Trump's Pointless Election Stunt In Korea

Does anyone count Trump’s stunt at the DMZ for anything more than a re-election ploy? Trump couldn’t pull the wool over the eyes of the guys at Politico this time! Blake Hounshell and Dan Lippman saw right through him. Historic? OK, he was the first U.S. president— if he’s actually a U.S. president— to plat his tootsies on North Korea soil. And that well scripted theatrical gesture means?

It was a made for TV moment for the reality show-groomed president [and his reality show-addicted moron base back home] that unfolded at the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. Trump approached the border from the south, while Kim approached from the north. The two met at the line demarcating the two countries, grinned and shook hands.

“It’s good to see you again,” Kim said through an interpreter. ‘I never expected to meet you in this place.”

“Big moment,” Señor Trumpanzee said. “Big progress.”

Big progress for who? A photo op for a Trumpanzee and a nuclear arsenal for a tyrant?

Trump said Kim then asked him he would like to cross into North Korea. Trump said he would be honored and waddled about 20 steps into the country.”

…It’s hard to imagine any other president taking a bold step like this, let alone warmly embrace a third-generation tyrant who starves and imprisons his own people. But Trump has silenced the doubters within his own party, while Democrats have largely embraced his diplomatic efforts with Kim because they’d rather he try that than threaten ye olde fire and fury.

It remains to be see, of course, whether Kim is simply using Trump to advance his own agenda, or whether he genuinely believes, as he said today, “we want to bring an end to the unpleasant past and try to create a new future.” Even Trump sometimes seems aware of this; as he put it, “It’s just a step. It might be an important step, it might not.”

Trump also said, per pooler Jerome Cartillier of AFP, that he “would certainly extend the invite” to Kim Jong Un to the White House. Even with real progress on denuclearization-- which we haven’t seen yet-- that would probably be too much for most members of Congress.” [Whatever that means.]

Two questions: Had Kim kidnapped the orange-hued ape, would Americans have favored paying the ransom-- or paying Kim to keep him? And does Trump ever do anything to benefit the U.S. or is every single little thing just to benefit himself? We all know the answer to both questions. Oh... you're  not 100% certain? Maybe the latest polling from Ipsos (last week) will help you figure it out. Only 33% of registered voters feel the country is headed in the right direction (and only 28% of independent voters feel it is). Only 41% of registered voters approve of the job Trump is doing; (36% of independent voters approve).