In a Daily Beast column titled “Art of the Moron,” Republican Strategist Wilson writes a merciless analysis of the summit, saying it was absurd for Trump call it a victory by pointing to a joint statement signed by the United States and North Korea that didn’t mention any way to verify that North Korea is dismantling its nuclear weapons program.
“Russia, Iran, Syria, and other bad actors want to thank you, Mr. President,” he writes. “You sent the clearest of signals that sanctions regimes, inspections, and verified denuclearization are no longer relevant in our brave new era of nationalist populist strongmen and Michael Bay knockoff videos.”
Ouch.
Let’s recall that Trump is the same person who walked straight into international consensus, and blew it up over the Iran deal, which Trump determined to not be “good enough,” pulling out because he knew how to get a better deal. The Iran deal had international nuclear inspectors on the ground with unfettered access to anywhere they wanted to go! North Korea made a promise, its fourth in the last 20 years, to end its program. Which is the better deal?
Wilson went on to note that “autocrats all over the world now know that they just have to kiss your ample ass long enough and shower you with enough superficial praise and they can play you like the trifling intellectual lightweight you most certainly are.”
But, the most devastating line in the entire column is perhaps the shortest and simplest, Gates warns that Trump has set his cultists up for a major letdown when North Korea does as it always does, which is ignore that the entire thing happened, generally kidnap away some more Americans, and start saber rattling one more time, in order to win more concessions from ill-prepared negotiators like Trump.
