TRUMP AND THE KOREAS : TRICK OR BET.

Trump let the visiting South Koreans declare that he was willing to meet Kim Jong Un. Both the chosen formula and wording for the announcement betrayed yet again the character of this president, more noise than thought.

After 24 hours there is already a pathetic attempt to provide for a safety net, just in case. The embrace of a grand design is being reshaped into something altogether more cautious. 

The policies and the turnover in this White House do not follow the path of deliberation. They are just like windows that are smashed for the fun of discovering what might lie inside. Previous foreign policy moves were generally the outcome of long deliberations with State, the NSC, and various professionals who had a recognized professional insight or network. Here, as is the case with trade, gut overtakes argument. The exploit is more important than the merit.

The Korean issue is tricky. The Americans have no peace treaty with the 'Hermit Kingdom' and there is absolutely no other supporting input than the one which existed up to and through the Obama administration, and which will be ignored, as usual. Trump might try to drag out Dr. Kissinger again, for cover, but at the end of the day this president only listens to Trump. Rumors regarding another upcoming Kristallnacht in the White House cirque du chaos are in large supply. Everybody has long since neutralized the surprise button.  The same does not apply for North Korea, whose moves look strategic. With the US vice-president's snub of the North Koreans during the Winter Olympics and the Secretary of State erroneous statements (again) on all matters Korean, the Republican administration looks like an asylum. Beijing, Moscow, Tokyo brace for more entertainment than statecraft.  Seoul must pray for the genie to stay in the bottle.

The many negative headwinds--the Mueller probe, the Stormy Daniels sex farce, the trade imbroglio--that assault Trump's hairdo, credibility and psyche might  well push him to make even more inauspicious undertakings.  He needs to deflect, distract and disguise. This pathological patient has already banned truth from his lexicon. When cornered, the wrongly-programmed Minotaur becomes even more unpredictable.