Summit shakes up politics

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s a whole new ballgame.

With the signing of a peace pledge between North Korea and the United States – predicated on the eventual denuclearization of the Korean peninsula – President Donald Trump has, for the first time, asserted himself as, well … a president.

With the accord, the president triumphantly returns home with a feather in his cap rivaling the significance of President Nixon’s historic visit to China.

Details still need to be worked out – and admittedly, the devil is always in the details – but if the agreement is ultimately pulled off, the entire scope of the American political landscape may change.

The seemingly unstoppable Democratic tidal wave that was to hit this fall may well get dammed up and become merely a trickle. To be sure, many factors will determine the outcome of the crucial November elections – and five months is an eternity in politics, so anything can happen – but the Korean agreement goes a long way to helping the GOP maintain its congressional majorities.

To be clear, no issue comes close to providing as much political benefit to Mr. Trump’s party than a peace accord with North Korea. In the history of the nuclear age, no leader had ever directly threatened the United States with open nuclear war – until North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did just that, on multiple occasions. Unlike some leaders who are all bluster and no substance, Kim proved his resolve by developing nuclear weapons, and their all-important delivery systems, much faster than anticipated.

Making matters considerably more grave, it turned out that Kim’s nuclear program possessed a degree of sophistication that caught our intelligence agencies embarrassingly off-guard.

The unthinkable – an intercontinental ballistic missile that could legitimately hit not just Hawaii and Alaska but virtually anywhere in the United States – was proven by Kim to be feasible, as his launches demonstrated. It was a feat thought impossible, but Kim shocked the world with his technical prowess and, more so, his seeming willingness to follow through on threats.

In a world of boisterous leaders who talk a good game against America but either can’t or won’t pull the trigger, Kim’s earnestness to launch if he felt boxed-in was as real as it gets.

Bottom line: Nothing else matters if an American city gets nuked, as our entire way of life would irreparably change. Realizing that Americans were living in the most dangerous time since the Cuban missile crisis, Mr. Trump has taken huge steps to mitigate, and ultimately possibly eliminate, the Korea nuclear threat. There is nothing more “America First” than that.

American policy toward North Korea has remained virtually unchanged in 60 years, no matter which party was in control. And it has been an abject failure, as North Korea’s ever-emboldened actions have inarguably demonstrated (culminating in its successful ICBM program). So what is the harm in trying something different? Why criticize the president for engaging in that all-important aspect of human communication – talking face to face? What are the worst things that could have happened? Kim could have blown off the meeting or made outrageous demands, both of which would have placed us back exactly where we were, and have been, for decades: Square one. But at least the president could say he tried.

In attempting a peaceful diplomatic solution, Mr. Trump’s efforts may have potentially saved millions of lives on both sides.

A victory like this can pay huge dividends not just for country and party, but for the man himself. Donald Trump looked more presidential than he ever has, and not just because he held an unprecedented summit.

He looked comfortable and confident, like he had finally morphed from a reality-TV star occupying the Oval Office to America’s true commander-in-chief.

One summit doesn’t make a president, and the big question is if Mr. Trump will revert to his alienating ways.

However, if his tweets stay on the issues (a big if) and if he continues to act more presidential (another big if), while not changing who he is, Donald Trump stands to win over a significant bloc who desperately want a reason to be his supporter.

And to think it would take the North to help refloat a presidency that had gone south.

If Mr. Trump can make the peace accord stick, his approval rating may just go … nuclear.