Donald Trump’s latest surreal stunt won’t buy him much time
Donald Trump, who is unfortunately still choosing to directly engage with and thus legitimize the North Korean regime, announced that he will hold a summit with Kim Jong Un in Hanoi on the 27th and 28th of this month. Since we already know that these summits are almost certainly for show and that they don’t seem to influence the DPRK to hold back on clandestine weapons testing, we can only assume that Trump is doing this for what he perceives as a benefit to his image. His favorability ratings are hanging about as low as his fourth chin and, at least in his mind, a big international summit with a strongman should reap positive feelings for him with his base back home.
Why should he assume this? Well, evidently most American approved of these summits in the past. Here’s the thing: this time, even if this goes well for Trump, the positive effects won’t last.
With investigations mounting now that we finally have a functional House Intel Committee, it’s likely that Trump has already seen his best days in office. With Mueller moving along and with likely indictments coming against Don Jr. and/or Jared Kushner, whatever remains of Trump’s composure (yes, I just suggested that he has some composure) will surely evaporate. This will inevitably result in even lower approval ratings. I imagine he’ll start to seriously consider resigning once his base starts to crack, and I imagine the uncovering of more skeletons and indictment of family will hurry it along that road.
Donald, if someone’s reading you this (because there’s no way you’re reading it), just save the taxpayers some cash and say you can’t make it to Vietnam. Be a fiscal conservative for once. Just phone Kim Jong Un and tell him your bone spurs are acting up and that your doctor prescribed you bed rest and a quart of ice cream. Your other choice is to go to Vietnam and enjoy yourself. And guess what? Just between us, Vietnam doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the US.
Democracy thrives in snarkiness