if Ivanka showed him a photo of a starving North Korean child, but short of that, forget it.
“I think that part of the issue is that President Trump seems to believe that he can have just one-on-one relationships,” Albright said. “And maybe that’s possible in business, but that is not something that is possible as president of the United States.”
Well, it’s not possible for all those other losers, but Trump is SuperPresident!
My husband and I were talking about this last night. We both felt it was a good idea to keep these two away from each other. Two overgrown bullies, both with nuclear arsenals, laughing, jesting about destroying the world, and grabbing whatever they want, whether they are entitled to it or not. (I am deliberately vague here, since I have no idea if Kim has grabbed the same things Trump has grabbed, but they are both people who delight in having the most, while other people do really hard work for starvation wages – and at least in Trump’s case, maybe no wages at all).
I actually don’t have any trouble with Trump talking to Kim. It’s well beyond time for a peace treaty and an end to the Korean War. As Churchill was quoted as saying, “To jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.” And the less heard from Madelaine “We Think the Price Is Worth It” Albright, the better. It’s amazing that Albright and Kissinger still rank among “serious people” worth interviewing.
Sam Day,
I don’t have any trouble with the general idea of a U.S. president meeting with Kim. If I recall correctly, Obama was raked over the coals in the 2008 primary for stating that he would not insist on preconditions to any meeting with the leader of (I think?) Iran. And I think Obama had the better of that argument — to meet with someone doesn’t mean you’re going to offer them a sweet deal, or even any deal.
But this particular president? I’m inclined to agree with iknklast. Although most likely the meeting would be pretty uneventful and Trump would brag about how much Kim liked him, there is that chance that two massive egos clash in a disastrous way. Or Trump gets a dose of what real “fake news” looks like when North Korean media misreports what happened, and goes apeshit.
Let’s do a little thought experiment: Donald Trump, who has no real knowledge of or interest in North Korea—and who has shown no willingness or capacity to learn or to behave diplomatically—goes to talk with Kim Jong Un. What do you imagine the outcome would be? Would thorny issues be resolved? Would progress be made toward reforms and peace? Would we all die beneath a mushroom cloud?
JFC, I do think Trump should learn to
walkcrawl, before he meets the likes of Kim. So far he’s bumbled his way through the first round of congratulatory meetings with world leaders who are America’s friends, allies and major trading/funding partners. Even most of those have raised eyebrows; wild, considering that the primary purpose of the meetings was just to check each other out and say a few polite words in front of a camera.The thought of an unprepared and unskilled Trump leaping into a face to face meeting with one of America’s most intractable foreign policy situations beggars belief. Quite apart from the fact that no world leader should ever give that regime any legitimacy or respect, other than as a nuclear armed state (which of course NK only worked toward to force people to take them seriously).
” If it’s a thing no sitting president has done, why, it’s a good thing for Trump to do.”
You give him too much credit. I don’t think he has any clue of what other presidents have done or not done except for undoing anything and everything Obama has done, and Andrew Jackson and the whole Civil War thing.
Of course, this is exactly what you’d expect from an administration (and an entire strain of thought in the US) that has contempt for the concept of expertise. If Jared Kushner—who has no relevant experience, knowledge, or interest—can be dispatched to solve the Middle East crisis, then why can’t Trump go to Pyongyang to fix North Korea? How hard can it be?
This is the same guy who told us ad nauseam how easy everything was going to be. Rebuilding health care, eliminating ISIS, reinvigorating the manufacturing sector in America. Simple! It’s a wonder no one thought to tackle these things before!
They’re all just lazy. Losers!
Ben: Most likely? Kim Jong Un tells Donnie what a good boy he is, praises his strength of character, and Donnie comes back and says what a great success the meeting was, and not only does nothing get resolved, but NK is further emboldened to lob missiles in the Sea of Japan and otherwise sabre-rattle against SK. South Korea seeks more reliable allies elsewhere in the region, realizing that the U.S. is under the influence of an easily persuaded toddler. Since the NK is backed by China, the most likely candidates would be Japan or Taiwan.
Alternately, Donnie completely muffs it, manages to insult Kim Jong Un, who immediately ratchets up tensions in the area, not merely continuing but actually accelerating the missile testing program. No mushroom clouds for us, but Japan (already experiencing their own nationalist right-wing surge) militarizes in response, as do other nations in the area, making the whole situation more tense and prone to small contretemps. When push comes to shove, Donnie abandons SK, because they “aren’t paying their fair share” of the costs of maintaining the border, NK attempts a move, and thousands die in the resulting conflict (which I do not pretend to have any idea who would win).
Holy fuckballs. The latest quote from the Orange One:
““We will be discussing details of what has proven to be a very difficult situation between Israel and the Palestinians,” Trump said. “Let’s see if we can find the solution. It’s something that I think is, frankly, maybe not as difficult as people have thought over the years. We need two willing parties. We believe Israel is willing. We believe you’re willing. And if you are willing, we are going to make a deal.””
Look at that bolded line.
I take it back. Mushroom clouds are definitely an option.
Freemage, I get the distinct feeling he has no clue whatsoever what the conflict in the Middle East is about, or what the issues are. He thinks he can go in there and ‘negotiate’. He believes he is a grand negotiator, because that’s what’s always been said about him (especially by him), and all it needs is someone who can deal.
This whole Middle East situation is enough of a powder keg already; we throw Trump on that particular fire, and….boom!
Over the last couple of days I have somewhat masochistically dived into some pre-election comment threads of articles by people who grudgingly endorsed Hillary Clinton (such as this piece by Adolph Reed Jr), and I was taken aback by the delusional naïveté on display by the vociferously anti-Clinton comments. They are at least as much to blame as the heartland mouth-breathers for the current catastrophe. I only hope we survive long enough for them to come to rue their decision to hand the White House to a gang of incompetent racists rather than sully their hands voting for a woman with a real shot at the office.
iknklast @11:
See: Trump’s embarrassing temporizing about doing a two-state or a one-state solution, whatever they want, he could go either way.
Yes, that is part of what I was referring to…he just says things based on half heard, barely understood (which means not understood at all), and stuffed into some sort of meat grinder in his brain to come out hamburger when he tries to articulate a thought. At this particular point in history (okay, at any point in history), this is not what this world needs.
Honored? Idiot.
He should talk with him, but this is not a game to meet as many screwed up leaders of the earth as possible as time as president.