Daniel Wolfram
Instead Trump cozies up to the dictator next door. This is a dangerous game for the president to play.
It’s been nearly six months since President Donald Trump was goaded into starting a war with Iran.
A war he is seemingly not able to get out of. Iran will not agree to give away its nuclear equipment and it refuses to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The world economy is extremely exposed by this conflict of war.
Meanwhile, Trump is putting the blame on everybody but himself. This has resulted in important military allies being threatened while Trump throws himself into the arms of dangerous dictators.
Trump is flirting with Kim Jong Un
As reported here earlier, Trump wrote a lengthy Truth Social post where he announced that he would instruct the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, to reduce the American portion of the joint military exercises out of respect for North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong Un.
However, the real reason came at the bottom of the long rant. Trump wrote about a recent conversation he had with South Korea.
The real reason for creating a rift between the US and South Korea
Therein lies the true motivation of Trump: the willingness to cozy up to a dictator and strain a strong relationship with an ally to find a way out of the war with Iran.
There is just one problem. Trump desperately does not want to make it seem like he lost this war even though that is the consensus right now.
Therefore, he is trying to castigate South Korea, historically a loyal friend to the United States, while daring its number one enemy to see just how much Trump is willing to abandon the current world order just so he can get out of the war without further bad press.
Far-reaching consequences
There are multiple looming problems with Trump theatrically announcing on his social media platform that the U.S. military is turning its back on a storied military exercise with an ally that shares a border with a dangerous foe.
First, North Korea currently possesses around 50 nuclear warheads ready to launch. Military intelligence has determined that they are “capable of reaching the entire [U.S.] Homeland,” according to a report made this year.
Is Trump under the impression that just because he flatters the brutal dictator of North Korea, Kim Jong Un will not hesitate to fire them at the US if conflicts around the world continue to escalate?
Second, there are currently between 25,000 and 30,000 American troops stationed in South Korea. Many of them are stationed in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which is the 160-mile-long buffer zone that cuts along the North and South Korean border.
These soldiers will be right in the crosshairs if Kim Jong Un gets the impression that South Korea is weakened for some reason.
Trump has no patience or time for diplomacy
This is not the first time Trump has intervened in U.S.-South Korea relations. Nor is it the first time he has been persuaded by the North Korean dictator to stop collaborating with its neighbor. Back in 2018, Trump canceled another exercise with South Korea because it was “too expensive.”
It can sometimes be productive to get fresh eyes on traditional military workflows to see if they really are too expensive or outdated.
But this is not what is happening here. Trump punished by taking away an exercise South Korea desperately needs because the country is unwilling to support a fruitless American bombing campaign in Iran. In Trump’s eyes, South Korea must face the consequences of going against his own worldview.
That worldview includes trying to be friends with ruthless dictators and abandoning his most important allies. At some point, this intimidation tactic from Trump will prove fatal, and then the US will stand alone.
And by the time Trump has alienated everyone around him, the United States of America will really be in trouble.
