Friday, March 09, 2018

I'll believe it when I see it

Even the young liberals in my office are abuzz:


Can Trump pull a rabbit out of his ass where others have failed? I have my doubts. We've done this dance before; we've been, many times, in the role Charlie Brown, forever trying to kick the football that Lucy sets out for him. Every single time, we grant money and concessions to North Korea, then agreements are signed, and with the ink not even dry, North Korea goes about violating the agreements and yielding nothing. So call me a yuge skeptic when it comes to the idea that Trump can succeed where others have failed. I'm reminded of Ellis, the doomed character in 1988's "Die Hard," who thinks he can negotiate with a killer and somehow come out on top because, hey—it's all deal-making. You might say that's disanalogous because Trump's the one with the "bigger button," but look back at the history of such negotiations, which are littered with the dead legacies of former US presidents.

I'm open to being proven wrong, of course. Trump could surprise us. But in this case, hope doesn't not spring eternal.



3 comments:

John Mac said...

My first thought when I heard this was Reagan meeting Gorbachev. Like you I'm skeptical of the North's true intentions, but perhaps China has finally told Kim "enough!". Whatever the outcome, it is a positive step I think. If we have to take out the nukes through a military engagement, at least we tried a peaceful solution.

Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

How can President Trump know that "he's the one with the 'bigger butt on'" his desk, compared to President Kim Jong-un? The North Korean president is grossly overweight, so his butt could easily cover more desktop area than Trump's. President Trump is likely assuming that his own far larger girth will translate into a "bigger butt on" area covered on his own desk. If such a test is to be undertaken, each of the two leaders had better come prepared with an ass-covering explanation for his loss, for one of the two men will of necessity lose in this bare-assed, butt-faced, bum-caked competition.

Jeffery Hodges

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King Baeksu said...

I call it the "good cop, mad cop" strategy.

Shitlibs can stay mad, because it seems to be working.