We know the Trump regime does not expect to walk away from Trump's second summit with North Korea leader Kim Jong-un with a substantive agreement for denuclearization , so what do they hope to accomplish?
They apparently hope to agree to the meaning of words.
Reuters reports that the goal of the summit is to agree on what "denuclearize" even means.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and North Korea will seek a common understanding of what denuclearization means when President Donald Trump presses Kim Jong Un next week to give up all of the North’s nuclear weapons, U.S. officials said on Thursday.
U.S. officials have downplayed expectations for the meeting, and Trump has made clear he does not expect this one to be his last with Kim, a dictator he once derided as “little rocket man” but now considers a partner with whom he works well.
Agreeing to the meaning of words is obviously important, but it's been 8 months since Trump's first summit with Kim Jong-un at which the latter supposedly agreed to denuclearize.
How could he have agreed to that last year if they didn't agree to what it means?
It's difficult for me to imagine that this second meeting will produce a "common understanding of denuclearization" that is satisfactory, but even if it does it will take months and years of followup negotiations to even approach a substantive agreement to implement a common understanding of the word.
One or two more Dear John letters should be enough to carry North Korea through to the next presidential administration. The next president will have to contend with a nuclear-armed North Korean state that was unduly legitimized by their predecessor Donald Trump.