There were some odd criticisms leveled against President Donald Trump in the weeks leading up the just-concluded Singapore summit. The president and his national security adviser had not held a cabinet-level meeting to discuss the summit. Nor had Trump been hitting his briefing books too hard, we learned.
Trump’s laissez faire attitude was held up in contrast to North Korea, which, we were told repeatedly, had been preparing for “decades” for the meeting. (An odd claim, on its face, given that Donald Trump only became president 18 months ago. How do you prepare for negotiations for “decades” when you have no idea who will be at the other side of the table?) The biggest fear seemed to be that Trump, an impulsive figure, would “give away” too much in the course of his negotiations with Kim Jong-un.
