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Hanoi — Shortly after Donald Trump’s second meeting with Kim Jong-un, the United States’ President was questioned by the press about Otto Warmbier, the American citizen jailed and tortured in North Korea for taking a propaganda poster from a hotel.
When asked if the North Korean dictator knew about Warmbier’s condition and treatment in prison, Trump said:
“Those prisons are rough, and bad things happen, but I really don’t believe [Kim Jong Un] knew about it.” cnn.it/2Nvgnmr
Trump also went on to say he’s taking Kim for his word on the matter.
In a culture dominated by mass media and manufactured outrage, it’s often tough to tell when people are actually angry. Today, Trump’s defense of Kim in his indirect response to this soft-ball press question is causing an uproar on both sides of the aisle, fittingly.
Whether or not these Trump-Kim meetings are actually going to yield feasible results in the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, Trump’s trust of Kim is extremely concerning. The United States of America’s leader insists he’s working for the world’s well-being by engaging in this relationship, and the decreasing hostility between North and South Korea is absolutely evidence of progress.
However, if Trump is working for the world’s citizens, why is he failing to recognize Kim’s role in the horrid, heartbreaking death of our own American citizen, Otto Warmbier? It’s just not possible, or right, to defend Trump here.
While his business prowess has been an integral piece in pro-American global negotiations, POTUS must drop the formalities here. There is simply no diplomatic excuse to defend this tyrannical dictator.
In other Hanoi summit news, Trump has garnered positive bipartisan attention from Congress for walking away from the meeting and denying Kim’s request for sanctions to be lifted.
So, was the second Trump-Kim meeting a success? As a voter and moderate supporter of Donald Trump, I, for one, agree with California Democrat Adam Schiff: that press conference was disgusting.
Mr. President, if you’re truly dedicated to ending global tyranny, and sincerely putting Americans first, you must hold Kim Jong-un fully accountable for his role in the death of one of our own, no matter the consequences.
That is true patriotism.
