President Donald Trump kicked off Sunday morning with a pair of tweets, including one attacking NBC News’ “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd. The president’s tweet exposes once again the fact that he has over-sold his negotiating skills.
Trump positioned himself as the “Art of the Deal” author who is a great businessman and great negotiator. All of that has been proven false, with his stunning inability to pass almost all of the key legislation he wanted.
On Sunday, he revealed just how incompetent he is.
“Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd of Fake News NBC just stated that we have given up so much in our negotiations with North Korea, and they have given up nothing,” Trump tweeted. “Wow, we haven’t given up anything & they have agreed to denuclearization (so great for World), site closure, & no more testing!”
Here’s the clip of Chuck Todd Trump refers to:
It’s disturbing Trump does not realize all he’s given up to the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
First, he’s given Kim what he craves the most: legitimacy. Trump has done this by agreeing to meet he with no planning, negotiating, or pre-conditions.
Second, he has given Kim the attention he craves, by repeatedly attacking him as “Little Rocket Man” and repeatedly threatening him. Those threats are exactly what Kim needed politically to legitimize the “need” for his nuclear program.
Third, Trump has become Kim’s mouthpiece, literally quoting him in a tweet Friday night verbatim, without questioning the veracity of his statements. By doing so, Trump again legitimized a brutal dictator, and shown he will believe anything Kim says.
As Chuck Todd notes, North Korea is holding three U.S. citizens captive, and Trump has not used their release as a condition for talks. And Kim has not pledged to totally denuclearize his country.
Kim announced he would stop nuclear testing because the testing phase is concluded – not as a gift to Trump, who does not understand the difference. And experts say Kim’s announcement he will no longer use the testing site could be because it’s no longer useable.
Trump has given up many bargaining chips weeks ahead of his meeting with the North Korean dictator. And what’s worse is he doesn’t even realize it.