Next week, U.S. President Donald Trump is set to meet with Kim Jong Un, the dictator of North Korea, in Singapore. The meeting went through an on-again, off-again cycle before actually being set to take place next week, and through it all, it’s been widely watched as a possible harbinger of improved relations between the North Koreans and the rest of the world.
In the meantime, this week, Trump met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the White House. Unsurprisingly the topic of North Korea and its aggression came up, and Trump closed out a joint press conference that he and Abe participated in with some haphazard, barely sensible remarks about the whole ordeal.
After touting his efforts to get American hostages released from North Korea and again coming close to his past strangely laudatory attitude towards the North Koreans throughout that facet of the ordeal, Trump commented as follows to the members of the press who were present, speaking of his upcoming meeting with Kim Jong Un:
‘I believe we’re going to have a terrific success or a modified success, but in one form or another, if it all goes — and things can happen between now and then, but I know many of you are going, and I look forward to seeing you there, I look forward to traveling with you, it’s a long way — but I really believe that we have the potential to do something incredible for the world, and it’s my honor to be involved.’
Journalist Aaron Rupar quipped that the remarks from Trump were “inscrutable words of wisdom.”
Check out video of the moment below.
Trump closes with some inscrutable words of wisdom: “I believe we’re going to have a terrific success or a modified success. But in one form or another, if it all goes. And things can happen between now and then. But I know many of you are going.” pic.twitter.com/IHxSBVB2xy
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 7, 2018
The language with which Trump speaks most freely on Twitter and at rallies and the like might not translate so well to formal situations in which he is required to represent the United States after all — although we already knew that. Trump already established himself as out of place in the White House long before stumbling over his words on Thursday.
Still, it’s striking and pressing when situated in the broader picture of world affairs. Japan itself has just recently found themselves especially vulnerable to North Korean aggression; two test launched missiles sent up by the North Koreans went over the northern part of the nation late last year.
Were the North Koreans to engage in military combat with any country anywhere, basically, it would set the stage for huge numbers of casualties, and yet through it all — well outside of his Thursday press conference — Trump has proven largely unable and/or unwilling to muster any kind of widely credible respect for the gravity of the situation. It wasn’t that long ago that he was referring to the North Korean leader as “little rocket man” and threatening to completely destroy North Korea while speaking in front of the United Nations.
How his upcoming meeting with Kim Jong Un may change the situation for the better remains to be seen. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo revealed this Thursday that the North Korean leader had allegedly expressed an openness to denuclearization to him — so we’ll see how that goes.
Featured Image via Screenshot from the Video
