Baffled and concerned

Some people are just a tiny bit curious about Trump’s hostility to South Korea and warm affection for its neighbor to the north.

South Korea’s president said Tuesday a solid alliance with the United States underpins national security, after U.S. President Donald Trump’s abrupt order to “substantially reduce” joint military exercises left many many South Koreans baffled and concerned.

Trump made the surprise announcement in a social media post just before U.S. and South Korean soldiers began Monday’s annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, which are largely designed to sharpen readiness against North Korean threats.

Trump cited what he said was a good relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korea’s refusal to join the U.S. war against Iran.

Which is so Trump. He thinks he has “a good relationship” with Kim Jong Un (which of course he doesn’t: Kim is playing him like a fiddle) and that the imagined “relationship” with the boss is all there is to relations between the two countries. He’s mentally a child, and that child gets younger and dimmer every day.

Trump’s move was apparently taken without consultations with South Korea and meant to reach out to Kim, deepening concerns about the reliability of the U.S.-South Korean alliance forged in the turmoil of the 1950-53 Korean War.

That is, concerns about Trump’s understanding of that alliance and what his dimwitted understanding will prompt him to do.

A weakening of the U.S. defense commitment could shake South Korea’s national security as it has no nuclear weapons and is under the U.S. “nuclear umbrella” protection, which guarantees a devastating American response in the event of an attack on its ally by nuclear-armed North Korea. The U.S. has about 28,500 troops in South Korea.

Confidence in the U.S. has already eroded among many South Koreans because of Trump’s tariff war and last year’s immigration raid in the U.S. state of Georgia that led to the detention of hundreds of South Korean workers.

…

In his social media post, Trump said the military exercises with South Korea are not only costly but “send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea, which he said “has been unthreatening and respectful” during his time in the White House.

By which he means Kim Jong Un has pretended to be his buddy and he’s stupid enough to believe the pretending.