Kim Jong Un Is Back to Threatening the United States
by Susan Wright Read Profilearrow_right_alt
 U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un at the Capella resort on Sentosa Island Tuesday, June 12, 2018 in Singapore. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
I’m stunned! Stunned, I tell you!
Imagine waking up in a world where a leader who starves his people, has his family members assassinated, has generals killed with flamethrowers for “attitude crimes,” and routinely has Christians imprisoned, raped, tortured, and killed for their faith isn’t the “great guy” our president has claimed him to be.
The object of Donald Trump’s lavish praise and declarations of loving affection didn’t get less awful or monstrous. He’s still the same godless tyrant. The difference now, however, is that he’s tired of playing games with our gullible, easily duped commander-in-chief, and we seem to be back into “little Rocket Man” and the U.S. as a sea of ash and flame territory.
Early in Donald Trump’s administration he challenged the diminutive despot of the rogue nation. The two traded insults and barbs over social media like 14 year old girls. To say their relationship was adversarial would be an understatement.
Our president coined the schoolyard nickname for Kim Jong Un, “little Rocket Man,” and Kim, in return, brought the word “dotard” to widespread attention, in referencing Trump.
“Dotard,” for those who haven’t looked it up, refers to an old person whose physical and mental capabilities have declined.
Trump, in his eagerness to be seen as making “historical” moves went against what has long been U.S. policy towards North Korea and set up a summit with Kim in June 2018, to be held in Singapore.
The goal was to talk about ongoing U.S. sanctions against the nation, as well as an easing of Kim’s nuclear ambitions.
Nothing of real consequence was accomplished, although Trump did agree to several concessions to appease Kim.
[ I think its obvious Putin ordered Trump to make those concessions. Trump dismissed intel that Kim was still missile testing and said "I don't care, I believe Putin." Even Trump isn't that stupid. ]
Other than that, he did what no other U.S. president was willing to do: Give the tyrant legitimacy on the world stage.
From there, it was love letters and roses, with Trump turning off his ire, to replace it with gushing praise.
Kim wrote him “beautiful letters.”
Trump stood before a rally crowd and announced that he and Kim had “fallen in love.”
Meanwhile, report after report emerged, confirming that North Korea had made no moves to stop their pursuit of nuclear weapons, and in fact, had began rebuilding their nuclear facilities.
Undeterred, another summit for February 2019 was arranged, to take place in Vietnam.
Those talks broke down, with Trump walking away from the table.
That was the right thing to do, in a long line of the absolutely wrong things – such as giving a tyrant such legitimacy, in the first place.
So here we are, and Kim Jong Un has taken off the mask. He’s likely not sending Donald Trump any beautiful letters, right now.
What he’s doing is resuming his threats.
In his first public comments stating North Korea’s position on the second U.S.-North Korea summit that collapsed without any agreement in February, Kim said he wants to create a self-supporting economy “so as to deal a telling blow to the hostile forces who go with bloodshot eyes miscalculating that sanctions can bring [North Korea] to its knees.” Shin Beom-chul from the Asian Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul interpreted the comments for Reuters, explaining: “He’s saying North Korea would take an independent course unless the U.S. offered to lift sanctions. You maintain sanctions, you’re a hostile force; if you ease sanctions, you’re not.”
I guess he just couldn’t stomach portraying a Trumpian love interest for another day.
Meanwhile, President Trump’s acquiescence for so many months has forced the hand of South Korea and China, putting them in a position where they must now balance on eggshells to work with the unstable regime, as it pertains to the nuclear threat.
There was never a chance of a good outcome from the Trump-Kim love affair because neither went into it with honest motives.
Kim wanted more power, a lifting of sanctions, in order to further pursue his nuclear ambitions.
Trump wanted the adoration of the press, to see his name connected to a historical event. He wanted his ego stroked.
In it all, there was only one who knew this was a game, and he played it until it was no longer in his interest to play.
I’ll let you figure out who that was.
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