Today on Face the Nation, President Donald Trump said that he was not sure if North Korean Dictator Kim Jung-un is sane, but he is clearly “a pretty smart cookie” since he was able to hold and keep power at such a young age. The statement has people around the world stunned since Jung-un has spent years killing people in a paranoid rage, including feeding people alive to animals or shooting them with anti-aircraft weapons. One does not have to be smart to rule by terror. You just have to be a murderous maniac.
In the interview, Trump said:
“People are saying, “Is he sane?” I have no idea. I can tell you this, and a lot of people don’t like when I say it, but he was a young man of 26 or 27 when he took over from his father, when his father died. He’s dealing with obviously very tough people, in particular the generals and others.’
‘And at a very young age, he was able to assume power,’ Trump continued. ‘A lot of people, I’m sure, tried to take that power away, whether it was his uncle or anybody else. And he was able to do it. So obviously, he’s a pretty smart cookie.”
I am not sure what to make of the image of Kim taking over the family business from his father, but some have suggested that there is an unconscious comparison to Trump’s own life with a father in the same business. I hope that is not true. What is clear is that there is absolutely no indication of an intelligent design behind the disaster that is North Korea. Kim has pushed his population to starvation while needlessly isolating his regime politically and militarily. Now his very survival is in question. Indeed, the most dangerous aspect of Kim is that what he is acting clearly against his own interest and certainly the interest of his country. Even China is cutting off supplies and support for Kim. His “intellect” could now trigger World War III.
What is also clear is that it has not been an exercise of intellect but sheer inhumanity that has kept this moron in power. He has simply terrorized everyone around him and killed anyone who could challenge him. What is left is a bunch of cringing aides pretending to write down everything that Kim is saying on subjects ranging from weather forecasts to nuclear science. That is not a sign of intelligence.
