Donald Trump’s on-the-fly decision to meet Kim Jong Un — the most audacious gambit of a norm-defying presidency — has left the White House and his lieutenants scrambling to catch up. Perched in the Oval Office, President Trump floored his own advisors and left his South Korean guests flabbergasted when he agreed — just like that — to accept an offer to meet nuclear-armed dictator Kim Jong Un. Unencumbered by that historical baggage, this neophyte president agreed to meet Kim without consulting his team, not least Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was half the world away in Addis Ababa. “President Trump should be well on his way to his own Nobel Peace Prize,” said Republican Congressman Luke Messer. But Trump has turned the process on its head, deciding first then leaving aides to make the policy and equities fit.

Source: Manila Bulletin March 10, 2018 00:11 UTC