While media outlets have been playing up North Korea’s talk of a “Christmas gift” for the US as presumably a missile test of some sort, President Trump was dismissive of the idea, saying he’s confident that whatever it is, the US will handle it successfully.
“We’ll find out what the surprise is and we’ll deal with it very successfully,” Trump told reporters. He further speculated that North Korea’s Kim might send “a beautiful vase as opposed to a missile test.”
North Korea has never really said what it was going to do, but Western news outlets have been predicting the worst, and are already portraying it as damaging to President Trump’s policy stance on North Korea.
And yet, while North Korea was very clear they didn’t want talks just to give Trump “something to brag about,” they likewise probably don’t want to fire a missile just to give Trump’s political rivals the same thing. That might mean there isn’t going to be any big, showy launch unless North Korea figures it stands to gain them something.
Great “fake news” bait. The cia marketing boys come up with a Korean “threat” and trump takes the hook, with a bombastic response. A cool negotiator would know to ignore bait from any source, including his own “side”.
Is Kim the gift that keeps giving?
One of them.