Foreign Policy

“Let it be whatever it is”

Written by SK Ashby

Given that they "fell in love," we could infer that Trump does not care about the brutal human rights atrocities of North Korea and Kim Jong-un himself who has assassinated and executed members of his own family, but Trump made that crystal clear during an appearance on 60 Minutes last night.


STAHL: [Kim Jong-un] presides over a cruel kingdom of repression, gulags, starvation. Reports that he had his half-brother assassinated. Slave labor, public executions. This is a guy you love?

TRUMP: I know all these things. I mean -- I'm not a baby. I know all these things.

STAHL: I know, but why do you love that guy?

TRUMP: Look, look. I get along with him, okay?

STAHL: You said you love him.

Trump: Okay. That's just a figure of speech.

STAHL: No, it's like an embrace.

TRUMP: Well, let it be an embrace. Let it be whatever it is to get the job done.

STAHL: He's a bad guy.

TRUMP: Look, let it be whatever it is. I get along with him really well. I have a good energy with him. I have a good chemistry with him.

That's the president of the United States hand-waving half a century of crimes against humanity because he has "good chemistry" with the current leader of North Korea; a man who has easily played Trump from the very beginning.

You know, Trump's happy talk has already led Russia and China to conclude that they no longer need to enforce sanctions on North Korea regarding their nuclear weapons program, but Trump is close to giving the world reasons not to enforce sanctions for any other reason.

I'm not one of those people who believes the United States should police the world, but what's happening is the United States is serving as an extremely bad example to the world. Brutal regimes could emerge in the coming years not because the United States didn't just not stop them; because Trump encouraged or emboldened them.

By the way, Trump's embrace of Kim Jong-un is not 'getting the job done,' at least not yet. North Korea has not stopped producing nuclear weapons and the country's foreign minister recently stated that they will never unilaterally disarm.