Swaggering Trump and pop-eyed Kim shook hands like prizefighters at a weigh-in
AS DONALD Trump signed his accord, the thick-tipped pen made a sawing sound. Carpenter at work. The US President’s signature is, for a man thought so unpredictable, a work of rhythmic, spiky order. Like a picket fence.
Beside Mr Trump at the Singapore ceremonial table, North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un moved his own pudgy right hand briskly across the official certificates. He left an intriguing mark. To western eyes it may have an almost artistic quality – the trail a skittering blackbird leaves in snow.
No matter what the agreement may eventually signify, this Trump-Kim encounter had riveting swagger. Things moved so fast. They felt unrehearsed. Proceedings had an edge too often missing from summits. A lesson for our own politicians: if you want to engage the public’s attention, move fast and let the topshots use some of the drama of high office.
There was a sense of raw power, of great events being decided on the say of two tricky individuals. That may all come undone – Mr Trump later said, ‘I may be wrong, though I’m not sure I’ll ever admit that!’ – but in the theatre of the moment it felt monumental.
‘It’s a very important day in world history,’ - jawed the US President. We are e used to him talking big; for once it was s maybe justified. THEY had begun with a 12-second - handshake, in profile e before the red, white and blue e of US and North Korean flags. s. Prize-fighters at a weigh-in greet each h other this way, though no heavyweight-boxing purse will ever match the stakes here: the safety of millions of people in n the two Koreas.
‘A lot of goodwill went into this,’ said d Mr Trump in his man-of-destiny voice. e. He would later concede that a lot of ‘rhetoric’, much of it aggressive, had in fact gone into the diplomatic manoeuvres which preceded yesterday’s thaw in relations. This was a summit born of wild insults. Tantrums can work. If you want to get things done, it helps to smash a few plates. You have to slice through officialdom’s thick, subcutaneous caution.
More than once, Mr Trump placed a guiding hand round the shorter, rounder, younger Kim. This is an old trick to show who’s the daddy. The North Korean, in black Mao- style suit, let his red-tied American counterpart do most of the talking. He’s good at that, Donald. Kim’s voice, when we heard it, was gruff, the bark of a smoker. Mr Trump was in sales mode, assuring everyone ‘it’s been be fantastic’ and that the th accord was ‘pretty comprehensive’ co and that he had not expected things th to go so well. ‘ ‘C Congratulations!’ he told to the Press. Seconds before he and Chairman Kim pushed nibs to paper, Mr Trump sa said ‘ okay!’, like someone o about to take the fi first serve in a procelebrity c tennis match. Did Kim look a bit p pop- eyed? Arriving for lunch, Mr Trump T told photographers phers to m make sure their snaps made the leaders look ‘nice and handsome and thin’. The TV lens swung to Kim and caught him slightly open-mouthed. Disgruntled by this allusion to his girth? Or baffled by alien self-deprecation? That open mouth may simply be the default of his beaver chops. Boys and their toys: outside, the two leaders were passing Mr Trump’s vast armoured limo, known as The Beast. You wanna see my car? I’ll show you my car. One of the American security guys opened the Beast’s rear door to show the interior to Mr Trump’s new buddy.
‘He was really very gracious,’ said Mr Trump at a news conference two hours later. Sometimes he loathes talking to the Press. This time he was full of banter. ‘It is my honour to address the people of the world,’ drawled modest Don. He described Kim as someone who was ‘tough’. But ‘I don’t say he was nice’. As for North Korea? ‘Great beaches. You see that whenever they’re exploding their cannons.’ Imagine them with condominiums, he sighed. ‘Think of it from a real-estate perspective. It’s got great potential.’