Hmm...this thread isn't going so well. Can we please cut down on insinuations on fellow gbatemp members? The last two pages are more clickbait than anything about the meeting or even Korea.
Regardless of what your view on President Trump is, the road is being paved for North Korea to come out of isolation and stop killing and starving its people.
Honestly, Trump could ban guns, create universal healthcare, free college education, promote gender fluidity, and I’m pretty sure you’d still bitch and moan incessantly.
Why can’t you be objective here? Much is to be gained for the interest of world peace. Is he an asshole? Yes. Is he divisive? Yes. But this is an accomplishment regardless. As it pans out, the Doomsday Clock gets pushed farther back. How is that bad?
There's a lot to be said for this. I'm probably about as skeptic as
@Xzi or
@Old on what actually happened, but regardless of personal views or even personal agenda's of either side, this could indeed be a good thing in the end. And I'm sure no one will contest that the current political climate is better than when they were throwing war calling tweets at each other.
My local newspaper ran an interesting piece comparing this meeting between the ones between Reagan and Gorbatsjov, or between Nixon and Mao Zedong. These meetings also started a shift in the political situation between the US and the USSR/China. Be it for the better or for the worse (the USSR crumbled, China...is still slowly rising from isolation). It's that "better or worse" that makes this an important one.
Because...*sigh*...what will be the follow-up of this? It's not hard to guess that Trump wants to use this as a prime example of actual presidency (with right and reason, btw). But even if he was the most popular president ever, the press still would have the task to check things in another light. And point out things like...
-the fact that Kim backed out of earlier promises of de-nuclearisation
-those attempts were made with long preparations, strict planning and diplomacy (pretty much the opposite of Trump's known "I'll know within five minutes" approach)
-this deal was pretty much made by North Korea before it was agreed by Donald Trump (it's even unclear to what degree even his administration had any say on the matter)
-the deal leaves many blanks and uncertainties. Heh...the only concrete thing I (or rather: my news sources) can make of it is a reduction of US war games with South Korea. And it looks like S.Korea wasn't even informed of this decision
-in the end, it'll be the nuclear experts - who currently aren't allowed in the country yet - who can truly say something about actual, factual
diminished nuclear power of North Korea...but it's silent even about them
So...all in all, these ingredients point to something that can easily blow up in at least Trump's face. During mid-terms, or even in November...you can guarantee that the democratic opposition will put heavy question marks with those achievements. And unless Kim
says something stupid (as opposed to, say...just keep his nuclear arsenal and act like he's co-operating). Trump will either have to believe his opposition (erm...not really likely, given the track record) or ally with what's basically an enemy against a part of the American population.