President Trump is "out of his league" in his agreement to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, says John Dean, a former White House attorney to former President Richard Nixon.
"Much can go wrong and Trump won't read a briefing book," Dean tweeted in the early hours of Friday morning. "Going to be interesting — and extremely dangerous."
South Korea's national security adviser announced Thursday that Trump had accepted an invitation from Kim to meet face-to-face — something no sitting U.S. president has done before. The meeting is reportedly to discuss denuclearization by Pyongyang in exchange for relaxed sanctions from the U.S. The announcement blindsided both the Defense Department and the State Department: The Associated Press reports that Pentagon officials had no idea Trump had agreed to the meeting, which is scheduled to happen by May.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Dean doesn't have much faith in Trump's ability to handle the unprecedented situation, mentioning in his tweet the consistent reports that Trump does not read briefing materials. Dean additionally quipped that Kim could curry favor with the president simply by throwing him a parade. "This is not a 'Nixon to China' moment," Dean wrote.
-
Starbucks workers are planning their ‘biggest strike’ everThe Explainer The union said 92% of its members voted to strike
-
‘These wouldn’t be playgrounds for billionaires’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
The 5 best nuclear war movies of all timeThe Week Recommends ‘A House of Dynamite’ reanimates a dormant cinematic genre for our new age of atomic insecurity
-
ABC News to pay $15M in Trump defamation suitSpeed Read The lawsuit stemmed from George Stephanopoulos' on-air assertion that Trump was found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll
-
Judge blocks Louisiana 10 Commandments lawSpeed Read U.S. District Judge John deGravelles ruled that a law ordering schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms was unconstitutional
-
ATF finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole'Speed Read Biden moves to expand background checks for gun buyers
-
Hong Kong passes tough new security lawSpeed Read It will allow the government to further suppress all forms of dissent
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitutionspeed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
-
Texas executes man despite contested evidenceSpeed Read Texas rejected calls for a rehearing of Ivan Cantu's case amid recanted testimony and allegations of suppressed exculpatory evidence
-
Supreme Court wary of state social media regulationsSpeed Read A majority of justices appeared skeptical that Texas and Florida were lawfully protecting the free speech rights of users
-
Greece legalizes same-sex marriageSpeed Read Greece becomes the first Orthodox Christian country to enshrine marriage equality in law
