It was not a banner weekend for diplomacy, democracy, the Western alliance, or the United States of America. The disastrous aftermath of the G7 culminated with President Trump's trade adviser suggesting "there's a special place in hell" for the prime minister of Canada, one of the United States' closest allies. This, after Trump went into the conference demanding that Russia be reinstated, despite its even worse behavior after being thrown out. Gee, I wonder why he would repeatedly bring that up unprompted?

But the possibility for further diplomatic victories remains, as the president has arrived in Singapore for his summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. The Supreme Leader is apparently more Trump's type than those pesky allies with their democratically elected premiers, which may be why ABC News reports that the two will have a one-on-one tête-à-tête to kick things off.

President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's historic meeting will begin with a one-on-one encounter, a White House official confirmed to reporters in Singapore Monday.

The official declined to say how long the first meeting is expected to last, but said it will take place prior to an expanded meeting where U.S. and North Korean officials would be in attendance.

Immediately, many observers reacted to the news with concern. Because it will just be the two leaders and their translators, they will be free to characterize what happened however they wish once they leave. They can spin. They can lie. Kim could say Trump agreed to fork over Hawaii and we would not be able to immediately dismiss it.

After all, Trump will go into the meeting with close to zero preparation, having refused to take many briefings on North Korea, its weapons program, nuclear weapons and denuclearization in general, or Kim's psychology and modus operandi. He doesn't need any of that, you see, because he's an Artful Dealmaker who makes Business Deals.

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This is promising, because ignorance shrouded in all-American swagger has never led this country astray before. Of course, there's always a chance Kim offers Trump a deal that appears promising but has a number of hidden (or not-so-hidden) downsides that he's unable to appreciate because he has no grounding in the many moving pieces of this tremendously complex issue. As a living monument to the Dunning-Kruger effect, Trump honestly believes that he knows everything there is to know, both about negotiating and about Kim and his nuclear program. All this is compounded by the fact that Trump is very obviously thirsty for a diplomatic coup that will burnish his legacy and erase the industrial-scale debacle of this past weekend.

He doesn't know what he's talking about and he's desperate for a deal: what could go wrong? It's all more evidence that the Senate should demand any agreement Trump makes be in the form of a treaty, which would then require that body's sign-off. This would require just a couple of Republican senators to grow some semblance of a spine in the face of King Lear's globetrotting incompetence. So you can pretty much rule the whole treaty thing out.

Instead, we'll likely get an official end to the Korean War, the North will do some performative anti-nuclear initiative like destroying some more test sites while totally maintaining their program, and the Golden State Warriors will have to play two games a year in Pyongyang. Oh, and Kim will get his photo-op with an American president.

Jack Holmes Politics Editor Jack Holmes is the Politics Editor at Esquire, where he writes daily and edits the Politics Blog with Charles P Pierce.

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