If you’ve been on the internet lately, you’ve likely been inundated with news of both E3 and Donald Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, as well as Trump administration attacks on health care and more horrible developments for immigration. While it’s just strange, in general, to watch Trump’s North Korea summit play out, let’s take a quick look at the most oddball moments, both important and not so much.
Most importantly, North Korea has wanted such a summit with the United States for a long time, and even some conservatives are confused as to why their peers suddenly see it as a good thing, when they viewed it as a bad idea under President Obama. Sure enough, even Donald Trump has wanted to have this both ways by abandoning the Iran deal agreed to under Obama, saying it was a terrible deal, but signing something much weaker with North Korea, with no timeline or provisions to ensure North Korea sticks to it.
ex-US Ambassador to North Korea Chris Hill on summit outcome: “Forgettable. joint statement weaker than any previous one since 1992. There is no way forward, no roadmap, no diplomatic strategy.”
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) June 12, 2018
Really, this is all about a photo op for Donald Trump. He’s claimed to be the greatest deal-maker in the world and promised to use that to solve problems in international relations, and whether or not there’s any substance to the agreement he signed with North Korea, he’ll proclaim victory, and a lot of people will believe him. He even stood up in front of the press and said he could be wrong and it could all amount to nothing, “jokingly” saying he’d still never admit it and would find “some kind of excuse” instead.
You can read the text of their agreement for yourself, but while it mentions denuclearization, it’s noticeably short on specificity. The entire document can pretty much be summed up as saying, “We’re friends now.” Meanwhile, Trump has said that the U.S. will be stopping joint military exercises with South Korea, which is a pretty large concession.
Although—again, oddly—this was apparently news to South Korea, and Trump pulled his usual tactic of complaining that our allies aren’t paying their fair share for defense. Human rights abuses also only came up “relatively briefly,” according to Trump, which were supposedly important to him not so long ago.
Things only get weirder from there. Apparently, the Trump administration prepared a movie trailer-style video for the summit, which featured exactly the kind of pandering to ego that you’d expect Trump to assume is what everyone wants. Although, in this case, he may have found someone enough like him for it to work. You can watch the whole thing below, complete with a seemingly fake production company name attached and voiceover that promises the two men can change the world:
If that’s not enough for you, Noted Friend of North Korea Dennis Rodman appeared on CNN, hawking cryptocurrency and wearing a MAGA hat, to discuss the summit:
Speaking with CNN’s @chriscuomo while wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, former NBA star @dennisrodman describes his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his hopes for the country https://t.co/oaMBT2GQ3n pic.twitter.com/YjNf7ZI9Ky
— Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) June 12, 2018
And all of that comes after the commemorative coin debacle that kicked the whole thing off, which I can’t help but think was part of Trump’s desire to rush things ahead and have the summit today, rather than hold off and try to get something of substance together. It’s been around for a while now, but a commemorative coin was created for the summit back when it was in its early stages, complete with the June 12 date, which was thrown into question when the summit was abruptly called off not so long ago.
This very weird coin Trump commissioned helps explain how the North Korea summit has gone completely off the rails https://t.co/KagCMXuugw pic.twitter.com/70suuUeE7O
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) May 21, 2018
Then, the media got word that, even if the summit were to take place, June 12 would be too soon to put it together, and that information apparently came from a source within the White House. Trump, of course, felt challenged and immediately called it “fake news,” despite a recording of the remarks existing. Whether or not the information was true, it was told to the media by the White House and was very much real news. Any inaccuracy was on the part of the administration. And so, the summit came together on that date anyway, and now Donald Trump gets to act like the media is purposefully lying about him, while simultaneously making excuses that some good things that will totally happen aren’t in the deal because there wasn’t time.
(image: 20th Television)
But hey, at least that coin is accurate now.
(image: Win McNamee/Getty Images)
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