And then there's this

In the course of the take-questions-from-the-press portion of his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe today, the Very Stable Genius said rather forthrightly that he's basically winging it regarding the upcoming Kim summit:

On Thursday, the president showed little concern himself. Speaking to reporters before a White House meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Ave he said: “I don't think I have to prepare very much. It's about attitude. It's about willingness to get things done.”

Allahpundit at Hot Air has done some thought-provoking analysis on the internal dynamics of the Trump national-security team's planning, or lack thereof, for the summit. His pieces are here,  here, and here.  The gist of what he's analyzing is all the talk that Pompeo and Bolton don't get along, that the latter froze the former out of the White House meeting with that North Korean intelligence thug, and that Bolton dropped the "Libyan model" idea into his remarks in order to scuttle or at least dampen the possibilities of a summit. Allahpundit poses a good question for those inclined to embrace that view: Why did Mike Pence reiterate it?

Allahpundit floats the possibility that Bolton concurs with the VSG that not a whole lot of preparation is needed a this point, with all the off-and-back-on status changes (not to mention Giuliani's weird remark about Kim begging on his hands and knees for a reinstatement).

And it gets weirder still. There's talk of a round of golf at Mar-a-Lago. And one frothing-at-the-mouth VSG devotee thinks it's a stroke of 5-D chess:

There’s another possibility. The goals of the summit may be so diminished by now that Bolton has concluded there’s little to prepare for. He wants the NorKs to commit firmly to denuclearlization, to the point where they show up in Singapore with a list of ports the U.S. Navy can use to carry away Kim’s nukes and enrichment infrastructure. Trump has scaled those ambitions way, way back, though, telling reporters last week after the meeting with Kim Yong Chol that the summit would be a “get to know you” session. I think POTUS is now viewing this as essentially a gladhanding opportunity, a chance for him to mount a charm offensive, build a rapport, then let the eggheads take over to hammer out a compromise. He’s spent his entire adult in Manhattan real estate and politics schmoozing shady characters. How hard can it be to schmooze a monster? In fact:

[A]ccording to two administration officials, Trump has also raised the possibility of a leisurely activity and, perhaps, getting in 18 holes with Kim if the two end up getting along.

“He has also discussed [possibly] golfing with Kim,” a senior Trump administration official said…

“I think that would be phenomenal—I think it would be a huge foreign policy win if President Trump got Kim Jong Un on a golf course, especially if he did it at Mar-a-Lago,” Eric Bolling, a close Trump friend and former Fox News star, told The Daily Beast.

I have my doubts that it amounts to grand strategy. That's not something the VSG has ever demonstrated a capacity for, at least to my satisfaction. His modus operandi in foreign-policy matters tends to hew more closely to the kind of clumsiness demonstrated in his most recent phone conversation with Pierre Trudeau. 

Trump's imparting a sort of Bolton-esque tone to some of his statements about the summit, saying denuclearization is a must for any kind of deal.  But LITD is far from convinced that this hard-ass stance being put forth basically in the same breath with Mar-a-Lago talk leaves me skittish rather than giddy.

I understand I could be proven wrong. I just have yet to see signs of genius in the foreign-policy arena from the guy.