While President Trump continues to spar with other people within the administration
on negotiations with North Korea, he and other officials are sending
mixed signals on what the administration’s actual intention is.
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan is saying that US tensions aren’t going to result in any actual changes, and that the US posture will remain focused on diplomacy with North Korea.
President Trump, however, seems to be turning against the idea of negotiation, saying he no longer believes that North Korea is even ready to negotiate at all.
Trump didn’t really say what this new conclusion he has reached would
mean in the context of negotiations, or even if it amounts to anything
beyond him being mad at North Korea over recent missile test fires.
Mixed messages? Now, that is rich! The arrest (yes, one legal term for that action is arrest) of the North Korean coal ship was as clear a message as one can be: “Kim, you must now do what we have already let you know through secret channels or else.”
All public language can be ignored.
Because President Trump was massively taken for a ride by Kim he must now resort to pressures on him.
Jason, you talk about “mixed messages” as if they’re a bad thing. Actually, they’re central to Trump’s The Art of the Deal, which should have been named The Big Bamboozle. If you can’t convince them with logic, bamboozle them with bullshit. Pretend you’re a grand master of 6th dimensional chess or something. Make ’em think you’re smarter than what you really are.
Get Trumpsters like Justin thinking that you’re just giving the neocons enough rope to hang themselves. Keep ’em guessing about what your real motives are, while all the time be ready to kiss Bibi’s fat ass whenever he wants. That’s the gangster logic Trump learned decades ago from his mentor, Roy Cohn.