Washington (CNN) – Bob Woodward’s new book “Rage” provides a fascinating window into one of the strangest diplomatic relationships of the 21st century between President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Woodward gained access to 25 never-before-seen letters Trump exchanged with Kim, and CNN obtained transcripts of two of the letters.
Trump has described them as “love letters,” and Woodward writes they show a “diplomatic courtship” that moved Trump from taunting Kim as “Little Rocket Man” and threatening “fire and fury” to becoming the first sitting US president to meet with a North Korean leader. Woodward writes the unusual letters are filled with “declarations of personal fealty that might be uttered by the Knights of the Round Table, or perhaps suitors.”
In his letters to Trump, Kim addresses him as “Your Excellency” and punctuates them with flowery prose.
“Even now I cannot forget that moment of history when I firmly held Your Excellency’s hand at the beautiful and sacred location as the whole world watched with great interest and hope to relive the honor of that day,” Kim wrote to Trump on December 25, 2018, following their first meeting in Singapore. Another meeting “between myself and Your Excellency,” Kim added, would be “reminiscent of a scene from a fantasy film.”
Trump’s responses are more straightforward but nevertheless filled with flattery.
Trump wrote back to Kim on December 28, “Like you, I have no doubt that a great result will be accomplished between our two countries, and that the only two leaders who can do it are you and me.”
Trump has tweeted out two of the 27 letters, but the other 25 have not been seen before. Woodward was able to review all of the letters but was not given copies, so he recorded transcripts of their contents into his audio recorder for “Rage.”
……..
- Discussion
-
“Even now I cannot forget that moment of history when I firmly held Your Excellency's hand at the beautiful and sacred location as the whole world watched with great interest and hope to relive the honor of that day,"Kim wrote to Trump on December 25,2018
https://t.co/kIos4w7lZI— Shimon Prokupecz (@ShimonPro) September 9, 2020
Everyone in the world knows how to play our vain, stupid president like a fiddle. https://t.co/G2BBxJwG8z
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) September 9, 2020
Remember that there are still people who will vote for this, even though it puts our country in danger, purely because they want to make other people angry. https://t.co/l4L9du62oV
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) September 9, 2020
At least we found someone whose health the President cares about https://t.co/uw0viR3vmz
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) September 10, 2020
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.