What Trump’s North Korea Stunt Means

Playbook: “It’s hard to imagine any other president taking a bold step like this, let alone warmly embrace a third-generation tyrant who starves and imprisons his own people. But Trump has silenced the doubters within his own party, while Democrats have largely embraced his diplomatic efforts with Kim because they’d rather he try that than threaten ye olde fire and fury.”

“It remains to be seen, of course, whether Kim is simply using Trump to advance his own agenda, or whether he genuinely believes, as he said today, ‘we want to bring an end to the unpleasant past and try to create a new future.’ Even Trump sometimes seems aware of this; as he put it, ‘It’s just a step. It might be an important step, it might not.'”