re: #14 Dread Pirate

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“That prick-tease needs to put out.” says Kim.

And the new reality is that Trump basically has no leverage left. He’s pissed off pretty much all of our regional partners, so there’s no hope that they will join him in new/stronger sanctions. If he agrees to loosen and drop existing sanctions, Kim will just say it’s “not enough” and demand more for another glorified photo-op. And the UN is liable to laugh in his face if he tries to beat the war drums again.

The reality to treating all foreign policy as transactional is not everybody is willing to buy, those who are may not be willing to pay the prices you demand, and that will end up leaving you willing to take a lot less from those who are still around.