Donald the diplomat?

THE task has defeated silver-tongued diplomats for decades. But as Donald Trump agrees to meet Kim Jong-un, is it just possible that this much-mocked US president may succeed, where they failed, in easing North Korea’s threat to peace?

This paper is certainly counting no chickens – and we stand fully by our reservations about the narcissistic, maverick occupant of the White House.

But helpful pressure from China aside, isn’t it at least arguable that Mr Trump’s intemperate language and swaggering displays of military force may be getting through to a weakened Korean dictator?

Indeed, it could yet prove a mistake to underestimate this president, whose deeds – including his job-boosting tax reforms – have so far appeared considerably wiser than his early-morning tweets.

The Mail will only observe that you have to go back 30 years to find an American president who was as widely ridiculed by the West’s liberal Establishment. His name was Ronald Reagan – chiefly remembered now as the winner of the Cold War.

It is far too soon to suggest Mr Trump will also confound his bien-pensant critics. But let’s judge him by results.