The proposed VSG - Kim meeting - initial thoughts

Most of the reaction I've seen so far comes from apoplectic lefties. In particular, at MSNBC, Rachel Maddow put the possible recklessness of it front and center in her monologue. Joe Scarborough painted it as a distraction from the Stormy Daniels story.

Maddow has a point, to an extent. These two leaders, Trump and Kim, have read a great deal about each other, and have been briefed by advisors who spend their days analyzing the other country's key figures. But there's still going to be a lot about each others' personalities that will only become apparent in a face-to-face encounter. And we post-Americans know enough about the Very Stable Genius to know that he can ruin the good effects of a particular move with a really bad move (most recent case in point: following up the tax-reform package, in which he was apparently more invested than anything else he wanted Congress to work on over the last year, with these idiotic tariffs. And we also know he has lifelong respect issues. Some perceived slight at this meeting could spark a faux pax with global and historic implications.

Conversely, Kim was raised to value deviousness. The suddenness of this seeming pivot still reeks of some missing element. Kim just might use the meeting to provoke Trump into just such a hot of outrage, at which point Kim could say, "This confirms that we can't work with the Americans at all."

I'd still like to see the sober minds I respect the most weigh in on this. Something doesn't add up.

That's why I currently have no horse in this particular race. Giddy tribalists - and, as mentioned above, outraged tribalists - abound this morning. The LITD take is that no "points" have been "scored." This is supremely surprising, yes, but much is going to unfold between now and that day in May when the sit-down occurs, if indeed it does.