Response to my critics of this viral tweet: .
1. No, Moon did not ‘lie’ to Trump. He put negotiation’s best foot forward. Trump then did no due diligence, & US right-wing media de-linked from reality w/ its Nobel hype.
The sharpest criticism was that I /1
1. No, Moon did not ‘lie’ to Trump. He put negotiation’s best foot forward. Trump then did no due diligence, & US right-wing media de-linked from reality w/ its Nobel hype.
The sharpest criticism was that I /1
suggested Moon’s admin deceived Trump. That is not so, and I purposely avoided that sort of language. I’d bet on the following: Kim Jong Un talked broadly of de-nuking to the S Koreans (). This was pitched to Trump in an upbeat way, as one would expect /2
from a SK government very obviously deeply committed to negotiations with NK. That is not lying; that is persuading/arguing/lobbying.
The problem is that Trump immediately jumped to an answer without chewing it over, kicking it around w/ advisors, soliciting the NKs directly, /3
The problem is that Trump immediately jumped to an answer without chewing it over, kicking it around w/ advisors, soliciting the NKs directly, /3
investigating what sort of denuke deal NK might go for (given that no one in the Korea analyst community thinks they’ll go to zero: ). That of course would require decision-making traits Trump conspicuously lacks – patience, consideration, investigation, /4
solicitation of expert advice. Instead Trump fell into delusions of grandeur that he wd be the guy to solve NK, and the right-wing media bubble in which he operates mirrored that back to him, creating wildly unreal expectations. Meanwhile, the enormous staffwork & presidential /5
effort to overcome the large divide between the US and NK in such a short timespan was impossible to do (). The result has been this week’s reality check. /6
2. Don’t blame Moon; flattery is US diplomacy in the Trump era.
A similar criticism is that I suggested Moon somehow rolled Trump. This is also not so. Seoul is simply playing by the rules which Trump himself has established. As Abe, Xi, Gulf royals, US CEOs, and others have /7
A similar criticism is that I suggested Moon somehow rolled Trump. This is also not so. Seoul is simply playing by the rules which Trump himself has established. As Abe, Xi, Gulf royals, US CEOs, and others have /7
demonstrated, Trump is an easy mark for flattery, while allies like Germany, Australia, and SK have learned that if you treat Trump like a normal POTUS, he is harsh and vulgar. As @BridgetCoggins pointed out (), flattery is not lying. Precisely. /8
Moon and his government have an obligation to defend their national interest. Last year, when they treated Trump as a normal allied leader, they got a torrent of abuse: Trump called Moon an appeaser, threatened a war deeply unwanted by SKs, threatened to start that war without /9
asking SK permission, threatened the painstakingly negotiated SK-US trade deal, threatened to use that trade deal as a wedge against SK (!) in the NK negotiations. It is fairly amazing the SKs put up with this, and no wonder they disdain Trump.
It is to Moon’s credit – his /10
It is to Moon’s credit – his /10
professionalism and sense of uprightness (which I have defended elsewhere even as I disagree with him on NK: asiansecurityblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/31/us-… AND blog.naver.com/thebluehousekr…) - that his gov’t did not start flattering Trump until this year, and has only done so a little bit – one passing /11
remark about the Nobel, two about maximum pressure working, as best I can find. Certainly Moon has not groveled as Abe has, with his golden golf clubs and ‘Donald & Shinzo Make Alliance Even Greater’ hats.
@dandrezner pointed out this problem long ago: Trump has been to be /12
@dandrezner pointed out this problem long ago: Trump has been to be /12
treated almost childlike: . Similarly, @daveckang has argued for years that the US doesn’t really listen to its Asia-Pacific allies (amazon.com/American-Strat…). So this is what you get when you treat US allies badly as Trump does. END
