Trump, Keeping Us Guessing

NO SOONER HAD PRESIDENT TRUMP evacuated Nam in a fit of of pique, the North Korean dictator, jilted again,shrugged off the disappointment,went back to his place, and back to work. Back to work rebuilding the nuclear bomb facilities he had only just began to disassemble last spring, during more hopeful times, when the titillating prospects of the imminent first summit with Trump harbingered hope. we'll soon hear more of what Trump has to say about his summit's premature death; so far he has expressed disappointment but doubt at the information provided by surveillance satellites, and confidence that whatever the problem, he and he along can fix it. Vintage Trump. He can hardly be expected to tweet that he's been had, and is being played by Kim like a cheap drum, and has been all along, which in fact he has. Donald Trump has never been renowned for talking straight fact; perception is truth in Trumpland. The art of the summit; never show up without something substantive already on the table, signed and delivered. let the lower level boys work out compromises and concessions in advance, to ensure some semblance of summitry success in advance, in hand. The little rocket man has now met with the emperor of orange twice mano to mano, and can now feign equality of status unto all the world. To show for it, he has all his nukes intact, all the time in the world to build new ones as bargaining chips, and time to wait for the artful dealer to decide how many sanctions to lift, to save international face. Wasn't it in the aftermath of summit number one that don the con announced the denuclearization of North Korea as a fait accompli, and took full credit for it? (Hint: it was) The Trump technique is to claim victory even when one happens to be a loser. That's been his method his entire life, always claim victory. Maybe somebody will believe you. He's always been careful to never show his grades, his results. He threatens anyone who dares mention the possibility. In his seminal, ghostwritten "The Art of The Deal", a compelling compendium of banal blather about basic business practices which every ten year old lemonade stander independently invents then summarily rejects, Trump advises all successful deal makers to foster and nourish misconceptions. Allow one's adversaries to languish in false beliefs. never lie or deceive, but foster falsehood. Trump is himself much more the high stakes roller gambler than the business man gentleman. Gentlemen do not assign monikers like "little rocket man", "crooked Hillary", or "Lying Ted" to adversaries and expect cooperation or respect on return. Trump does not care whether he is respected, gentlemen do. Trump allowed the North Korean dictator to labor under the misapprehension that he despises him, then to labor under the misapprehension that he adores him by lavishing him with praise. How very clever. Then, Trump walks out halfway through a dinner date, leaving Mr. Kin very confused, and not knowing what to do, other than to resume building and rebuilding. The artful deal maker is thus left in the lurch, having put himself there, taking to twitter to proclaim that all is well, that he has Mr. Kim exactly where he wants him, as always. The bottom line is that North Korea has all its nukes intact, and has received a great deal of the global attention it has for so long craved, thanks to Donald J. Trump, the artful deal maker.