On Thursday, President Donald Trump announced the United States would be pulling out of the June 12 summit with North Korea in Singapore, citing the regime's recent hostile statements as evidence of bad faith.
Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla., cheered the president's decision and accused North Korea of trying to set up the United States to take the blame when the North Korean regime eventually pulled out of the summit. Because Trump moved first, Rubio says to Kim Jong Un: "You just played yourself."
Kim Jun Un, in the words of a wise man “Congratulations, you just played yourself”. Withdrawing from talks with… https://t.co/ArJS27TcLb— Marco Rubio (@Marco Rubio)1527169975.0
Florida's other senator, a Democrat running for re-election in 2018, blames the cancellation of the summit on Trump's "lack of preparation."
The cancellation of this summit reveals the lack of preparation on the part of President Trump in dealing with a to… https://t.co/l1CLHokqHi— Bill Nelson (@Bill Nelson)1527172689.0
So here are the competing narratives. Conservatives like Rubio who have been skeptical of North Korea's intentions see the aggressive posturing of the communist regime as evidence that the North Koreans are not serious about denuclearization. Democrats, who have thus far ignored or downplayed President Trump's efforts to seek peace and denuclearization on the Korean peninsula, will now blame Trump for screwing up the peace meeting.
Trump puts America first by calling North Korea's bluffs. The Democratic Party is the blame-America-first party, cynically pointing fingers at Trump for a meeting that was unlikely to be productive in the first place, given North Korea's history of lies and deception.
