What . . . what? Trump agrees to meet with Bowl Cut Jr.

You wanted an unconventional presidency (and so did I). This is unconventional, to say the least:

President Trump will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by May for high-level talks toward a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, a South Korean official said outside the White House Thursday.

The extraordinary and unexpected opening came through shuttle diplomacy by a South Korean delegation arriving in Washington Thursday. Trump heralded the development as a "major announcement" after speaking with the South Korean president. "I told President Trump that in our meeting, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he's committed to denuclearization. He pledged that North Korea will refrain from any further nuclear or missile tests," South Korean national security adviser Chung Eui-yong told reporters after meeting with Trump at the White House. Significantly, there was no insistence that the United States and South Korea suspend joint military exercises. Chung met with Kim earlier this week, and came to Washington Thursday to relay the message from the North Korean leader. "I explained to President Trump that his leadership, and his maximum pressure policy, along with international solidarity, brought us to this juncture," he said.

Honestly, I see no upside to this. If Kim Jong Un wants to capitulate and give up his nuclear program, he doesn't need to tell Trump that face to face. If he wants to give up power and get out of the way of reunification, he has to plead for the mercy of the South Korean government and, presumably, his own oppressed citizens.

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North Korea is a prison/torture state and Kim Jong Un is responsible for keeping it that way

I get the whole thing about how Trump likes to look people in the eye, but there's really nothing to discuss here. North Korea is a prison/torture state and Kim Jong Un is responsible for keeping it that way. His country produces almost nothing economically and he's totally dependent on outside trade to get anything and everything he needs to finance his murderous regime. The only conversation that needs to happen is the one in which he agrees to a) give up his nukes; b) agree to unlimited and unrestricted inspections to make sure he does; and c) give up power and let his long-suffering people live under the free regime to the south. I can't imagine what there is to negotiate. Maybe Trump thinks his superior persuasive skills will get something out of Bowl Cut Jr. that no one else has ever been able to get, but it's one thing for him say he'll do something. It's another thing to make him actually do it. The Kim regime never keeps its promises, but it always makes sure to get what it needs from gullible negotiating partners before it does. There's also the whole question of whether the president of the United States should legitimize this dirtbag by shaking hands and posing for pictures with him. My vote is no, but Trump's vote is the only one that counts here. Pray this turns out well. Because the things that could go wrong here would be . . . really wrong.