Trump Reportedly Just Gonna Wing It on Talks With Kim Jong-un

Donald Trump has never been known for being too good at the details, and by details, I mean even remotely trying to do the bare ass minimum required of any job, much less the President of the United States.

This, for example, is how the Washington Post described, in May 2017, what a typical briefing where officials tell Trump classified intelligence looked like:

Most mornings, often at 10:30, sometimes earlier, Trump sits behind the historic Resolute desk and, with a fresh Diet Coke fizzing and papers piled high, receives top-secret updates on the world’s hot spots. The president interrupts his briefers with questions but also with random asides. He asks that the top brass of the intelligence community be present, and he demands brevity.

As they huddle around the desk, Trump likes to pore over visuals — maps, charts, pictures and videos, as well as “killer graphics,” as CIA Director Mike Pompeo phrased it.

And this is how the same paper described, in February of this year, what a typical briefing where officials tell Trump classified intelligence looks like:

He rarely if ever reads the President’s Daily Brief, a document that lays out the most pressing information collected by U.S. intelligence agencies from hot spots around the world.

Trump has opted to rely on an oral briefing of select intelligence issues in the Oval Office rather than getting the full written document delivered to review separately each day, according to three people familiar with his briefings.

Reading the traditionally dense intelligence book is not Trump’s preferred “style of learning,” according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

You’ll be happy to learn that, in keeping with this tradition, Trump is reportedly doing fuck all to prepare for his summit next month with Kim Jong-un. Per Time:

With just one month until a scheduled sit-down with North Korea’s leader, President Donald Trump hasn’t set aside much time to prepare for meeting with Kim Jong Un, a stark contrast to the approach of past presidents.

“He doesn’t think he needs to,” said a senior administration official familiar with the President’s preparation. Aides plan to squeeze in time for Trump to learn more about Kim’s psychology and strategize on ways to respond to offers Kim may make in person, but so far a detailed plan hasn’t been laid out for getting Trump ready for the summit.

[…]

Another White House official told TIME “there is a robust, whole-of-government effort underway to prepare for President Trump’s upcoming meeting,” but declined to elaborate on internal discussions or preparations beyond that statement.

We should all be grateful that Trump’s aides are going to grab two or three bulletpoints from Kim Jong-un’s Wikipedia page and just squeeze ‘em right in between all of the very important tasks he does every day, such as: screaming at the TV; nodding furiously at the TV; being mad about leaks; and talking to the people from the TV before he goes night night.

Making things worse is that the summit itself is in jeopardy; North Korea has threatened to pull out because the U.S. and South Korea are carrying out joint military exercises. (Thankfully, our resistance leader Chuck Schumer was right there to nudge Trump in the direction of pissing North Korea off even more.)

Asked on Wednesday if he thinks North Korea is bluffing on its threat to walk away from the summit, Trump responded: “We’ll see what happens.” Yeah! I guess we will!