Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that Trump would suspend US war games with South Korea before Trump announced it himself at the press briefing. That suggests Kim’s people were on the phone to Beijing straight after the meeting cos they recognized how big a concession it was.
— Paul Danahar (@pdanahar) June 12, 2018
BBC’s Stephen McDonell who heard the Chinese Foreign Ministry announce the suspension of the US/South Korea military exercises hours before Trump did. pic.twitter.com/hgQGUcMlQQ
— Paul Danahar (@pdanahar) June 12, 2018
Transcript: —just expecting your standard response from them, but one was that Beijing knew before Donald Trump announced it that South Korea and the USA were going to suspend their joint military exercises. Now, we know this because the Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that events as they're unfolding in Singapore showed that China's suspension-for-suspension proposal — that the war games would be suspended in exchange for suspending North Korea's nuclear program — was not only the best way forward, but that it had now been realized.
And he announced this — realized? And we were listening to him; what do you mean realized? Then, a couple of hours later, sure enough, Donald Trump comes out and says that, in fact, there was going to be a halt to these regular military exercises that South Korea and the U.S. have. Now either the Trump or the Kim camp has told Beijing that this was going to happen.
[end transcript]
It certainly wasn't Trump, since he hadn't even bothered to tell the Pentagon that this was going to happen.
I legit don't know if Trump even understands that this means he *can't* trust Kim. Or Xi. He seems to believe that they're all honest brokers & everything can be solved w/ a sleepover at Mar-a-Lago, which is a really weird blind spot for a compulsive liar. https://t.co/kVbnfn2v45
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) June 12, 2018
There is a lot going on with Trump that makes him just the absolute fucking worst in this situation. His belief, despite all evidence to the contrary, that he is a terrific negotiator who makes the best deals; his willful ignorance; his atrocious socialization by virtue of being spoiled, having no friends, and surrounding himself with sycophants; his fearfulness; his fatalism; and his gross narcissism.
But one horrendous flaw that I feel is consistently overlooked when discussing Trump's foreign policy approach is that some of this just comes down to his insecurity within basic juvenile clique dynamics. Trudeau and Macron and Merkel were pals with Obama and Clinton, so he's going to get his own friends, dammit.
Which isn't actually separate from his narcissism, of course. The need to feel special is dead center part and parcel of narcissism.
He'll continue to do things that risk this nation's (and others') safety and security because of his need to feel special; his need to try to prove that he is smarter than everyone else.
Maude help us all.
[H/T to Shaker Adam Jones, in comments.]
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