Trump’s cancellation of the proposed summit with North Korea is the latest in a string of reckless and erratic foreign policy decisions that have alternated between threatening war and begging for negotiation.
From the start of this engagement, Trump has acted like a politician in search of a political win rather than a statesman acting in our national interest. This has been about Trump acting to help Trump, not America.
Only now, he is left with an antagonized – and still nuclear – adversary, while we have alienated our closest allies and partners, whose cooperation we will continue to need.
Some of this recklessness stems from the fact that Trump desperately wanted a diplomatic win, while John Bolton has consistently advocated military action against North Korea. Trump cannot attempt to fashion himself as a peacemaker while surrounding himself with war hawks.
At the end of the day, the risk of war may be higher than ever, but we can't rush back into a “fire and fury” belligerence. The costs of any such war almost certainly would be catastrophic. The only viable path forward is diplomacy in seamless coordination with our partners.
