I'm just going to lay this down so no one is surprised by the outcome of the negotiations with North Korea.
There is no one easier to manipulate than a narcissist.
Trump is a simpleton sitting down for chess.
1/
There is no one easier to manipulate than a narcissist.
Trump is a simpleton sitting down for chess.
1/
Kim Jong Un is employing a simple, predictable outcome with simple, predictable results.
Step 1 - Show the stick. Rattle the saber. Raise the world's anxieties.
Step 2 - Lurch abruptly to the other pole. Show the carrot. Offer to relieve all of that anxiety.
2/
Step 1 - Show the stick. Rattle the saber. Raise the world's anxieties.
Step 2 - Lurch abruptly to the other pole. Show the carrot. Offer to relieve all of that anxiety.
2/
Step 3 - Feed Trump's ego. Get him to lean in... and then let him do what he is utterly compelled to do as a severe narcissist:
Rush in to take premature credit and declare premature victory.
3/
Rush in to take premature credit and declare premature victory.
3/
Steps 1 and 2 are complete. Step 3 is well underway.
Trump is incapable of keeping himself from getting out far over his skis when there is personal glory to claim.
Trump is an infant being led across the floor to the candy bowl.
4/
Trump is incapable of keeping himself from getting out far over his skis when there is personal glory to claim.
Trump is an infant being led across the floor to the candy bowl.
4/
...and just as Trump gets a mouthful of chocolate for all the world to see, then comes Step 4:
A reversal by North Korea and a refusal to completely denuclearize.
Trump left up on a pedestal of his own making facing the potential for humiliation.
5/
A reversal by North Korea and a refusal to completely denuclearize.
Trump left up on a pedestal of his own making facing the potential for humiliation.
5/
Faced with the potential for a truly global self-own, Trump will do what Kim Jong Un had been angling for from the very beginning.
He will hastily agree to a deal that is more symbolic than meaningful solely to save face.
6/
He will hastily agree to a deal that is more symbolic than meaningful solely to save face.
6/
Kim Jong Un will get reduced sanctions ,economic support and a higher place on the world stage.
The United States and South Korea will get the sensation of reduced risk with little practical reduction in North Korea's ability to do harm.
7/
The United States and South Korea will get the sensation of reduced risk with little practical reduction in North Korea's ability to do harm.
7/
The United States is being run by a man incapable of governing according to the bottomless needs of his own frail, broken ego.
Kim Jong Un knows that.
The outcome here is entirely predictable - and now we get to watch it play out as if it is somehow a mystery.
8/
Kim Jong Un knows that.
The outcome here is entirely predictable - and now we get to watch it play out as if it is somehow a mystery.
8/
The U.S. is being led by a simpleton incapable of rational thought; unable to think even one move ahead; and entirely enslaved by his narcissism.
You watch, by tomorrow, Trump will be talking about his candidacy for a Nobel Prize... all while Kim Jong Un smiles and laughs.
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You watch, by tomorrow, Trump will be talking about his candidacy for a Nobel Prize... all while Kim Jong Un smiles and laughs.
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p.s. forgive the errors and typos. I'm too aggrieved to proofread.
