The word has come in from a variety of sources--good sources, Washington Post-type sources: North Korea has reached out to American national security types, former spooks, and even think tanks, in an attempt to figure out Donald Trump.
It sounds like something out of The Onion, but it's definitely not fake news. North Korea has reached out to several outfits--including the Heritage Foundation!--looking for clues to the billion-dollar question: What's up with Donald Trump?
We are happy and gratified to be able to answer that question: We don't know.
(If we did we wouldn't tell North Korea.)
"Their No. 1 concern is Trump," said one person with knowledge of the talks. "They can't figure him out."
There's a possibility that that's a good thing. If jaw-jaw doesn't lead to war-war.
We are reminded of the months leading up to the First Gulf War in 1990, when ambassadors for the United States were wishy-washy in meetings with Saddam Hussein. He was massing troops on the border with Kuwait, and our people reportedly told him they had "no opinion" on various Arab-Arab conflicts. That feeble show of inadequate resolve gave Saddam Hussein the green light, and a few months later America was at war in the Middle East. This aggression will not stand and all that.
But what really caught our eye in this current story--like a fishhook--was the word that North Korea's national security folks have approached our national security folks with what sources call an "encyclopedic knowledge" of President Trump's tweets.
Oh, Lord.
We're confident in saying that President Trump doesn't have an encyclopedic knowledge of his tweets.
If there is a message our people should be giving North Korea, it may be this: This president tweets according to his mood. Or maybe according to what he had for breakfast. He might not--might not--even mean half of it. His people can't seem to get the phone away from him. Which might explain why his people contradict him so often. His mood might change five minutes after they've talked with him.
His tweets aren't necessarily malicious. They're more random than anything. Which is why he is currently fighting skirmishes with a sports league, a sports network, senators from the opposing party, senators from his own party, the media, a special prosecutor, the former FBI director, the courts, the Justice Department, immigrants and various celebrities. Think of his tweets as a Drudge Report of the Twitter universe. It's just a rundown of the news of the day. With presidential snark thrown in if he can keep it within 140 characters.
If the North Koreans are having trouble deciphering this president's tweets and comprehending his policies, they should be told: Join the club. But they should also be told: This guy isn't Obama. Don't push any limits.
Cool your jets. Literally.
Editorial on 09/28/2017