Steve Lunetta: A Nobel Prize?

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In the wake of President Trump’s stunning and historic meeting with North Korean strongman Kim Jong Un, liberals and left-leaning media types are stumbling. How can they make sense of this?

To liberals, Trump is a buffoon and a phony. He’s a lightweight and an egotistical jerk. He’s a closeted bigot and skirt-chaser. A liar and a blowhard. But now, they need to add the epithet: peace-maker.

To the left, what you say and how you say it is far more important than what you do. To most all other folks (myself included), it’s what you do that carries weight.

It’s sort-of like that story in the Bible. Jesus asks the question: who does the will of the father? A man has two sons and asks them both to go work in the field. The first says “sure Pops!” and then goes and parties with his buddies. The second says “no way, Dad!” but then feels regret and goes out to work in the field.

I think Trump is like that second son. What he says means nothing. What he does is the only thing that matters. Ignore the tweets, taunts, and tickles.

Consider this for a moment. For much of the past 50 years, the world has treated the North Koreans like toxic waste due to the repressive regime and incredible human rights violations. This resulted in an attitude amongst most world leaders, Democrats, and Republicans that North Korea should never be spoken to in any manner that would legitimize their behavior.

Trump walks in, rule-breaker that he clearly is, and says “why do it the same old way”? Career diplomats at the State Department were aghast. The French and the Brits were aghast. Congress was aghast. Oprah and Whoopi were aghast.

But, it worked.

Sure, we’ve got a long way to go. It cannot be denied, however, that President Trump’s out-of-the-box thinking has created a diplomatic breakthrough that may result in huge changes in southeast Asia that could bring better peace and stability to the region.

In a sense, what Trump did makes a lot of sense. What better way to destroy a pariah state than befriending them? By shutting them off from the world, it has actually done a massive service to the regime because the North Korean people become more isolated and malleable.

Exposure to “ordinary” things that we take for granted such as markets with food, information, simple technology, improved agricultural practices, and different ways of thinking will be the catalyst for change in the hermit Korea.

Did anyone at the upper levels of government ever think of this? Or, maybe they were too fearful to voice this opinion until Trump was willing to do it. That seems to be the power of the Trump administration- to think differently and try new things.

What if North Korea was to turn around, end their nuclear arms program, and re-join the world community in peace and safety? Would that warrant a consideration of Mr. Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize?

As I recall, President Obama received a Nobel for being, well, black. While being the first person of color to ascend to the position of world’s most powerful individual, I wouldn’t say that his accomplishment was worthy of a peace prize. What peace did he create?

If Trump pulls this off, he will have done more for world peace than Obama ever did and, frankly, more than all the other current world leaders combined.

I see in the media that most are trying to find any angle to tear this whole initiative down. Why? How does this harm anything? Is peace such a frightening proposition? Or, is it because they just don’t like Trump? “Aye, there is the rub” as Shakespeare would say. Separating their personal opinions from true accomplishments seems an impossibility.

Some of the criticism has reached a comical level. A few commentators were criticizing the menu choices at the Trump/Kim working lunch as being “too expensive” and not what the common North Korean can afford. Seriously?

Again, I am not a fan of Trump. But, one cannot deny another solid accomplishment in this presidency. If peace returns to the Korean peninsula, Trump deserves a Nobel.

Heck, Stormy Daniels could present it to him.

Steve Lunetta is a resident of Santa Clarita and may have been wrong to support Measure H. He can be reached at [email protected].

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