Former Delegate Scott Lingamfelter has an intriguing past, not least of which was his service to the United States Army as a colonel.
With that insight, Lingamfelter writes in the Washington Times about where he feels North Korea is headed and why Trump’s gambit — and it is a gambit — to denuclearize the Korean penninsula came with risks… but is now demonstrating great reward:
Donald Trump is not the rhetorician Winston Churchill was, but he shares Churchill’s gut instincts and raw common sense. During World War II, Churchill had a keen understanding of what he termed “the profound significance of human choice, and the sublime responsibility of men.” Churchill understood that Britain faced an existential threat from Nazi Germany. He ignored the pacifist political majority in Great Britain to make the case that managing evil — as opposed to confronting it — was both unrealistic and suicidal.
So too, Mr. Trump grasps that he must act with resolve to confront the North Korean nuclear threat. In embracing the opportunity to engage Kim Jong-un directly on nuclear disarmament, he has seized the initiative in classic military style. In doing so, he now is in firm control of events. If North Korea has indeed decided that the status quo is not in its long-term interest, the president’s boldness will be rewarded. If North Korea continues its bait-and-switch habits of suggesting peace but then walking away, Mr. Trump will be seen as having made a serious effort to avoid war, should that result in the future.
In effect, Trump bet that Kim Jong-un and the North Korean regime would behave like rational actors with a keen sense of self preservation.
Trump won the bet. The North Koreans blinked. And now there is a very serious chance that the standoff will develop into a deal.
Read it all.
