What's Next After Singapore? Ask TV Critics, Not the Foreign Policy Experts

Trump39s hyperbole is reminiscent of a model from broadcasting39s early days the radioenabled rise of Huey Long and Father Coughlin whose demagoguery exploited troubled economic times to build national political followingsamp160 The parallels with today39s vacuous presidential claims the combination of prevarication faux populism and prejudice are strikingamp160 So too is the responsibility of media critics who are uniquely well equipped to draw them compared to Washington insiders as they review Trump39s performanceamp160His assertions about Singapore are only one of many cases in pointamp160 Americans should sleep well Trump famously tweeted after returning home Kim39s nuclear threat a danger that could bring the North39s incineration he had warned for months is a thing of the pastamp160 Unfortunately for those eager for relief from nuclearinduced insomnia a week or so later the administration contradicted its sootherinchief extending the national state of emergency imposed because of the North39s nuclear threatTrump39s national security entourage is doing its best to tap dance around his postsummit hyperbolic debrisamp160 Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hardly shy in parroting his boss has been careful not to elaborate publicly on the Singapore meetingamp160 As Trump39s point man on North Korea his evasions about the oneonone and followup talks are strikingamp160 Details about the meeting39s policy implications are sparse to say the leastamp160 The vague communique has neither specifics nor a timeline much less even a hint on how denuclearization of the North will unfoldPompeo has made the rounds of Asian and European capitals briefing allies and others on the eventamp160 There39s good reason to wonder if the visits aren39t an apology touramp160 Trump39s gift to Kim an announced halt to US military exercises in Korea caught Seoul and Tokyo as well as US military commanders by surpriseamp160 On Singapore39s key issue it39s also obvious Pompeo has a problemamp160 When reporters asked him about the nowdeflated US demand for an immediate end to Kim39s nuclear program his testy comeback admitted the job would take a couple yearsamp160The hard news desert hasn39t impeded a flood of analysis although with sparse pickings to go on to paraphrase Winston Churchill never has so much been written by so many to explain so littleamp160 The commentary also has missed a crucial pointamp160 If the Trump era makes anything clear it39s the fact reality TV has displaced real politiqueamp160 To put it in a showrunner39s vernacular exit the policy wonks and cue the media criticsamp160 The casting change isn39t temporaryamp160 As the president turns politics diplomacy and just about everything else into a personal drama Washington39s old guard simply doesn39t have the stuff to get Trump39s performance rightTo be fair of course it isn39t their faultamp160 Take Singaporeamp160 NixontoChinatype surprise or not from the foreign policy establishment39s viewpointamp160the meeting should have been like the doings of a conventional commanderinchiefamp160 Republican or Democrat a firstever summit between any previous president and a decadeslong antagonist wouldn39t be a roll of the diceamp160 The White House would use its diplomats intelligence experts and allies to prepare its goals a factbased policy to pursue themamp160and a game plan that teed up negotiations to produce results over the long run in other words a politically wellgrounded as well as professional approachamp160In the current White House however to noodle up a strategy in those terms would be to borrow the president39s adjective a huge mistakeamp160 Notwithstanding its pickup game quality his summit according to Trump has outdone every other in hitting its markamp160 From a ratings39 perspective maybeamp160 But as the skeptics now suggest about its substance not so muchamp160 Indeed mimicking the North Korean media39s adoring depiction of their leader39s international comingout party newscasts with insanely ecstatic anchors whose praise of Kim could run uncut on Saturday Night Live amp160Trump has treated Singapore like the featured segment in a primetime television special complete with promised sequels and his own starring roleamp160Trump39s silence since Singapore makes the pointamp160 Having decreed Kim39s weapons all but an existential threat other presidents would have addressed their goals after a historic meeting on the start of denuclearizing the Korean peninsula in a major speechamp160 Not so in this White House Witness Trump39s teasers for coming attractions amp160Kim goes to Washington and Trump to Pyongyangamp160 If recent history is a guide and if they happen expect the extravaganzas to be preceded by cliffhanging quotwilltheymeetornotquot dramas followed by visits long on pageantry but short on tough policy talks amp160As for a coherent strategy to protect American security and our Asian allies there39s a reason for the lack of substance from the president and everybody else in his administration about next stepsamp160 After two years of pushing for Pyongyang to agree to immediate nuclear disarmament or else Trump39s meeting with Kim abandoned that line in the sandamp160 The White House asserts that its position is as hardover as everamp160 Maybe so but announcing talks is one thing being prepared for them anotheramp160 In other words the empty White House podium speaks volumesWith a mediaobsessed president in charge the dearth of postSingapore details suggests only one conclusion his inner circle not to mention America39s foreign policy cognoscenti haven39t a clue where policy is going nextamp160 Fortunately having steeped themselves in reality TV39s tropes from Jerry Springer39s seminal work to The Apprentice in all its onetime starturnedpresident39s narcissistic glory media critics doamp160As the Museum of Broadcast Communication39s Encyclopedia of Television puts it in its history of journalism and television criticism TV critics often use a program or series as a paradigm to examine broader trends in societyamp160 It39s important workamp160 And today their role on the national stage goes without sayingamp160 After all when a program airs 247 has the Oval Office for its set and serves up prime time improvisational skits that have real world consequences who better to critique the show as the latest part of the reality TV genreamp160 Especially when that39s all it isClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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What's Next After Singapore? Ask TV Critics, Not the Foreign Policy Experts

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Kent M. Harrington

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