So to translate: Trump trusts that Kim Jong-Un wants to make a deal, but he thinks the South Koreans are deadbeats who take advantage of the United States. That is the style of Trump’s international theater: broadcasting friendship to our enemies and belligerently finding fault with our allies.

For those who will dismiss this complaint as reflexive opposition to Trump—which is a reflexive defense of Trump—I will point out that I said the same kind of thing (or worse) when previous administrations acted this way. Am I supposed to ignore it this time because the president belongs to a different party? Am I supposed to make excuses for it because I’m caught up in a cult of personality? Am I supposed to go along with the idea that this is all theater anyway, so it doesn’t matter what the real-world results are?

I’m not going to do that, because there are real-world consequences to this presidential theater, and at this point, the most likely result will be to encourage an enemy while splitting the United States from its allies.