When Rhetoric replaces Reason: How to Screw Up a Good Thing

As someone who has been a fervent critic of Donald Trump even before he was elected president, I will surprise everyone by starting off this piece by complimenting him for being able to bring the North Koreans to the negotiating table. While the method he used to do it was highly unorthodox—and dangerous—it achieved a worthy end.

Now comes the follow-on assessment.

If Trump had simply let the outcome of his meeting with Kim Jong-un stand, perhaps making a somewhat anodyne statement about how historic it was and it presaged long and tough negotiations to achieve our ultimate aim of complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, my compliments would stand. But, Donald J. Trump, it seems, will always be Donald J. Trump. It’s always about him, and he cannot seem to resist making little ad hoc remarks that land like the proverbial dog doo in the punchbowl.

Here are a few examples.

“There is no longer a nuclear threat,” he tweeted. You have got to be kidding. Unlike Iran, which had yet to actually develop a weapon, North Korea has several nukes and has tested delivery systems capable of reaching US territory. No threat indeed. Ask the South Koreans or Japanese, and you’ll get a different answer to that question.

“Kim’s a tough guy, but a good negotiator. I trust him. Sure, he’s done some bad things, but so have many others.” WTF! When did we decide the US President was a publicist for Kim Jong-un? Just off the top of my head I can think of three or four diplomatically-worded statements that would’ve been far better than this.

“We’re stopping the war games. They’re provocative.” That’s a big concession on our part; not necessarily one I would completely disagree with, but not done in the way Trump did it. A public announcement, standing next to South Korea’s enemy and having not warned them in advance. Oh, and by the way, using terminology from North Korean propaganda. We call them military exercises, Mr. President, not war games, and they’re meant to strengthen capability for prevention of hostilities, not to provoke. Sheesh!

I could go on and on, but you get the point. Sometimes, it’s a good idea to do what my grandmother used to say, ‘keep your mouth shut.’ It’s certainly not a good idea to say whatever pops into your mind without considering how it plays with multiple audiences, or how it makes you sound.

Just a small piece of advice from the peanut gallery. I, for one, hope the negotiations going forward will yield success. They are going to be long and hard. Unlike a TV reality show, there won’t be retakes, and the stakes are high. A little less reckless rhetoric and a bit more sober reflection would be welcomed at this point.