Trump’s breakthrough with Kim Jong Un similar to Nixon’s China moment: Varney
July 1971: Secretary of State Henry Kissinger made a secret trip to China. Six months later, President Richard Nixon arrived in Beijing for the historic meeting with Chairman Mao.
Now it’s widely reported that just a couple weeks ago, CIA Director Mike Pompeo made a secret visit to North Korea, setting up what would be a historic meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong Un.
By any measure, this is a breakthrough, very similar to Nixon’s "opening" with China. No other president has been able to do this – only Trump.
For the first time, Kim Jong Un was confronted by an American president he could not quite figure out. He was clearly no push-over and he took nothing off the table. Oh to be a fly on the wall of Kim’s palace in Pyongyang when Trump's "rocket man" tweet was translated!
Things are moving rapidly. Kim goes to China to check with his paymasters. The leaders of North and South hold a summit. Japan's leader confers with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago. And now the report of Pompeo’s ultra-secret visit over the Easter weekend.
The Trump-Kim Jong Un meeting could take place next month or in early June. The denuclearization of North Korea will be on the table. Never before have the moving parts come together as they appear to be coming together now. Of course, the summit may not happen at all, as the president has acknowledged.
But our president is in the driver's seat, and that is an achievement.