Shooting from the hip

This is why it's probably not a good idea for the U.S. to work without a functioning State Department, South Korean Ambassador, or, you know, experts.

On North Korea, Trump gambles from a position of weakness

Or put another way, Trump has agreed to give Kim Jong-un exactly what he wants. North Korean leaders have sought this kind of meeting for decades because it would necessarily elevate the rogue state: it would show the world that North Korea’s leader can be treated as an equal by the Leader of the Free World. Previous American presidents - from both parties – have left open the possibility of such engagement, but only as a reward for meaningful and tangible results.

Trump, however, tends to assume his modern predecessors were fools who lacked his awesomeness. Why would this president take the one step other presidents would not? The question practically answers itself: Trump agreed to the talks precisely because other presidents didn’t. Politico had a good piece on this overnight, highlighting Trump’s “taboo-breaking instinct.”:

...

It doesn’t seem to occur to Trump to ask why others haven’t taken such actions. Worse, the president apparently hasn’t thought through the scope of the risk he’s taking. 

Remember, Trump is still an amateur, with no foreign policy vision that couldn’t fit on a bumper sticker, who has literally never been a direct participant in delicate diplomatic talks.  Link

This is what it's like being governed by someone who has no idea what he's doing.

Are we great again yet?