Does the White House really believe North Korea is following through on a non-existent pledge to give up their nuclear weapons which Kim Jong-un never actually signed?
Trump's chief national security adviser and former Iraq war cheerleader John Bolton appeared on Fox News yesterday where he insisted that they're not necessarily taking the North's word for it.
They're not "starry-eyed," Bolton said.
“There’s no one in this administration starry-eyed about” the idea North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s regime will completely rid itself of nuclear weapons capability, Bolton said during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.” Still, the point may well come when Trump concludes Kim isn’t acting in good faith, he said. [...]
Trump is giving a “masterclass” in how to hold the door open to Pyongyang, Bolton said on Fox. If Kim can’t figure how how to walk through it, “even the president’s fiercest critics won’t be able to say he didn’t open it wide enough.”
As far as I know, no one in the entire world has accused Trump of not holding the door open wide enough. In fact, the door is so far wide open you could fly a nuclear missile through it.
Amusingly, Trump's decision to remove the door from its hinges has led to the slow collapse of economic sanctions against North Korea and probably reduced the chance that the North will ever give up their nuclear weapons. There was never much of a chance that they would in any case, but it would be fair to say they've been rewarded by Trump, not punished. Trump's happy talk has given Russia and China all the excuse they need to stop enforcing sanctions and Trump legitimized Kim Jong-un by shaking hands with him.
This is what John Bolton is now. Not too long ago he would have screamed bloody murder about North Korea's nuclear ambitions, but now he's just another toady who debases himself for Trump.
Everyone who works for Trump is eventually humiliated.