No, Trump did not get played by Kim Jong Un on the North Korea summit

Played?

It’s pretty remarkable how President Trump even dealt with Kim and North Korea. For one thing, there’s still a good chance that North Korea will come back to the negotiating table. But even if they don’t, look at what Trump got out of it, and then look at what Kim got out of it.

Instead of getting absolutely nothing, Trump still got three American hostages out of North Korea. He got the North Koreans to dismantle parts of their nuclear weapons program — they even destroyed one of their testing sites hours before Trump canceled the meeting.

In exchange, unless you count halting military exercises with South Korea briefly, he gave up absolutely nothing.

All the economic sanctions that were in place before any talks began? Still there. The threat of engaging North Korea with hostile military force? Remember “fire and fury?” Did he ship them billions of dollars like the Obama administration did to Iran after signing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (i.e. the Iran nuclear deal)? Nope.

And what about the purported legitimacy that Trump gave to North Korea? Have you seen any other country besides China — which has stuck with them throughout — now want to deal with the communist regime? It’s a fantasy.

So, until North Korea actually gets something out of the U.S. for nothing, please, spare me of these hot “Trump got played” takes.