Tony Burman writes that this past week reminded us of things we already knew about Donald Trump:
We already knew that Donald Trump has a pathological infatuation for dictatorships and the authoritarian leaders who rule them, and a loathing of everything that genuine democracy entails.
But what we learned -- or should have learned -- this week is that Donald Trump is a danger to us all. There are five lessons we should take from the week just passed:
1. Kim is a much better negotiator than Trump:
The overwhelming consensus of nuclear experts is that Kim Jong Un clearly outmanoeuvred the U.S. president. The North Korean leader made fewer concessions than in previous negotiations with the U.S., dating back to the 1990s. He promised only to “work towards the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” – but with no timetable or details. In exchange, not only did he achieve a unique one-on-one summit with the American president — an obsession of the Kim dynasty for decades — but Trump also agreed to Kim’s request that the U.S. cancel joint military exercises with South Korea.
2. Trump stands in awe of North Korea:
Only six months ago, Trump had described North Korea in these terms: “The horror of life in North Korea is complete … Leaders imprison their people under the banner of tyranny, fascism and oppression.” Yet, after the Singapore summit, Trump told the Voice of America that he had this message for North Koreans: “I think you have somebody that has a great feeling for them. He wants to do right by them and we got along really well.”
3. Trump doesn't care about international relations. Everything he does is done for domestic reasons:
Trump made this absurd claim: “There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea. Everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office …” But he showed why this is all about the mid-term congressional elections five months from now: “Honestly, I think (Kim) is going to do these things. I may be wrong. I mean, I may stand before you in six months and say, ‘Hey, I was wrong’. I don’t know that I’ll ever admit that, but I’ll find some kind of excuse.”
4. The Iran Deal -- which Trump just walked away from -- was a much better deal than the one Trump got from Kim:
North Korea has a developed and sophisticated nuclear program, hidden in underground bunkers throughout the country. Nuclear experts estimate it would take years for the process to happen. None of that was reflected in the skimpy two-page Singapore statement written by Trump and Kim. In contrast, nuclear experts point to the detailed, 159-page Iran nuclear deal as a potential model for any North Korea nuclear breakthrough. Of course, this is the deal that Trump has attacked as “the worst deal ever … defective at its core.”
5. The G7 meeting in Quebec was a disaster. Through insults and bullying, Trump injected chaos into the western alliance that he seems to loathe so much.
Coming as it did immediately before his lovefest with Kim Jong Un, the uproar revealed the enormous challenge currently being faced by 21st-century democracies in the Era of Trump. That may be the ultimate warning bell from this historic week.
Kim knows he's dealing with a "dotard." After the past week, the rest of the world now knows that, too.
Image: Politico Europe
