Of all the commentary today, Nick Kristof has the sharpest focus here. President Trump gave more to Kim Jong-Un than any American president has ever given to the Kims and he got nothing tangible in return. Moreover, Trump has injected fresh elements of doubt into U.S. relations with Japan and South Korea by blindsiding them on several moves, such as his decision to halt the annual U.S.-South Korean war games. And he made that decision without consulting with his own Pentagon, it appears.
My best guess is that Trump is so enamored of himself that he believes he can lure other people like Kim into being equally enamored. Why else would he enter such a process without coordinating and without personally developing a depth of understanding of an incredibly complex issue? Trump said he was going to play this decades-old game better than any previous American president. But Kim, like his father and grandfather before him, is a cold-hearted and utterly ruthless gamesman. Trump bamboozled himself into thinking that the force of his personality could alter reality. That’s the ultimate expression of his narcissism.
