Mick Hartley

Yes I know. Ridiculous man. Why is this even news?

Well, it's news because Trump is president-elect. And it's news because they help to clarify what the man thinks about North Korea just a few weeks before he assumes office.

Joshua Stanton at One Free Korea is no fan of Trump, but his post on those tweets is worth a read – including this:

Before Donald Trump even ran for President, my wife and I had an involved conversation about what makes presidents effective. We concluded that Reagan was effective, whereas Obama and Carter, despite being much more intelligent men, were not. Why? Because an effective president doesn’t necessarily have to master the details of policy. All an effective president really needs are good instincts about policy, good judgment about appointees, the decisiveness to pick policies and stick with them, and the judgment to know when he’s about to cripple himself with a bad ethical or policy decision. To my liberal friends, and to my friends who are reluctant conservatives, hold that last thought. In fact, hold all of them until we see what the new cabinet and polices look like. But for now, in two tweets, Donald Trump has shown better judgment about the nature of our problem in North Korea, and how to address it, than Barack Obama (undoubtedly a fine man and a highly intelligent one) displayed in eight years in office. 

No., I don't really expect Trump to be another Reagan, but this early in the year we're surely entitled to a little optimism.