Trump Didn’t Understand Why S. Korea Is A US Ally A Year Into His Presidency

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Trump wouldn’t understand why the US couldn’t abandon important ally South Korea a year into his presidency.

The story about Trump not understanding why the US needs to have a close presence to monitor N. Korea activities has been reported before, but The Washington Post added this detail:

What The Post’s story Tuesday didn’t detail, though, is that this exchange didn’t happen early in Trump’s presidency; it came on Jan. 19, 2018 — almost exactly one full year into it. It came months after North Korea had threatened an attack on Guam, a U.S. territory in the Pacific Ocean. It also came a couple months after North Korea said it had developed a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that could reach the continental United States.

What got Mattis’s goat, according to the book, was that he felt like they’d had this exact conversation many times before, and Trump refused to either remember or process it. As Mattis explained the reasons for a U.S.-South Korean alliance, Trump repeatedly returned to the idea that the United States is running a trade deficit with South Korea — suggesting the alliance was hurting the American economy.

Trump’s ignorance is intentional and self-imposed

Trump is willing to throw US allies overboard while jeopardizing national and global security because he is that devoid of basic knowledge. This is some master strategy, or “Trump Doctrine.” It is simply willful ignorance. Trump thinks he knows everything, so he believes that he needs to learn nothing. He’ll just trust his gut as he likes to say.

The problem is that Trump’s instincts are consistently terrible. He makes the wrong choices at every turn. If Donald Trump weren’t born rich, he would have been a failure in life.

The South Korea story debunks the excuses that Republicans make for Trump. He wasn’t new to the job, inexperienced, or not a politician. A year into his presidency, Trump didn’t understand why the US needs to maintain their alliance with South Korea.

Trump’s ignorance is a threat to the world, which is why he is blowing a gasket over Bob Woodward’s book.

The myth of Donald Trump is being debunked and exposed.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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