Trump’s handlers are already trying to lower expectations for his Kim Jong Un meeting
There are two schools of thought, both of them valid, as to what’s really going on with the summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. The first is that Vladimir Putin is using his economic control over Kim to deliver a “win” to a desperate Trump, and the whole thing has already been choreographed to go well. The second school of thought is that Kim is taking this meeting just so he can try to humiliate Trump on the world stage. Trump’s own handlers now sound like they think it’s going to be the latter.
Trump’s new economic adviser Larry Kudlow has essentially no understanding of economics, but he’s spent enough time as a television commentator to understand how media punditry works. He just decided to announce that Trump’s spat with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has harmed Trump’s credibility heading into the North Korean summit. Kudlow is demanding that Trudeau apologize to Trump, which Kudlow knows won’t happen. It’s clear that Team Trump is already trying to scapegoat Trudeau for what it worries will be a failed North Korea summit.
Whether it be in politics or sports or any other competitive arena, publicly lowering expectations before the game begins is something you only do if you’re worried that your team won’t meet those expectations. Considering that most observers are expecting Trump to come away from the North Korea summit with very little even if he does strike a deal, expectations are already rock bottom. Kudlow is the worst “economist” of all time, but he knows how to deal with the media, and he’s lowering expectations for a reason.
As Palmer Report has already spelled out, most of the mainstream media will be looking for any excuse to hand Donald Trump an arbitrary “win” on his North Korea summit, so that it can avoid coming off as one-sided against Trump in general. But Trump’s goon Kudlow sounds like he thinks Trump won’t even be able to clear that bar. Does he know something we don’t?
