The Atlantic

Letter: Trump’s North Korea Statements Are an ‘Acknowledgement of Reality’

A reader weighs in on last week’s summit in Singapore.
Source: Tyrone Siu / Reuters

Trump Got Nearly Nothing From Kim Jong Un

The leaders’ meeting last week may have been the beginning of something big, Uri Friedman argued. But it started off small.


I found your article very well written, but I can’t agree with some of the conclusions and the basic premise of the article.

You wrote:

But Trump then proceeded to, rhetorically at least, make one concession after another to North Korea. He said that U.S. sanctions on North Korea would “come off when we are sure that the nukes are no longer a factor,” but then chipped away at that firm stance by adding that “I actually look forward to taking them off” …

This does not necessarily mean that our president is backing away from his firm stance. It could just as easily mean he

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic3 min read
They Rode the Rails, Made Friends, and Fell Out of Love With America
The open road is the great American literary device. Whether the example is Jack Kerouac or Tracy Chapman, the national canon is full of travel tales that observe America’s idiosyncrasies and inequalities, its dark corners and lost wanderers, but ult
The Atlantic6 min read
There’s Just One Problem With Gun Buybacks
One warm North Carolina fall morning, a platoon of Durham County Sheriff’s Office employees was enjoying an exhibit of historical firearms in a church parking lot. They were on duty, tasked with running a gun buyback, an event at which citizens can t
The Atlantic8 min readAmerican Government
The Return of the John Birch Society
Michael Smart chuckled as he thought back to their banishment. Truthfully he couldn’t say for sure what the problem had been, why it was that in 2012, the John Birch Society—the far-right organization historically steeped in conspiracism and oppositi

Related Books & Audiobooks