If there’s anything Donald Trump likes more than praise, it’s more praise. With the hungriest, and most fragile, ego in North America, Trump lives to hear those rally crowds chanting his name. And perhaps the only thing that would be even more satisfying, is if all those Trump doubters had to swallow their pride and admit that Trump had accomplished something genuinely good. Forever ever, and ever and ever. Trump thinks that North Korea is that thing.
The big picture: He came into office thinking he could be the historic deal maker to bring peace to the Middle East. He’s stopped talking about that. There’s very little point. The peace deal looks dead and cremated. But Trump wants to sign his name even larger into the history books, and he views North Korea as his moment.
The problem with the Middle East peace deal is that Donald Trump actually got involved in the Middle East. He and hench-son-in-law Jared demonstrated their singularly block-headed version of tough negotiating by taking everything off the table before negotiations even began and handing it to one side. While they were at it, they managed to destabilize whole new swaths of the Middle East—giving encouragement to a coup among princes in Saudi Arabia, public approval to a blockade of US-ally Qatar, and managing to make the situation in Syria even more confusing.
But, as Axios reports, Trump isn’t done making history.
Sources close to him say he genuinely believes he — and he alone — can overcome the seemingly intractable disaster on the Korean Peninsula.
Trump wants his name in the history books. Now all we can hope is that those “books” won’t be delivered via fireside presentation in the traditional Beyond Thunderdome style.
If Trump can’t get a statue out of his meeting with Kim, then he’s not going.
Speaking to reporters during an appearance with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump said of the meeting with Kim "If we don’t think it’s going to be successful ... we won’t have it."
Which is something Trump might have negotiated in advance, had he not been more interested in grabbing headlines by an immediate acceptance of Kim’s offer for a meeting. For Kim Jong-un, the idea that Trump agreed to the meeting and only then began piling on conditions might be frustrating—if Kim actually had any concern about the outcome.
For Kim, the meeting is the outcome he wants. He knows he will be in the North Korean history books, because he writes the North Korean history books. Scoring the meeting with a US leader is all he was after. The biggest thing that Kim is likely learning at this point is that it’s absolutely dandy to agree to anything—then not follow through. After all, that’s what Donald Trump is demonstrating to him right now.
Now they just have to solve the when:
In March, South Korean officials announced that Trump had agreed to meet with Kim, the dictator of isolated North Korea. The meeting had been pegged for some time in May, but officials have said it could happen in June.
And the where:
A senior U.S. official told NBC News on Wednesday that a number of locations had already been ruled out, including North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, as well as Beijing and Mongolia, all of which raise security concerns.
Trump will not meet him in a box, he will not meet him with a fox.
But at a rally in downtown Cleveland? That might be perfect. And very historic.