Trump promotes deal by accepting no quick fix
It may go down in history as an insolvable riddle whether or not Donald Trump was, as he later argued, tripped by a double negative when he exonerated Russia, which allegedly meddled in his country’s 2016 general election that sent him to the White House, when he was expected to condemn it. Amid a furious backlash at home, even accusations of “treason”, the US president explained he had meant to say “wouldn’t” when he said “I don’t see any reason why it would” be Russia that interfered in the US election.
President Trump believes in risk-taking, such as his meetings with foreign leaders less than popular in the American public, and then has cause to lament he is misunderstood.
His meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea leader Kim Jong-un could have potentially defused two of the present-day world’s most damaging standoffs. For that reason alone, they were worth a try.
While it remains unclear how far he can go in thawing the US-Russia relationship, he seems to already be bowing to reality and receding from his earlier boasts about denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. Despite insisting discussions with Pyongyang “are going very, very well”, Trump conceded on Tuesday there is “no time limit”, and “no speed limit” in place.
Trump’s belated acknowledgment may appear embarrassing considering his and his team’s previous remarks that his meeting with Kim was a huge success and denuclearization would start “without delay”, and “very quickly”.
But it is actually good for him to finally come to terms with the complexity of the matter and learn to appreciate the complexities while trying to resolve it. As time goes by, he will learn the “failures” he had seen on his predecessors’ parts may have more to do with the complicated nature of the issues than with the incompetence he has suggested.
Pyongyang’s recent protest against “unilateral and gangsterlike” US demands should have come as no surprise, because Washington has overestimated the Singapore summit’s productive potential. While the meeting materialized and culminated in an optimistically worded joint document, that in no way guarantees the immediate outcomes Trump has anticipated.
The chances are denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will be a considerably long process even if Washington does maintain sufficient, persistent patience and give due consideration to Pyongyang’s needs and requests.
However, it is good to see Trump becoming realistic. He needs to be if he aspires to finally achieve what his predecessors couldn’t.