My best friend, the mass murderer

It was disgusting to see Donald Trump greeting Kim Jung-Un as his new BFF, saying he was “honored” to be there.

At last, Donald Trump’s done something right: He’s brought the United States back from the brink of war with North Korea and established a new, peaceful relationship with a longtime adversary.

Surely, even Democrats have to applaud the photo of Trump standing alongside North Korea’s Kim Jung-Un at the DMZ and taking those fateful 20 steps into enemy territory. It’s the stuff diplomats dream of. It’s the kind of bold move guaranteed to make its way into the history books.

There’s only one problem. True, Trump’s last-minute, tweet-arranged hook-up with Kim Jung-Un was bold, historic, clever, and colorful: the kind of spectacular photo-op Donald Trump lives for. He even called it “legendary.” But it was also totally meaningless, and potentially very dangerous.

Indeed, it was disgusting to see Donald Trump greeting Kim Jung-Un as his new BFF, shaking his hand and grinning, saying he was “honored” to be there. Remember, Kim’s one of the most brutal, ruthless, murderous dictators on the planet — the son and grandson of murderous dictators. Yet Trump did everything but kiss him on the lips. In fact, it was only last year that Trump told a West Virginia rally about his bromance with Kim: “And then we fell in love, okay? No, really.”

Here’s what the 2014 United Nations Commission of Inquiry said about Trump’s boyfriend: that human rights violations committed by his government included “murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortion, and other sexual violence.” All of which, according to the UN, were “crimes against humanity.”

And those crimes continue today. The UN estimates there are between 80,000 and 120,000 North Koreans, including children, detained as political prisoners for disloyalty to the government. In those prison camps, according to Human Rights Watch, detainees face “meager rations, virtually no medical care, lack of proper housing and clothes, regular mistreatment, including sexual assault and torture by guards, and public executions.”

And all of this is happening under orders of the man Donald Trump calls a “very smart cookie” — the same man who ordered the execution of his uncle, Jang Song-Thaek, in 2013, and followed up with the execution of Thaek’s wife, sons, daughters-inlaw, and grandchildren; the same man who had his half-brother, Kim Jong-Nam, assassinated in 2017. In February 2017, a South Korean think tank reported that Kim Jung-Un had personally ordered the murder of 340 government officials and family members since taking power in 2011.

Does Donald Trump know Kim’s responsible for the murder of more than 340 people? Does he even care? Either way, the photo of Trump and Kim standing side by side is a moral outrage, debasing the honor of the office of president of the United States and everything we stand for.

Now, let’s be honest. In the world of “realpolitik,” sometimes you have to make a deal with the devil. Truman did with Stalin. And that’s okay, as long as we get something out of it. But what has the United States gained toward the goal of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula after now three — yes, THREE — meetings between Donald Trump and Kim Jung-Un? Absolutely NOTHING! North Korea has not destroyed one nuclear weapon, nor one nuclear test site. In fact, they are still making nuclear weapons, and still testing medium-range missiles.

Meanwhile, without agreeing to anything, Kim Jung-Un has achieved everything he could possibly want. He’s not only been welcomed as a major player on the international stage, praised by the president of the United States, and even invited to the White House, but the Trump White House is now reportedly reversing course. It will no longer demand that North Korea destroy all nuclear weapons. It will accept, instead, a nuclear freeze, whereby North Korea only agrees not to build any more nukes. As if you could trust them.

In other words, without gaining any concessions, the Trump administration is ready to officially accept North Korea as a member of the world’s nuclear club, which is something that every president since Bill Clinton, Republican and Democrat, including Donald Trump, has said they would never allow.

You know, maybe Donald Trump’s right, after all. Kim Jung-Un is one “smart cookie.” He may be a cold-blooded killer, but he has certainly played Donald Trump like a violin.

In the end, Trump’s embrace of Kim Jung-Un should come as no surprise. His fling with Kim came just one day after he hosted a breakfast for another murderer: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. You can bet the ranch that Trump never asked MBS about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

Bill Press is syndicated by Tribune Content Agency. His email address is bill@billpress. com.