Do we pay attention to anyone else besides Donald Trump? On the record comments from anyone in the administration are quickly followed by the thought bubble: Yeah, but what does Trump think? And now, the dangerous game of negotiating with a North Korean madman as a government of one.
Chinese President XI XINPING and I spoke at length about the meeting with KIM JONG UN of North Korea. President XI told me he appreciates that the U.S. is working to solve the problem diplomatically rather than going with the ominous alternative. China continues to be helpful!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 10, 2018
The Washington Post headlines Trump as his own diplomat, negotiator, and strategist.
- “Over the past six weeks, the Trump administration’s roster of Korea experts, already depleted, grew even thinner. The White House mysteriously dropped its choice for ambassador to Seoul. The State Department’s top North Korea specialist resigned. And the senior Asia director at the National Security Council was out the past two weeks on paternity leave.
- “But when a high-level South Korean delegation arrived at the White House on Thursday afternoon for two days of meetings over the North Korea threat, one person swooped in to fill the vacuum: President Trump.”
Does Trump trust no one? Or does he just want the spotlight? From The New York Times this morning, word that Trump may have gotten ahead of himself:
- “With all the potential traps and internal misgivings, some officials said they believed the chances of a meeting between the two leaders actually happening were less than 50 percent.
- “Mr. Trump’s decision stunned allies and his own advisers, not least Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, who was caught unaware while traveling in Africa when the president accepted Mr. Kim’s invitation.
- “Mr. Tillerson’s lack of involvement in the announcement underscored how marginalized the State Department has become in North Korea policy. The department’s chief negotiator on the North, Joseph Yun, resigned from the Foreign Service last week.”