President Trump did what many of his critics thought was impossible: he moved the needle in the direction of peace with North Korea.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the Trump administration, through the efforts of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, helped secure the release of three Americans — Kim Hak-song, Tony Kim, and Kim Dong-chul — from North Korean captivity.
On early Thursday morning, Trump and Vice President Mike Pence greeted them at Joint Base Andrews as they returned to the country from their release.
“This is a special night for these three really great people. And congratulations on being in this country,” Trump told reporters standing next to the released prisoners at Joint Base Andrews. “My proudest achievement will be, this is a part of it, will be when we denuclearize that entire peninsula.”
That brings us to a report on Wednesday that Trump is expected to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore in early June to discuss denuclearization and a possible end to economic sanctions and isolation from the rest of the world.
Even if nothing materializes from the meeting with Kim, Trump still managed to get three Americans out of a brutal dictatorial regime. Even if Kim is extending an olive branch in the form of a prisoner release to gain a more favorable position in the upcoming negotiations, three Americans still get to return home to their families.
Yet with all the good news coming out of North Korea, you’ll be hard pressed to find many mainstream media outlets not named Fox News praise Trump with his handling of North Korea, so far. If anything, given the string on interviews Pence has given to outlets like ABC and CBS, they’re stunned.
ABC’s Jonathan Karl admitted his astonishment about Pompeo’s meeting with Kim, saying to Pence, “Those photographs — the two of them are all smiles, it’s almost — I mean it’s remarkable, surreal. Big enthusiastic handshake like they’re old friends. How is that possible? You yourself have described Kim Jong Un as one of the most brutal dictators on the planet?”
Pence simply responded, “What you are seeing is diplomacy.”
Democrats won’t have many nice things to say about Trump’s approach to North Korea either. The Democratic National Committee has basically blacked it out from their Twitter feed. In fact, only 26 percent of Democrats in a new CNN poll have said they approve of the Trump’s job specifically with North Korea — 59 percent disapprove. Compare that to 87 percent of Republicans and 53 percent of all who were surveyed who approve of Trump in this manner.
We’re probably seeing this because Democrats are maybe a little too skeptical that anything positive with North Korea will get done, considering how little confidence they have in Trump. In some ways, skepticism is a good thing.
To echo a point made by my colleague, Tom Rogan, Trump should remain clear headed when he goes into that meeting and not let the North Koreans sway him to the point where he’s sympathetic to Kim and his brutal regime.
But let’s be real: We all thought (myself included) that Trump wouldn’t get this far with the North Koreans. The idea that Trump would pivot away from everything but chest-thumping to threatening nuclear war with “fire and fury” was a glimmer at best.
The president, at least, deserves a lot of credit in this regard.
Even if you’re a loud critic of Trump and can’t bring yourself to tip your hat to him, you can at least be happy that Kim Hak-song, Tony Kim, and Kim Dong-chul finally have their freedom.
