TRUMP TV A BIG HIT AGAIN
Summit harkens back to prez’s reality days
It was a televised triumph, a skillfully staged, self-produced version of one of Donald Trump’s successful reality shows.
Except this time the reality was history-making and the stars were a brutal dictator and the leader of the free world.
And just like Trump’s TV shows, the critics hated it. But the audience no doubt ate it up.
Once again the critics and naysayers don’t get it.
The real news of President Trump and Kim Jong Un’s historic meeting was the fact that it took place at all — and didn’t end with either side storming out in a fit.
Of course the meeting was short on specifics — what do you expect from a handshake, a few hours of talks, a nighttime stroll and a nice meal?
Those specifics will be hammered out in the coming months, away from the cameras. Because hammering out specifics doesn’t get good ratings.
But really, what did you expect? Trump is not one to get caught up in details, so for him the summit achieved as much as it possibly could — a place on the world stage, and a grudging acknowledgement that he pulled off something no modern president has been able to achieve.
It was an even bigger PR triumph for Kim, who got to show the world — and more importantly his own people — that he’s no longer an outcast.
“From taking selfies to shaking hands with the leader of free world, I think that gives him a lot of legitimacy,” said Olivia Enos, a policy analyst of Asian Studies at the Heritage Foundation.
Enos said she believes Kim was the big winner of the summit, because he got away with meeting with a U.S. president without getting a condemnation for his horrible human rights abuses.
It’s all part of a charm offensive that began with the Olympics and continued with meetings with South Korea.
“I think all of this was an attempt at sanitizing his public image in the international space,” Enos said.
But let’s not forget the real purpose of the meeting was to calm international fears that the U.S. and North Korea were headed for a nuclear showdown. That showdown has now been averted, at least temporarily, and that’s good news for the world.
But there won’t be any winners out of this unless the talks continue in a meaningful way. Trump needs to continue to put pressure on Kim to give up his nuclear arsenal, and this time add some steps to verify that North Korea is really doing it.
Until those more detailed meetings take place, this summit will go down as a great TV show and just a first step toward a safer world.