Yesterday, North Korea fired 10 short range missiles at South Korea only days after President Trump announced the U.S. would scale back its military partnership with Seoul:
That Trump would diss South Korea is nothing new under the sun. Early in his first term, Trump threatened to cancel the U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement. A new trade agreement would be negotiated the following year. Also, during his first term, Trump willfully lied about sending an armada to South Korea when in fact it was headed to Australia for joint military exercises.
It also isn't the first time Trump has cozied up to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. In 2018, he infamously proclaimed that he and Kim had fallen in love during a rally in Wheeling, West Virginia. (Yes, that Wheeling, West Virginia).
That love was a one-way street. In 2019, Trump dropped a U.S. demand that North Korea give a full accounting of its nuclear program while also absolving Kim of any responsibility for the death of Otto Warmbier, an American student who was detained by North Korean authorities and was essentially released brain dead.
And what did Trump get in return from Kim? Absolutely nothing.
Coming back to the present, if Trump doesn't berate our military alliance with South Korea, then I submit that North Korea doesn't launch those missiles. President Trump has emboldened Kim Jong Un while shitting on a reliable ally. Of course, this is very on brand for Trump. Just ask the Ukrainians.
Because of Trump's belligerence, stupidity and his admiration for dictators, China sees an opening with South Korea and has grabbed it with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to South Korean President Lee Jae-myung just yesterday.
Of course, China is a cruel dictatorship. Just ask the Uyghur Muslims. But Beijing knows how to speak softly. Something Trump is utterly incapable of doing. Given Trump's public rebuke of South Korea, why wouldn't Seoul accept overtures from Beijing? If the United States is unwilling to protect South Korea from North Korea, then China will happily fill the breach and, in so doing, expand its power while running circles around President Trump.
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