Public Comment

Donald Trump, with his many criminal machinations, kidnapping of migrant children and unrepentant hate speech, deserves to be in federal prison. Yet for all that, with his hopes to prove a foreign policy genius on Korea punctured, Trump becomes a tragic figure. Trump floated the idea of negotiating an end to the never ended Korean War (something both Koreas’ leaders want) in exchange for Kim Jong Un ending his nuclear weapons program. It might have worked. 

What happened instead? Unbeknownst to Trump his own men, Bolton and Pompeo, joined the national security state leaders in blocking such a peace plan. Why? US finance and military interests don’t want the Korean war ended, reunification or the removal of US troops from South Korea even if it meant ending dictatorship in the North. As a more independent capitalist powerhouse, a unified Korea, would likely loosen US imperialism’s grip throughout East Asia.