Putin, Trump and Kim: Love Is in the Air

At least half of the people in the United States are taken aback by the spineless love fest that Donald Trump is having with Russia’s despotic President Vladimir Putin.

But it is high time to project the path of world events forward a bit. Let’s recall the time when the 45th U.S. President, Donald Trump, and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un fell in love. That was back in 2018, during Trump’s first term.

Who could have resisted feeling enamoured by the sight of a chubby, adorable hereditary dictator?  It was a May-September romance.

A shaky start

As is the case with quite a few love affairs, the lovers at first appeared to be hostile to one another. Trump called Kim “little rocket man,” referring to the Korean man’s small stature and his country’s efforts to stockpile nuclear missiles. He also threatened North Korea with “fire and fury like the world has never seen.”

Never one to hold back, Kim, clearly not a novice in the affairs of the heart, promised a “thousand-fold” retaliation.

All that turned out to be mere courtship. The two men met, exchanged 27 letters which Trump described as “beautiful” and the two of them, once again to use Trump’s own words, “fell in love.”

Condos for nukes

Unsurprisingly, Trump — ever the real estate man — talked about developing waterfront properties in North Korea.  He apparently hoped to build Florida-style condos and vacation homes along the country’s ragged shoreline — if Kim only agreed to give up his nuclear arsenal.

It is not known whether the relationship was consummated, but no condos were ever built in the Hermit Kingdom and North Korea still has all of its nuclear weapons.

Enter Putin

When Donald Trump was out of office from 2021 to 2024, Kim unfortunately did not remain faithful. Instead, he struck up a romantic relationship with Russia’s strongman Vladimir Putin.

More a marriage of convenience, it was cemented by a kind of prenuptial agreement, i.e., a security and defense pact signed by the pair when Putin visited Kim in June 2024.

Hopefully, summer camps, not work camps

North Korea now provides Russia with artillery shells, military hardware and, most recently, cannon fodder — since Russia’s own once formidable supply of such deadly things has been greatly diminished by the war in Ukraine.

In return, Western analysts believe that Putin is helping the Little Rocket Man to improve his missile technology — and possibly even giving him a hand with perfecting his nukes.

But it is not just practical arrangements. Russian tourists, for whom travel to many countries of the world has become difficult since Putin invaded Ukraine, are flocking to North Korea. Some Russian kids even spent their summers in camps in North Korea. Hopefully, they really are summer camps, not work camps.

Two is company, three is a crowd

So what is the newly-wed couple to do now that Trump is back in the White House? Rekindle the romance, of course.

To prepare the ground, Putin has called Trump a genius. In turn, Putin has been one of the few leaders around the world whom Trump has refused to criticize.

Trump also claims that if he had been president in 2022, the war in Ukraine would never have happened — presumably because as a true friend he would have dissuaded Vladimir from embarking on his rash course.

Conclusion: The lower they fall…

As to the interactions of the three leaders, they could form a threesome. Or a love triangle. Or just an axis of evil.

Either way, for most of the history of the United States of America, it would have  been inconceivable for any President of that proud country ever to stoop so low as to consider forming an alliance with a North Korean tin-pot dictator.

Similarly, for all its inferiority complexes, Russia is a proud country. Russians must be swallowing very hard now that their country has fallen to the truly disgraceful level of having had few other options than to form an alliance with North Korea in order to save its own weakening fortunes.

One thing is for sure: Never has a leader of the United States stooped lower — morally and strategically. In that deplorable sense, Donald Trump already is a historic figure.