ABC News Anne Imanuel Preston and Senator McKnight in front of old Florida Capitol;
Post #15, Bob McKnight's Subscription Commentary
With embarrassing results in his first two Summits--North Korea and Russia, look for President Trump to soon announce a Summit with Iran. Just as with North Korea, Trump has threatened Iran with annihilation, but he feels this is good theater for the upcoming midterm elections. 'US-Iran Summit--the likes of which have never been seen before.'
Critics are pointing out that President Trump got badly played by North Korea President Kim in their recent Summit. This writer cautioned the need for preparation and planning for the Summit to be successful for Trump, but that failing, we are still hoping for something good to come from the Summit. North Korea recently sent us a few of the remains of something, but in the past, most of the remains turned out to be dead dogs. Nothing has been done on disarming their nukes.
Russia's Summit was even worse since we know nothing about it, except for what the Russian press and President Putin will tell us. Putin said he got Trump's commitments on a number of issues.
In the meantime, I am one of many that feel the uncertainty of Trump's actions, even if they don't make sense, have everyone off guard--especially our enemies. Like Iran.
David Polluck, a Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute recently opined that it may be time for Trump to propose a Summit with Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhan. Such a Summit would certainly catch everyone off guard again.
One's first reaction might be why since Trump unilaterally withdrew from the long negotiated Iran Nuclear Agreement, abandoning our Allies? The answer for Trump is it might be a way to further poke our Allies in the eye by saying America can do everything by itself. As Polluck points out, there is little risk for Trump, and gobs of curious publicity for him. Most important, he can continue to brag that his predecessors couldn't do it (and wouldn't).
Would such a Summit advance peace? It would depend on what is proposed, but even if it is just to meet, Trump can again call the photo shoot a big success, just in time for the critical mid term elections. As Trump would say, this Summit, even if it ends like the other two, would be 'the likes of which has never been seen before.' It is certain that the Republicans in Congress will look the other way again, since it will be close to an election.