Attention Stockholm: Hold off on that Nobel Peace Prize
If there’s a Nobel Fleece Prize, you might consider that.
President Trump has been basking in the glow of his newfound friendship with that North Korean fellow he used to call “Little Rocketman.”
Mr. Trump brags that his “maximum pressure campaign” has humbled Kim Jong Un into putting his nukes on eBay.
A nuclear free North Korea would certainly make the world heave a sigh of relief.
To be sure, Kim Jong Un has shown a willingness to entertain the notion of allowing a thaw in relations between North and South Korea.
When he and South Korean president Moon Jae-in met and did some “maximum” hand-holding last month, they fit together like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
Meanwhile, Trump appeared at one of his pep rallies, where he heard his devotees chant, “No-bel Prize, No-bel Prize, No-bel Prize.”
Trump feigned humility at the sound of those words. (We all know he’s not that good of an actor. He ate it up).
The stage was set for an even more momentous meeting than between Kim and Moon.
A Kim and Donald handshake would, after many months of nasty verbal exchanges between the two, go a long way toward solidifying that both men are, well, adults.
To boost the prospects of a meeting of the minds, North Korea released three Americans who’d been jailed as political prisoners.
There’s even a planned summit next month in Singapore, in which they can engage in endless photo opportunities.
Except their plan has hit a snag.
Trump’s goal all along has been to have North Korea abandon its nuclear ambitions.
Or, as they say, a complete denuclearization, in which Kim would oversee a complete dismantling of North Korea’s nukes.
Trump, the self-proclaimed master dealmaker, has hinted that Kim is prepared to accept denuclearization without giving him much more than a Netflix subscription.
Well, that’s not going to happen.
Last week, Kim proved he’s at least as good at making deals as Trump.
He’s threatening to pull out of that planned summit.
The word out of North Korea was that there’ll be no talks if the United States keeps up its “one-sided” demands for nuclear disarmament.
Trump should have paid some attention to the tortured history between the United States and North Korea.
Since the 1990’s, there’s been a steady stream of negotiations, promises, then broken promises, then halted negotiations involving North Korea and its desire to have nuclear weapons.
But Trump appears to only care about history when that history deals only with Donald Trump.
While the world has been hopeful that a meeting between the two leaders would ease tensions, many foreign policy experts have shown caution.
They certainly know North Korea’s history.
That’s not to say that a meeting and a deal won’t happen.
If those things do take place, it would be a good thing for this country and for the rest of the world.
And Mr. Trump would deserve some (not all) credit for it.
After North Korea balked at the June 12 meeting, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Fox News, “The president is ready if the meeting takes place. And if it doesn’t, we will continue the maximum pressure campaign that has been ongoing.”
Perhaps nobody in the Trump administration knows Kim Jong Un keeps his eyes on statements coming out of the White House. And he isn’t buying that “maximum pressure campaign” stuff.
And he’s probably determined not to become putty in the hands of the American president.
Trump is slowly learning that he simply can’t wave a wand and make things happen.
In April 2017, when he’d only been in office for about 100 days, he told an interviewer from Reuters, “I loved my previous life. I had so many things going. This is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier.”
It would be easier, though, having the knowledge that historically presidents have had to make tough decisions – without employing wishful thinking.
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter and anchor for Entertainment Tonight and 20-year TV news veteran. Email him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.