Obama National Security Advisor Susan Rice on North Korea: Obama era and Trump
(In December, 2017) Obama national security adviser Susan Rice said that the U.S. has consistently failed to curtail North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, even during the Obama era. “You can call it a failure,” Rice told CNN. “I accept that characterization of the efforts of the United States over the last two decades.”
Rice advocated in an opinion piece in the New York Times that President Trump should tamp down his rhetoric and learn to live with a nuclear North Korea. “History shows that we can, if we must, tolerate nuclear weapons in North Korea — the same way we tolerated the far greater threat of thousands of Soviet nuclear weapons during the Cold War,” she wrote. “It will require being pragmatic.”
(March, 2018) Susan Rice on Friday questioned President Donald Trump’s ability to successfully execute a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and she warned an unsuccessful meeting could increase the risk of conflict. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell asked Rice this after the meeting invitation came to Washington from Kim Jong Un: “What is the downside, if there is this big-flags-waving, red carpet summit and then no results?” Mitchell asked the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and national security adviser. “I think it’s very risky,” Rice said. “It risks the president’s credibility, the credibility of the United States, and worse still, I think it increases the risk of conflict if they go into something with very high expectations, poor preparation, and the president acting in his typically mercurial way. “We could end up in a much worse place then we are today,” Rice warned.
Democrat Congressional Members on North Korea
- Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts said the president should temper his trademark bellicose style. “The President must abandon his penchant for unscripted remarks and bombastic rhetoric to avoid derailing this significant opportunity for progress,” he said.
- Rep. Rick Larsen, a Democrat from Washington, was purely cynical, reacting to former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau’s assertion that Trump hasn’t made any deals as president. Of President Trump’s planned meeting with Kim Jong Un: “It will not end well.”
- “Sitting at the table is the easy part,” Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island said. “Solving this problem is hard.”
- The consensus among the loyal opposition was that Kim emerged the victor in this initial skirmish simply by earning equal standing with the leader of the free world. “The worst-case outcome for U.S. is also the most likely — a great, legitimizing photo op for Kim, and no material commitment on disarmament,” tweeted Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut.
- “Alarmingly, the United States enters into this arrangement with a serious dearth of regional experts and experienced negotiators: a hollowed out State Department, no U.S. envoy for North Korea negotiations, and no ambassador to South Korea,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said.
Media On the Trump/Kim Jong Un Meeting
- Jimmy Kimmel: Kimmel described the Trump-Kim get-together as “The two worst haircuts in the world, together.” He continued, “The North Korean leader promises to meet by May. By May? Trump’s not still going to be president by May. This need to happen by Wednesday.”
- CNN’s Fareed Zakaria: “What appears to have happened is the following: Trump was told that in the talks between North and South, Kim Jong Un expressed a wish to meet with him, and Trump jumped at the opportunity. Henry Kissinger has often said that presidential summits should be the climax of a long negotiating process, not the beginning. Trump’s gambit turns that dictum on its head. Victor Cha, once slated to be Trump’s ambassador to South Korea, warns that a presidential summit is dangerous because if it fails, it leaves little room for further diplomacy. The outcome, he says, could actually end up being war.”
- MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough: The hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” slammed President Trump over his potential meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “It’s all bluster, there’s no deal, because he doesn’t know how to make a deal,” co-host Joe Scarborough said Friday. “He’s horrible at making deals. That’s why the man ended up $9 billion in debt.”
- MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow: “You might think another president in this circumstance, you can imagine a president asking himself or herself, “why has no other American president ever agreed to do this? Why has no sitting American president ever met with a leader from North Korea? Why has that never happened in all the decades North Korea existed as a nation? Should I take that to mean that this might be particularly risky or even an unwise move?” Maddow continued, ““I think a lot of people probably suspect tonight that those are not the kinds of questions that this president asked himself before agreeing to this meeting,” she said. “But this is the president we have and he said yes to North Korea.”
North Korea’s Neighboring Countries on the Trump/Kim Jong Un Meeting
- China: “We … support the alleviation of the peninsula situation, and the positive inter-Korean and U.S.-North Korea interactions,” said China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Geng Shuang. He added that China will continue to play a positive and constructive role in a political resolution to the nuclear issue, after being asked if China is willing to host the meeting.
- Japan: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters Friday that he had spoken with Trump by phone, and they had agreed to continue putting maximum pressure on North Korea. Thursday’s announcement was the result of strong U.S.-Japanese coordination, he said.
There were times like this when North Korea stabbed us in the back.
Abe also issued a clear note of caution: “Until North Korea takes actual steps towards a complete inspection of their nuclear weapons and missiles, and their irreversible abandonment, this will not sway the absolute position of Japan and the United States that we will continue to apply the greatest amount of pressure.” - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov — whose government is also one of Pyongyang’s few allies — told the TASS news agency that he was glad to see “a dialogue based on mutual respect” as opposed to “threats, ultimatums and unilateral sanctions.”
- Australia Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull: “This meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong Un could be an historical event depending on its results.” The Aussie stated further that coupled with Australia’s stiff sanctions, these meeting could be successful for the Korean people, North Korea’s neighbors, and all other countries in the Region.
Summary
Does it really matter what policies or legislation Donald Trump proposes? Does it really matter to the anti-Trumpsters what huge successes the Nation has experienced after his first year in office from those policies and that historical tax cut law? No, it makes no difference at all.
Can you believe that China, Russia, Japan, and South Korea along with Australia to the south are not only supportive of this meeting, they ALL praise it’s happening! But woe is America — according to the U.S. Left.
Here’s what Americans are beginning in droves to realize: Mainstream media, Democrats, and many establishment GOP members have huge personal investment in a Trump failure while in the White House. That investment has nothing to do with governing the country by the will of the People. By Donald Trump’s achievements, their plans are thwarted already! And they are all gritting their teeth at every victory.
It’s not just meeting with Kim Jong Un. It’s not just the largest tax deduction for the middle class and corporations in modern history. It’s not just the earthquake that happens almost daily with the zooming stock market. It’s not just the almost immediate resumption of manufacturing and new energy production in the U.S. resulting in several million new jobs — 300,000 of those last month. It’s not just the amazing reception by foreign leaders when they meet Trump because of his no-nonsense messaging that is straight to the point. It’s ALL of the above.
Donald Trump refuses to fit into their D.C. cookie-cutter mold of “How to function in D.C. politics.” He brought his own cookie-cutter with him, he’s using it, and it’s working.
I must be honest: sometimes his blustery tweets and campaign-rally rhetoric make me feel a bit uncomfortable. But he’s not the only person in my life for whom I have great respect who sometimes embarrass me a bit. I accept their momentary embarrassment of me. Why? Because they are genuine and have credibility with me. You know what? Donald Trump does too.
No doubt he brags. But to steal a quote from Howard Cosell regarding Deion Sander’s bragging about his NFL football prowess: “It ain’t bragging if he can do it.”
Trump’s doing it.
