This Monday Eastern U.S. time, President Donald Trump is in Singapore to meet with the dictator of North Korea, Kim Jong Un. It’s a widely anticipated summit which was at one point not even surely going to move forward; the Trump administration abruptly announced that it was cancelled before withdrawing that announcement.
Now that the two leaders are actually in Singapore and meeting early Tuesday local time — which is late Monday Eastern U.S. time — many eyes are watching the event and awaiting an answer of how it will go.
Before the two leaders even got around to meeting, there was a development that has now proven to be not at all promising for the president and his administration’s ability to hold onto some sort of solid foundation while navigating negotiations with the North Koreans, let alone actually see some deal through. According to reports, they lied about the reason for a change of plans for when the summit would conclude.
Originally, the Trump administration announced that thanks to talks held before Trump and Kim Jong Un actually met going well, the U.S. president would spend less time in Singapore than he was previously set to. That announcement of a departure time for the president from Singapore revealed it to be 7 P.M. on Tuesday, which is early Tuesday morning Eastern U.S. time.
Bloomberg now has a report that conflicts the official line from the White House, however.
The outlet reports:
‘President Donald Trump moved up his planned departure from his summit with Kim Jong Un after North Korean officials made plans to leave by the end of the day, a U.S. official said.’
That report comes after the Trump administration put out a statement citing the reason for Trump’s departure time as follows:
‘The discussions between the United States and North Korea are ongoing and have moved more quickly than expected.’
While being unwilling to tell the truth about something as simple as the plans for when the president will depart Singapore, the Trump administration expects the nation and world to have faith in Donald Trump’s ability to strike a deal with the North Koreans? Seriously? How stupid do they think we are?
The concealment of the reported truth could — in theory — be some kind of diplomatic maneuver meant to keep the Trump administration from looking like it was suckering up to the North Koreans, but considering the other facts of the situation, giving the Trump team the benefit of the doubt is not necessarily warranted here.
For one, Trump has already established a pattern of fawning over dictators like Kim Jong Un at this point. While lashing out at leaders whose countries are historical allies, he has praised him and other dictatorial leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Secondly, Trump loves lying. He’s done it thousands of times since he took office — and counting — and few expect him to abandon that love now.
In the end, the world has again been left hanging by Trump showering love and praise on dictators, with him having left the annual G7 summit early — lashing out at allies left and right in the process — for his trip to Singapore.
Featured Image via SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
