The North Korea Meeting is Canceled

Trump announced this morning that he has canceled his upcoming meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

In an awkward Dear John letter, Trump says Kim should "not hesitate to call" him for pillow talk.

Now that this charade is at an end, I want to revisit how it started because Trump's letter includes a demonstrable lie.

This began when Trump summoned South Korea's national security adviser Chung Eui-yong to the White House on a whim and asked him to arrange a meeting between Trump and Kim Jong Un. Mister Chung then held an awkward, late-night briefing at the White House to announce the meeting. Trump did no advance work or preparation for a meeting, and did not set any preconditions, when he extended the offer.

The South Koreans stuck their necks out and invited Kim Jong Un into their country first to set up the future meeting which Trump has now canceled and thrown back in their faces.

I'm not an expert, but my impression is that going through with this meeting could have been worse than canceling it, but the meeting never should have been agreed to in the first place.

Trump's decision to cancel the meeting will push China back toward North Korea and could destabilize our relationship with South Korea. Trump will have less than nothing to show for it in any case because he agreed to a meeting with Kim Jong Un with no concessions or pre-conditions.

From the beginning, Trump made it obvious that he wanted to meet more than anyone else did for purely political reasons (Nobel! Nobel!) and that now allows his foreign critics to take the high ground.

Speaking of which, Iranian officials must have smiles on their faces today. Trump just handed them a win and they weren't even involved.