Following the failure this weekend of new talks between the United States and North Korea, we must ask a simple question: Is President Trump now appeasing Kim Jong Un?

North Korea now retains the political initiative in the ongoing nuclear crisis. Consider the diametric reactions following the collapse of this weekend’s talks. The Trump administration responded positively to a Swedish invitation to reconvene in two weeks. Pyongyang, however, offered scathing hyperbole. The Americans, North Korea’s foreign ministry asserted, had engaged in “sickening” negotiations tactics. Future discussions would be pointless until the U.S. chose a “complete and irreversible withdrawal of hostile policy.”