Opinions Split On Whether Trump Has Skills To Pull Off Deal With Kim

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After the historic news of imminent Trump-Kim talks, some in the US are casting doubts that the president, with his reality TV skills, is able to pull off diplomacy talks, while Trump’s team say they won’t turn into “theater.”

President Donald Trump accepted an invitation to meet with Kim Jong-un, after the latter agreed to halt further nuclear tests, and said later that such a meeting could result in “the greatest deal for the world,” or end without an agreement.

Trump’s critics, from establishment to media, have questioned Trump’s resolve and competence to pull that off.

We have to realize there’s nothing more complex than nuclear negotiations,” the former deputy national security adviser to President Barack Obama, Ben Rhodes, said. “There’s no place in the world more volatile than the Korean peninsula. You cannot just approach this like a reality show. This has to be something where you bring in the experts, you invest in the same type of capabilities in our government that we’ve seen this administration turn their back on: Science and diplomacy.”

Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo said the planned meeting is not a show. “President Trump isn’t doing this for theater. He’s going to solve a problem,” he told Fox News Sunday.

The US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin reiterated earlier statements by the White House, that Washington would make no concessions before talks with North Korea and would maintain “maximum pressure” on the country.

“Now we have a situation where the president is using diplomacy but we’re not removing the maximum pressure campaign,” Mnuchin told NBC’s “Meet the Press” program on Sunday.

The US sees denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as an ultimate goal of direct talks between Trump and Kim, he said.

“There shouldn’t be confusion,” Mnuchin stated. “The president has made it clear that the conditions are that there’s no nuclear testing and there’s no missiles and those will be a condition through the meeting.”

We have to realize there’s nothing more complex than nuclear negotiations,” the former deputy national security adviser to President Barack Obama, Ben Rhodes, said. “There’s no place in the world more volatile than the Korean peninsula. You cannot just approach this like a reality show. This has to be something where you bring in the experts, you invest in the same type of capabilities in our government that we’ve seen this administration turn their back on: Science and diplomacy.”

Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo said the planned meeting is not a show. “President Trump isn’t doing this for theater. He’s going to solve a problem,” he told Fox News Sunday.

The US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin reiterated earlier statements by the White House, that Washington would make no concessions before talks with North Korea and would maintain “maximum pressure” on the country.

“Now we have a situation where the president is using diplomacy but we’re not removing the maximum pressure campaign,” Mnuchin told NBC’s “Meet the Press” program on Sunday.

The US sees denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as an ultimate goal of direct talks between Trump and Kim, he said.

“There shouldn’t be confusion,” Mnuchin stated. “The president has made it clear that the conditions are that there’s no nuclear testing and there’s no missiles and those will be a condition through the meeting.”

RT

RT, previously known as Russia Today, is a global multilingual news network that is funded by the Russian government and has been labelled as a propaganda outlet by the US State Department.

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