Trump grumbles North Korea deal not earning wide praise

President Donald Trump says his deal with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un will save tens of millions of people from a potential nuclear war. Now he just has to get everyone else on board.

Frustrated with lukewarm backing from congressional Republicans, criticism from Democratic opponents and skepticism from allies and the media, Trump made a stop on the North Lawn of the White House to promote his agreement with Kim and challenge the blowback that it’s vague and lacking in clear objectives.

The surprise appearance on “Fox & Friends,” last week followed by a combative round of questions with reporters, came days after Trump returned from the Singapore summit expecting a hero’s welcome and tweeting that the world now could “sleep well.”

Trump, who prides himself as a master deal-maker, feels the agreement represents a major step toward solving an intractable foreign policy problem. He has been grumbling that not everyone agrees.

Trump’s frustrations are all the more notable now during the honeymoon phase of the deal, when goodwill has yet to be tempered by reality.

The U.S. goal of complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization, even in the most optimistic case, probably will take years — and that’s assuming North Korea won’t violate the accord, as it has every previous nuclear agreement. The president is facing questions about his public embrace of Kim and the North Korean’s autocratic leadership style, including what Trump said was a joke about the obedience of the autocratic Kim’s advisers. Trump said he was doing what is necessary for peace.

The joint statement signed this past week by Trump and Kim promises they will work toward a denuclearized Korean Peninsula, but includes no details on how or when weapons might be eliminated or even reduced.

Trump emerged from the meeting convinced that he could sell the vaguely worded deal, as evidenced by his hour-plus new conference in Singapore immediately after their session.