Image by MB298; (License CC BY-SA 4.0)
I feel very far removed from life in the US right now. Physically, it’s because I’m living in Japan for the next year. Mentally, not as much news crosses my path as it used to; with the exception of one colleague asking me what Trump meant when he called Kim Jong Un (KJU hereafter) a “smart cookie.” My language skills weren’t advanced enough to explain to him that the president just says things without thinking and doesn’t care about the consequences.
I can understand why the average Japanese person would be interested in US politics when it intersects with North Korea. Although KJU’s latest attempts to create an ICBM have fizzled, Japan is just as much on the front lines as South Korea in terms of aggression from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK hereafter); possibly even more so, as both Koreas may ultimately see the other side as “lost” and in need of a steady hand to exert control. Unfortunately, animosity towards their former occupiers is still widespread, even passed down to the younger generations.
“Even facts for which there is video evidence, like not having the largest crowd of all time on Inauguration Day, remain a fluid topic for someone like Trump.”
Every so often around the world, we hear reports of the DPRK and KJU threatening to unleash a sea of fire on other countries – mainly targeting South Korea, Japan, and the US. To Americans unaccustomed to the constant blustery remarks spewed by the North Korean dictator, it sounds like a real and credible threat. However, the overwhelming majority of people in the region know that the “supreme leader” and his generals lie as easily as they breathe. It shouldn’t be necessary to state that the leadership in North Korea is full of hot air, but if you’re unfamiliar, they have claimed: their country is the most prosperous on Earth, the United States started the Korean War, and Kim Jong Il invented the hamburger.
If we hear claims like this, why should we take the threat of nuclear annihilation seriously?
Prior to 2016, I think it’s safe to say no political figure in the world had quite as distorted a view of reality as KJU. We’re talking about a leader who knowingly lets millions of his people live in starvation as he suffers from gout. Also, he casually references attacking or obliterating other nations, is in charge of the North Korean military, despite not having any experience himself, allegedly had millions of his countrymen exaggeratedly grovel during his father’s funeral under threat of death, and has used celebrities to reinforce his legitimacy and popularity… remember Dennis Rodman visiting?
None of this is surprising. Nothing is in dispute. North Korea happily admits such “facts;” any version of reality to make their leader or their country appear better in the world’s eyes.
The question is: is Trump really that different?
I don’t make this analogy lightly. It’s not really a matter of politics, but personality. In North Korea, the mythology of the Kims and their power go hand in hand. Trump may not have the blind support of the whole of the American people, but his followers and some members of the media seem to be under the same kind of spell.
Image by Kim Wing summialo (License CC BY-SA 4.0)
Consider how many easily refutable lies Trump spews: almost on an hourly basis. Historically, he has claimed there was no reason to have an American Civil War and that Frederick Douglas is alive and well. Even facts for which there is video evidence, like not having the largest crowd of all time on Inauguration Day, remain a fluid topic for someone like Trump. Some of these points are simply the result of ignorance. Then, when he’s called out on it, he doubles down on his “alternative facts” or shifts the blame to someone else. However, there are more than a few that make even established conservatives question his mental stability. Like when he asserted President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower prior to the 2016 election.
“I’m sorry, but that’s completely ridiculous! How can I possibly prove it doesn’t exist? Do you expect me to get hold of – of all the pebbles in the world and test them? I mean, you could claim that anything’s real if the only basis for believing in it is that nobody’s proved it doesn’t exist!”
– J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Some people are probably thinking: “Well, politicians lie to get what they want. The degree to which Trump is lying isn’t so surprising.” Let’s set aside Trump’s version of reality for the moment and focus solely on how this affects his views on the world at large. He said it himself: America first. This lead to some hilarious responses from Europe:
On a more serious note, it’s also seriously affected political relations with long-standing allies. When you sour relations with China, by speaking with Taiwan – get into a verbal altercation with the Australian Prime Minister – when you claim that peace in the Middle East is “maybe not as difficult as people have thought,” – when you mistakenly see your country as the sole source of power in a corrupt and incompetent world, then you know you have no grasp of international affairs.
Although it’s perfectly respectable to have a sense of national pride and to use that to guide your principles for the country, immature men like Trump and Un appear to be different in one particularly disturbing area. While KJU views attacks on his country, whether it’s China reducing imports or South Korea talking smack, as an attack on himself as a leader, he doesn’t (apparently) view personal criticism as an attack on the DPRK, e.g. North Korea has not launched a full-scale assault after videos like this came out.
The same cannot be said of Trump, and this is probably what makes him more of a threat to world order than Kim Jong Un. When the media digs up information embarrassing or damaging to Trump’s reputation, he labels it as “fake news” and calls it “the enemy of the American people.” Not because they’re attacking the country, but because they are criticizing him personally. He uses the full power and influence of the office of the president when his daughter’s clothing line is threatened, or his wife’s reputation is besmirched. He personally calls out Saturday Night Live for making fun of him with the kind of tenacity we would expect the president to reserve for an unprovoked military assault or an attack on human rights.
Criticize KJU all you like, but no one has accused him of lashing out like a whining toddler when someone reports something unflattering about him personally (the DPRK as a whole is another matter).
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Turner Wright is a freelance writer with an engineering background. He is originally from Texas, but usually finds himself in the Bay Area if not some random corner of Asia. He is currently the Digital Media Manager for Airbnbhell.com and TravelVisaPro.com. He enjoys running long distances, eating more than necessary to do said running, and traveling to other countries.
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