

Kim Jong-un is the most brutal, homicidal head of state in the world.
According to a 2014 United Nations report, Kimās crimes include āextermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence, persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds, the forcible transfer of populations, the enforced disappearance of persons and the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starvation.ā
Yet Donald Trump has pronounced his love for Kim in words that would make most middle-school girls blush: āWe fell in love. No really. He wrote me beautiful letters.ā
What gives?
The conventional explanation is that Trump has an affinity with autocrats and tyrants because he admires their strength and aspires to be one of them. This diagnosis is usually delivered with a dose of armchair psychobabble about the insecurities and narcissism that infect Trumpās lizard brain.
And maybe thatās true. But thereās more to it than that.
Trumpās embrace of Kim, not to mention Vladimir Putin, Mohammad bin Salman, and other autocrats, isnāt just a matter of affinity.
Thereās also method to this madness.
Trump builds relationships with the worst leaders in the world for a purpose. He believes, correctly, that it is better to talk to adversaries than to go to war with them. Unfortunately, he also believesāincorrectlyāthat he is gifted with unique personal charisma and negotiating skills.
So far, Trumpās belief that he can charm autocrats into making deals beneficial to the United States has proved to be a delusion. The agreement he entered with North Korea last year contained nothing more than vague promises similar to those made with previous administrations, only less demanding.
Trumpās embrace of Mohammad bin Salman has yielded nothing other than confirmation of an arms deal that was already in the works and a mutual hatred of Iran. And his bromance with Vladimir Putin has yielded nothing at allānot even a public commitment not to mess with our presidential elections, again, in 2020.
On the one hand, you can understand the thinking from Trumpās defenders. Isnāt something better than nothing? Isnāt even the possibility of achieving somethingāeven if itās down the roadābetter than nothing?
The answer is: Not necessarily.
Transactional deal-making has never been and should never be the ultimate goal of American diplomacy. We have always aspired to something higher.
āWe used to stand for something.ā
Those six sad words, uttered by Richard Haass, should be written on Trumpās gravestone. Maybe add, āNot anymore.ā
What we no longer stand for is the spread of individual freedom, democracy, and human rights. Trump has given that up in order to pursue narrow commercial and foreign policy interests.
Haass talked to Morning Joe about Americaās loss of its moral compass. He presented a lightening-round of Trumpian diplomacy: āWith the Chinese we donāt talk about Hong Kong or the repression of the Uighurs in camps. With the Russians, you ignore the election meddling. With the Turks, he blames everything on the Obama administration, meanwhile heās reopened the possibility of arms sales despite everything theyāre doing. With the North Koreans we ignore whatās going on domestically. The Saudis we ignore, and he exaggerates their domestic accomplishments.ā
Trumpās retreat from the values that defined the post-World War II era of American exceptionalism has immediate negative consequences, above and beyond the long-term damage it does to Americaās unique place in the world (as if that werenāt enough).
Itās a gift to the tyrants of the world. It gives them the one thing they most covet:
Impunity.
America will no longer exact a price for even the most blatant violations of human rights and human dignity. Mass starvation and genocide? None of our business. Repression of free speech and jailing of dissidents will not stand in the way of trade deals. Murdering journalists will not put you in Americaās doghouse. Moscowās efforts to undermine democracy and cast doubt on U.S. alliances wonāt come between Donny and Vlad.
What you do in your country is irrelevant. We donāt care. All we want is to do business with you.
Itās an astonishing display of weakness and non-confrontationalism from our president. Which is interesting, since he seems so eager to get into conflicts with our allies.
But people respond to incentives. Which is why our allies have begun to inch away from us, and everywhere else you look around the world, we have entered into a new Golden Age of autocracy.