Trump could transform the U.S.-North Korea relationship

But it’s possible that Trump’s unfamiliarity with the details of denuclearization, and his desire to be celebrated as a peacemaker, may be his greatest asset. Because what matters most about the summit isn’t whether it begins the process of eliminating every last ounce of Pyongyang’s plutonium and enriched uranium. What matters most is whether it begins the process of fundamentally changing the relationship between North Korea and the United States.

In pursuing peace with North Korea, Trump has the chance to be like Ronald Reagan: not the unyielding, warlike Reagan of Republican myth, but the real Reagan. The man who, in his second term, confounded both establishment centrists and his right-wing base by focusing not on the details of arms control but on fundamentally changing America’s relationship with the USSR.