THREAD II. More revelations from Bolton’s book about Trump and North Korea.
This is from the chapter on the Hanoi and Panmunjom summits—“Checking into the Hanoi Hilton, Then Checking Out.”
This is from the chapter on the Hanoi and Panmunjom summits—“Checking into the Hanoi Hilton, Then Checking Out.”
2. Bolton was able to hold 3 pre-Hanoi prep sessions with Trump. Key points Trump took away were: “I got leverage,” “I don’t need to be rushed,” “I could walk away.” Bolton convinced him that “if we walk away, it’s okay,” because Bolton wanted to sabotage the talks.
3. Trump saw 3 possible outcomes from Hanoi: a big deal, a small deal, or “I walk.” He rejected a small deal (not dramatic and he didn’t want to give up sanctions). A big deal wasn’t going to happen because KJU did not make a strategic decision to give up nukes. So....
4. That left the walk-out option. Trump was prepared for it. His philosophy: “ditch the girl before she ditches you.”
5. In Hanoi, Trump stayed up all night watching Michael Cohen testify. Trump was irritable & wondered whether “it was a bigger story if we got a small deal or if we walked away.” Trump decided “walking away” was more dramatic and would give him leverage in other negotiations.
6. Bolton confirms a deal was close in Hanoi but Kim had nothing to offer except Yongbyun. Trump pleaded with Kim to add something to his offer, but Kim refused. So Trump walked, knowing it would make him look good.
7. The third meeting with Kim at the DMZ was entirely Trump’s idea. He first floated it when he was having a sidebar with Merkel in Tokyo at G-20 & tweeted it.
8. Bolton, Mulvaney were flabbergasted & Pompeo saw “no value added on this. This is complete chaos.” Bolton says he felt sick that a stray tweet could result in a summit.
9. Why did Trump want the DMZ summit? There was no substantive agenda. It was all about the press coverage. Bolton says this shows Trump “couldn’t tell the difference between his personal interests and the country’s interests.”
10. Trump lied when he said Kim had asked for the 3rd summit and claimed that “Kim wanted to meet him very badly.” Bolton writes: “All of this was nonsense. There was no doubt who wanted to meet badly, and that was the one doing the talking.”
11. DMZ summit didn’t achieve anything but Trump was happy that the “world had been going crazy over the meeting and that it had taken over the G20 (in his mind),” because the G20 had been a bust.
12. Trump bragged that the NK summits were a huge achievement even though nothing was achieved. Bolton quotes his paeans to Kim and his “great and beautiful vision for his country” with disgust. “That was our North Korea policy,” he writes.
13. It’s hard to argue with Bolton’s conclusion: “For a 4th administration in a row... the US will have failed to stop the world’s most serious nuclear proliferation threat.” But it’s not clear Bolton had a better policy to offer. (He doesn’t repeat his call for preemptive war.)
