Trump’s breakup note to Kim Jong-un, explained

On a special all-North Korea episode of Worldly, Yochi, Jenn, and Zack talk about President Trump’s surprise cancellation of his planned summit with Kim Jong Un — a decision Trump announced literally as the Worldly crew was sitting down to record the podcast. Trump scrapped the meeting in a strangely personal letter to Kim that alternated between reading like the world’s worst breakup note and threatening to use America’s “massive and powerful” nuclear arsenal against the North. We would put jokes down here but it all happened too fast and we’re still processing. References: Trump’s letter to Kim Jong Un canceling the North Korea summit Here’s a piece with more helpful background on the lead-up to this summit collapse, and a longer C-SPAN clip where Trump answered some questions about his thoughts on the summit. We pulled clips of both National Security Adviser John Bolton and Vice President Mike Pence speaking about the Libya model. Jenn mentioned Pete Hegseth on Fox News suggesting that Kim Jong Un “probably doesn't love being the guy that has to murder his people all day long. Probably wants normalization."   Zack mentioned that many international relations scholars see status as a motivator for countries’ actions.   Zack and Yochi went back and forth on previous talks with North Korea. Jenn mentioned Pompeo’s meeting with Kim. Here’s a piece about Kim asking for US investment in North Korea’s economy, and what Pompeo communicated about those meetings. Talking about concessions North Korea has made, Jenn brought up the recent explosion at a North Korean nuclear test site.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices