Trump's big deal
It was without doubt histrionics of the grandest scale. Donald Trump looked smug as he made history by shaking hands with Kim Jong-un on June 12 at a Singapore luxury resort. In doing so, he became the first American president to hold a summit meeting with a North Korean head of state. The two leaders were a study in contrast, Trump at 72 with his wavy blond hair and Kim a portly 34 with his dark hip-hop bouffant. One was the leader of the free world, the other an epitome of the unfree one. But they had much in common too. Apart from their affluent upbringing, both have displayed their megalomaniacal impulses as rulers of their respective countries. To be fair to Trump, he is only a bully and has never indulged in the kind of brutal repression that the young North Korean supremo unleashed in his country. With their fierce rhetoric, both leaders had brought the world the closest it has been to a nuclear Armageddon since the perilous Cold War years.
At the summit, though, neither of the leaders roared. Instead they appeared more like well-fed pussycats purring at each other as they discussed the nitty-gritty of a nuclear deal that had eluded the world for close to 25 years. Apart from patting Kim on the back to show bonhomie, Trump gave him a peek of his presidential limousine and even played a Hollywood-styled video on an iPad for him that presented the North Korean leader with two choices: to go down in history as a leader who took his country to greater prosperity or destroy it by engaging in a futile nuclear conflict with the US and the world. Rarely had diplomacy been conducted with the bluster and braggadocio Trump exhibited in his tango with Kim.
The US president has lived up to his campaign boast that he will bring Kim to the negotiating table. In some senses, Trump had very little option as during his presidency
