Trump Vs. Pisters: Unprepared Vs. Ready To Go
By
Leonard Zwelling
Trump cancelled the summit scheduled for June 12 with North Korea (or not—who knows?). I guess he took offense at the nasty things a Kim Jun-Un underling had to say about Mike Pence. No matter. Trump wasn’t ready for the summit because he did not understand the basic structure of a deal. He will NEVER get Kim to give up his nuclear weapons. Never! Why? Because as John Bolton notes—Libya.
Kim is fully aware of what happens when you either give in to American pressure or lose as did Saddam Hussein. You die.
Kim does not want to die. Kim does not want to be anything but the leader of North Korea. To do that there needs to be a North Korea and he has to lead it. The only chip he’s got in the global game is the nukes. Ergo, they are not going away no matter what Donald Trump wants. He may be able to get Kim to stop testing and join the other nuclear nations of the world in that, but give them up? Unlikely.
Given that, what can Trump get from North Korea anyway? Answer—Trump has no idea. Perhaps he can get an end to the Korean War. That would cost Kim nothing. Perhaps he can open a market if the Chinese will allow it which is very unclear. There is a ton of diplomatic work that needs to take place prior to any summit with a rogue state like North Korea. Mr. Trump was so blinded by the light shining off the Nobel Peace Prize, he lost sight of that—if he ever had it. The United States was played by North Korea again. Trump is just the latest in a long line of U.S. Presidents to be taken in by the possibility of making a deal with the most cloaked nation on Earth. Forget it. It was never going to happen without a lot more effort and a lot more dancing with the devil by the Americans. Or should I say devils, because the U.S. has to dance with the Chinese as well to get to North Korea.
Trump has proven himself to be a fool—as if any more proof was needed.
By contrast, the latest out of MD Anderson is far more hopeful.
After six months, an appropriate time for study, Dr. Pisters has rolled out his org structure for the cancer center and it is both inclusive in its breadth and focused both forward and back.
By back I mean he has retained many of the current leaders in positions of responsibility similar to the ones they have. This shows his willingness to give people a chance to prove their value even if he did not hire them. By forward I mean this is the most complete org chart ever generated at Anderson and it seems to encompass all the relevant and essential functions as well as Dr. Pisters’ view of where they belong and how they will interact. This is helpful to everyone. It demonstrates the degree of thought Dr. Pisters put into the organization as well his clear indication that he expects leaders to cooperate to fulfill the strategic agenda he has yet to develop, but which he promised he would.
The contrast could not be more stark.
The President of the United States really has no idea what he is doing on the world stage and we should not be surprised that his plans evaporate as quickly as he formulates them. That just about quantifies his attention span. The only thing he can concentrate on for more than a second or two is Robert Mueller who is more than concentrating on him.
The President of MD Anderson seems to know exactly what he’s doing and is more than willing to make his thoughts known to the community, ask for input and respond accordingly as his administration grows and matures.
