Nolte: Never Trump Fanatics Go Insane over Trump-Kim Summit
Never Trump again went insane in the wake of President Trump’s foreign policy triumph with North Korea this week–and not only with hypocrisy. There is a literal insanity in their neurotic need to keep doing the exact same thing over and over again expecting a different outcome.
You will find more than one example in this hodgepodge of stupid:
Once again, we are being asked to believe Trump is playing some kind of masterful 4-D chess when we are standing witness to yet another blunt, careenening, reckless game of political pinball.
— Amanda Carpenter (@amandacarpenter) June 12, 2018
Maybe the most important part of @ethanepstiiiine's excellent piece: https://t.co/jy6ymGSWZcpic.twitter.com/929nw4FzyG
— Jonathan V. Last (@JVLast) June 12, 2018
The Singapore summit statement is essentially aspirational: no definitions of denuclearization, no timelines, no details as to verification. What is most troubling about all this is that the US gave up something tangible, namely, US-RoK military exercises, in exchange.
— Richard N. Haass (@RichardHaass) June 12, 2018
This whole affair is one giant concession to DPRK. A handshake between impoverished, brutal client state dynast tween and the leader of the free world against this backdrop is a coup for Kim. The USA and North Korea are not peers. pic.twitter.com/8Yh0u2ltet
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) June 12, 2018
FWIW, I think the North Korean flag is a piece of vile filth that stands for the dynastic rule of a racist cult that subjugates, tortures and enslaves it's own people. Ideally it would spontaneously combust when it even touches our flag. But nfw should it stand equal to ours. pic.twitter.com/GIhhYQenEd
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahNRO) June 12, 2018
This document is a North Korean triumph. https://t.co/bGqaFEAGpD
— David French (@DavidAFrench) June 12, 2018
In the past, Jesse Jackson would go around sucking up to evil men and then claiming victories for doing so while the president remained aloof. Now the president is his own Jesse Jackson.
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) June 12, 2018
Let’s first address the Never Trump buttache over the North Korean flag enjoying the same stature as the American flag.
Uhm, yeah, about that…
Some of the criticisms of the BoKo summit are just asinine. Of course the flags should be displayed together. Like it or not, North Korea is a sovereign nation. It’s called "diplomacy." pic.twitter.com/F0RgVT3PmO
— PEG (@pegobry) June 13, 2018
Please tell me that is not George H.W. Bush of Reagan-Bush fame smiling beneath the hammer and sickle as he shakes hands with the Soviet monster who invaded Lithuania?
Hey, I don’t like seeing the Stars n’ Stripes on equal footing with gangster countries any more than anyone else, but I am also an adult capable of grasping simple concepts like, you know, jingoistic tantrums over symbolism are the diplomatic equivalent of stepping over dollars in search of pennies.
Never Trumpites are also outraged — outraged, I tell you — that 1) Trump shook Kim’s hand on camera and 2) Trump talked about how the two men built a good working relationship and 3) Trump invited Kim to the United States, all of which is… pretty… much… what… President Reagan did with Mikhail Gorbachev.
Which proves once again that Never Trump’s only guiding principle is being invited on CNN.
Moving on from Never Trump hypocrisy to lunacy…
The insanity on display above is obvious. Never Trump is really interested in only one thing: protecting the status quo, regardless of outcome.
This insanity is not something Never Trump even bothers to hide. This pile is so fresh, it is still steaming: “It is a narcissism that views the status quo, which was forged and maintained by political, diplomatic, and military professionals over the course of 70 years, as a failure rather than a success.”
Let’s put aside what 70 years of the status quo have wrought in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, and focus on North Korea. Those of us who live in the real world, those of us no longer blinded by the hotness of the takes, are still able to recall — because it was only last year — when this precious status quo resulted in a North Korea that held our hostages, launched countless missiles, regularly threatened nuclear war, and was the proud owner of the Punggye-ri nuclear testing facility.
Today, thanks to President Change Agent, those hostages are home, Kim’s missiles have stopped flying, the threats of nuclear war have ceased, and Punggye-ri is reportedly no more.
And if this is as far as Trump gets with Kim, he will still have been more successful with North Korea than any president ever.
Never Trumpers are also pummeling Trump for his “concessions” to Kim (which I’ll address below) but seem to forget the sanctions against North Korea are still in place.
Yes, North Korea has promised to denuclearize in the past, but this time, the agreement has come without sanction relief. This is a huge deal.
And so, all Never Trump has left is to squawk about is a Trump “concession” agreeing to end our joint military exercises with South Korea.
In truth, this “concession” was extremely well played.
First, these military exercises are largely symbolic and have nothing to do with South Korea’s security. Combat readiness can be maintained through other means.
Secondly — and this is important — the next major joint-exercise is not scheduled until next year, which makes this so-called “concession” a carrot with a big stick attached, a stick that can easily take place as scheduled if Kim fails to keep his promises.
In other words, while North Korea has returned our hostages, stopped firing off missiles, and shut down a nuclear site, Trump has conceded nothing.
Never Trump is also harrumphing over the president’s “legitimizing” Kim on the world stage, as though we rubes are too dumb to figure out that nothing legitimizes you on the world stage faster than owning an ICBM.
Finally, there is the insane complaining about North Korea’s human rights abuses.
How many Americans have to die? How many trillions of dollars must be wasted? How many unassimilable migrants get to invade the West? How many Iraqs, Libyas, and Afghanistans do these Never Trump lunatics require before whatever residual intelligence and decency they have left wake them up to the fact that regional chaos and endless wars are not worth the price of “liberating” enslaved countries?
All that matters…
All…
That…
Matters…
…is Kim’s not getting his hands on a nuke. If that means offering a guarantee to a monster who allows him to do whatever he wants within the confines of his own country, only a madman would turn down that offer.
America chasing the unicorn of human rights through foreign countries must end.
That does not mean we cannot work with Kim after he denuclearizes, use economic incentives, and the like. But if a denuclearization deal means agreeing to never again use the words “human” and “rights” and “North” and “Korea” in the same sentence, we take the deal.
You see, some of us, including myself, are mature enough to have learned the terrible lessons of the last 16 years. Never Trump, however, still loves to Neocon in other people’s countries, still loves to peacock their moral superiority, even after their wars of liberation have killed more civilians than any dictator ever could.
Never Trumpites do not care about human rights. If they did, ensuring Kim never gets an ICBM and avoiding war with North Korea, would be their highest priority–because it is the only priority.
The only things Never Trump cares about are media love and hurling straw men to justify their own unearned self-regard.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.