Miscellaneous

Victor Cha is a Korean-American, and seems to know more about North Korea than anyone who talks about it.  He almost became Trump’s Ambassador to South Korea, and his 2013 book, The Impossible State: North Korea, Past and Future, is a must read if you want to understand our dilemma.

I certainly learned a lot reading it yesterday.  For one thing, the people of North Korea love the Kims, all of them, I, II, and III.  Kim I was a Korean George Washington, leading his country in a war against the hegemon of the world, the United States, a war in which he can claim victory.  What’s more, for at least 20 years after that war ended in 1953 North Korea was more stable and prosperous than South Korea.  Before and during World War II, Japan invested heavily in industrial infrastructure in North Korea, and this was the basis of relative North Korean prosperity for a generation.

Kim III doesn’t need to worry about a popular insurrection against him.  He won’t wind up like Ceaucescu of Romania, or Libya’s Khaddafi.  Some people tolerate despotism better than others.  Like the North Koreans, and the Russians, who today actually have fond memories of the beast Stalin.

This popular support gives him the confidence he needs to chart a new path for his country.  The people will follow him.  His government will obey him.

If the man has any heart at all, he’s got to look at these millions of his countrymen  —  who admire and look up to him —  and feel their pain.  He wants a better life for his people.  He’s lived in the west, he knows what is out there.  As he looks at South Korea, and China, and even Vietnam he sees rising standards of living, and a better life.  If he thinks he can deliver that to his people, he’ll do it.

It appears as though there’s a young Kim IV that has been kept out of sight.  What kind of life does Kim III want for his son and heir, and for the rest of his family?  Can he give his son a better life than he’s had?  If he can, he will.

I think Kim III has decided to go for it.  Let us all wish him well.

 

 

When CNBC’s Rick Santelli ignited the modern Tea Party on 2-19-09, a new political movement was born.  It prided itself on its spontaneity, and its collective nature.  The Tea Party didn’t have leaders, and it didn’t want leaders.  It was sort of anti-politician.

It was a reaction to the “fundamental transformation of America” that the new President, globalist extraordinaire Barack Obama, had embarked on.  It formed in reaction to him.  It was an opposition, or a resistance, to his program.

In part because it was hobbled by Obama’s IRS, the Tea Party faltered after its  great victories of 2010, and Obama squeaked by to reelection in 2012.  The Tea Party had failed, and died.

And then, in October of 2013, it was born again.  Obamacare was put into effect, and it was a total and unmitigated disaster.  Obama’s and the Democrat’s lies were exposed, and they were brazen, inexcusable.  The Democrats would be punished for it in 2014 by the loss of the Senate.

The opposition, or resistance, which reformed after October of 2013 still lacked a leader.  The Republican nominee for President would assume leadership of the resistance, and 2016 promised to be a banner year for Republicans regardless of who that person was.

The stars were aligned for whichever candidate prevailed.  Hillary Clinton was a terrible candidate with no message, no program.  Anybody could beat Clinton.

And then along came Trump, the leader the Tea Party never had.  He took control of the Tea Party, and used it to take control of the Republican Party.  Nothing of the kind had ever been done before.  Trump was a unique political phenomenon.

He personifies what the Tea Party is all about.  He’s not a politician.  He’s utterly fearless.  And he’s brilliant.

He’s doing what any patriotic American would do if he were President.  He’s standing up for his country, and its people.  He’s freeing the country from the federal government.  His judges will soon begin restoring the rule of law.

Donald Trump had the wit to see that his moment had come, and the courage to seize it.  And now he’s off to Singapore to make peace.

Amazing.

 

A video of Kim Jung Un shedding tears over the backward state of North Korea’s economy is supposedly being circulated within the communist leadership.  If true, it means he’s ready to cut a deal with Trump, and eventually give up his nukes.  To me, at least, this passes the smell test.  So I think Trump gets his Peace Prize, and uses the momentum to put all his enemies on the run.

In my opinion, Kim Jung Un would only make this deal with one man.  He wouldn’t make it with a Bush, or a Clinton, or an Obama.  He didn’t trust them.  They were phonies.

He trusts Trump, because he thinks he knows Trump.  He understands Donald Trump, and believes him.

He’s right, of course.  Trump will protect Kim, as he’s promised, and a denuclearized North Korea will experience an economic boom like few others have seen.  Koreans are very industrious people.

Trump can use the momentum from this foreign policy triumph to accomplish an even more important geopolitical goal:  overthrow the ayatollahs, and abet an Iranian Revolution.

All leading up to the Monster of Elections: 2020.

It’s entirely possible that two years from now the elections of 2020 will look like a Republican blowout.  Think of the possibilities, if:

1.  The Korean peninsula is denuclearized.

2. The ayatollahs are under siege in Iran, and an Iranian political revolution is underway.

3.  Justice Kennedy’s replacement on the Supreme Court is the fifth vote to overturn Roe. V. Wade.

4.  The economy is roaring along with 3.5% growth.

5.  The Democratic Party becomes totally unhinged, and nominates another George McGovern.

6.  Trump and Putin meet, and establish a Russian/American detente.

7.  Our trade deficits with China and the rest of the world are reduced dramatically.  A revival  of American manufacturing is underway

8.  Etc.

It could be a monster of an election for the Republicans, winning them control of the New Mexico, Nevada, Maine, and  Washington state legislatures.  At that point, it’s possible to get to 34 for an Article V Balanced Budget Amendment.

It would be an alignment of the stars that is seldom seen in American history.  As currently written, that’s what’s needed for Article V.

And maybe, just maybe, that’s what we’re going to get.

 

The art of the deal depends on who you’re dealing with.  It’s the most important part of any negotiation.  So as President Trump prepares to make a deal with North Korea, he must first understand its leader.

He was born in 1982, or shortly thereafter, and as a teenager went to school in Switzerland.  He was friendly but shy, and not much of a student.  But he loved basketball, as a player and a Michael Jordan fan.

At the age of 29 he became the Supreme Leader of North Korea, a job he’s had for seven years now.  His older half-brother had been out of favor ever since he used a fake passport in 2001, trying to enter Japan in order to see Tokyo Disneyland.

When Trump looks at Kim jong-un he doesn’t see a happy camper.  He sees somebody who wants an out.  The man is a prisoner in his own country.  And Trump thinks he can see a little fear.  This guy lives a precarious existence.  He has no choice but to be a total paranoid, uncertain of who he can really trust.

Trump has offered him protection.  He won’t wind up like Ghadaffi.  That’s Trump’s promise, and if he thinks Trump can and will deliver, he’ll make the deal.

And Trump gets his Nobel Prize.  Because he read his man.