The Tribune

American President Donald Trump’s scuttling, for now, of the June 12 summit meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has once again focused the attention of the world on the US chief executive. His action was baffling and ill-conceived to many.

Korean leaders may yet salvage a significant meeting from the US president’s impetuosity, but progress might come despite Trump rather than due to his diplomatic efforts.

Looking from his own self-oriented perspective at Trump’s decision to pull out, the move was quite predictable. If one assumes, as many observers do, that Trump regards the presidency as essentially a tool for him alone to play with and a weapon to wield for his own advantage, the whole grand spectacle with one of the most reprehensible characters currently on the world stage is consistent with Trump’s past behaviour and an unnerving prologue to what may lie ahead.

There is a sense that Trump’s sudden, unexpected flirtation with North Korea’s Kim originated from two factors. First, there is Trump’s unhealthy sense of competition with recent occupants of the Oval Office, most notably his dignified, measured, competent predecessor Barack Obama. Since even before Trump elbowed his way to the front ranks of the misbegotten crowd of “birthers” questioning Obama’s provenance and legitimacy, Trump had demonstrated a suspiciously racist attitude in his business practices and a disregard for other former chief executives as well.

That Obama, the Bushes and Clinton did not succeed in socializing either Kim Jong-un or his father likely seemed an opportunity for Trump to surpass Obama and the others and buffer Trump’s place in history.

Many may recall that it was in 2009 ago when Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Other US presidents so honoured have been Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Jimmy Carter. While many thought even at the time that Obama’s prize might be premature, the honour was nonetheless bestowed. No less a world figure than president Moon Jae-in of South Korea began in recent weeks to openly campaign for Trump to receive the peace prize for his efforts to bring the “little rocket man” to the negotiating table. Trump was widely reported to be delighted with Moon’s highly flattering proposal.

A second reason for Trump’s move toward, and then away from Kim Jong-un comes straight from Trump’s tactical playbook. This move is called the art of the distraction.

When Trump shockingly accepted an invitation to hold a summit meeting with Kim, the Robert Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 American election had just seemed to ensnare yet another of the president’s intimates. His personal attorney, Michael Cohen, became the target of Mueller’s investigators, alongside a separate inquiry into hush money allegedly paid to porn star Stormy Daniels over an affair with Trump. This was clearly moving the investigation into territory too close for comfort.

When the North Korea summit spectacle was launched by Trump, it had the immediate, desired effect of knocking off the front pages various investigations that threaten his legitimacy, probity and even continued tenure in office. Is it too much to suspect that tactics and competition with predecessors may have been key reasons for Trump’s overture to North Korea?

As Trump continues to govern and conduct international relations from a fundamentally narcissistic perspective, it is fair to wonder if there is some kind of overarching concept or even ideal that motivates and inspires him. Surely there must be something!

The search for an answer could lie in how Trump reportedly spends his time in the White House. Especially in the mornings, the American president is known to devote himself to what has come to be known as his “executive time”.

For many presidents, early mornings have been filled with strenuous exercise, other personal enrichment activities, or sensitive intelligence briefings. It is a privilege of living in splendour just above your office. For Trump, it has been different.

Executive time for this president appears to consist almost entirely of either watching Fox News, which serves as an almost slavishly supportive echo chamber of praise for his policy decisions, or serving up a frequently distasteful and often mendacious mix of lies and calumny on Twitter.

Can 2020 come soon enough?