Last weekend, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was hard at work in Beijing, trying to persuade China’s leaders to tighten economic sanctions on North Korea. The United States wants a peaceful solution, he told them, and sanctions could force Kim Jong Un to negotiate.
“We’re not going to accept a nuclear-armed North Korea,” Tillerson told reporters after his meetings. But, he said, “it’s going to be an incremental process to get there. … You’d be foolish to think you’re going to sit down and say, ‘OK, done, nuclear weapons are gone.’ This is going to be a process of engagement.”
Meanwhile, in the United States, President Trump erupted.
“I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man,” the president tweeted. “Save your energy Rex, we’ll do what has to be done!”
In case those two tweets weren’t enough to convey the nuances of nuclear diplomacy, Trump added a third. “Being nice to Rocket Man hasn’t worked in 25 years, why would it work now? Clinton failed, Bush failed, and Obama failed. I won’t fail.”