President Donald Trump announced this morning that three Americans held captive in North Korea were being released. Forgoing a self-reverential Rose Garden ceremony flanked by the parents of the prisoners, Trump simply tweeted it:
I am pleased to inform you that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in the air and on his way back from North Korea with the 3 wonderful gentlemen that everyone is looking so forward to meeting. They seem to be in good health. Also, good meeting with Kim Jong Un. Date & Place set.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 9, 2018
The president later tweeted that newly minted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the three Americans would arrive at Andrews Air Force Base at 2:00 a.m., and that he would be there to greet them. Pompeo has held high-level talks with the regime, having previously traveled to North Korea over Easter weekend to meet with Kim:
Secretary Pompeo and his “guests” will be landing at Andrews Air Force Base at 2:00 A.M. in the morning. I will be there to greet them. Very exciting!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 9, 2018
This good news comes as U.S. relations with North Korea have become unprecedentedly constructive and warm.
Who could have predicted this?
Certainly not the legion of foreign policy “experts” who made dire predictions as Trump ramped up his rhetoric against the regime. For the past year, the consensus of the smart set was that all of Trump’s bombastic taunts of “Rocketman” were going to lead us to nuclear Armageddon.
“We’re actually closer, in my view, to a nuclear war with North Korea and in that region than we have ever been,” said Admiral Mike Mullen, a visiting professor at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. “And I just don’t see how — I don’t see the opportunities to solve this diplomatically at this particular point.”
Joining the doom and gloom chorus were MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski: “We should be talking about North Korea every day,” Scarborough said. “There is a coming war, most likely. Richard Haas, I think you would agree. It is more likely than not that there is a conflict, possibly a full-blown war, with an emerging nuclear power.”
Brzezinski then said Trump wants war with North Korea for the thrill of launching nuclear weapons. “He wants to use nukes,” Brzezinski said. “That’s what I think he feels. … You heard him over the past year. He’s excited about the concept.”
Navy Admiral and NBC national security analyst James Stavridis, former journalist Dan Rather, and former director of National Intelligence James Clapper also criticized Trump, saying he was leading the country to war with the Norks.
Make note of what all of these grim talking heads were saying — and how wrong they all were.
Because the very same bunch is now saying that the Trump administration’s decision to pull out of the Iranian nuclear deal is leading us to war, as well.
Mash-up via Grabien
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