THAT SILVER TONGUED DEVIL JUST SLIPPED FROM THE SHADOWS

The world’s greatest negotiator got played like a fiddle in Singapore, and not just by the North Korean dictator. 

It was pathetically easy for Kim Jong-un to leverage Donald Trump’s vanity into a diplomatic triumph.  North Korea gave up basically nothing while Trump agreed to a significant reduction in American military presence.  All it took was a little sweet talk from the North Korean dictator.  “He said openly that no other president could have done this.” 

That was enough for Trump.  He even threw in a lagniappe.  He legitimized NK’s hereditary dictatorship by praising Kim Jong-un as "A talented man who loves his country very much. An honor to meet him."

Kim loves his country so much that he keeps a network of prison gulags to house any NK citizen who is foolish enough not to love him back.  Public executions of his political enemies only serve to deepen those bonds of affection.  Mass starvation never fails to win friends and influence people.

But the Trump-Kim love affair was predictable.  Trump has never met a dictator he hasn’t liked.  It’s the democratically elected leaders in Canada and Europe that he can’t abide. 

But the cream of the jest was the presence of Dennis Rodman at the summit.  Rodman was an eccentric but effective basketball player in the 80s and 90s, but he’s spent most of the last twenty years racking up arrests (DUIs, including one late last year, and physical assaults on women) and making a fool of himself.  This week, he made a fool of Donald Trump. 

On May 7, 2014, Trump mocked Rodman in this tweet: “Dennis Rodman was either drunk or on drugs (delusional) when he said I wanted to go to North Korea with him. Glad I fired him on Apprentice!”

Trump may well have been right about Rodman's sobriety.  But four years later, Rodman got the last laugh.  Donald Trump went with him to North Korea.  Maybe Rodman will be our first ambassador to Pyongyang.  Unless Trump decides to make him Secretary of State.