Why Trump Is Snubbing South Korea

Steve Hayes is joined by Jonah Goldberg, Mike Nelson, and Kevin Williamson to discuss President Donald Trump’s decision to scale back military exercises with South Korea, his “good relationship with Kim Jong Un,” and the U.S. munitions crisis. The Agenda: —Trump’s “relationship” with Kim Jong Un —Abandoning Japan Show notes: Noah Hickey is the visuals editor at The Dispatch, based in Tampa, Florida. Prior to joining the company in 2024, he interned at The Dispatch, worked as a musician, and attended Polk State College in Lakeland, Florida. When Noah is not curating photographs and creating illustrations to accompany Dispatch work, he is probably playing slide on his American Ultra Luxe Telecaster and writing music for his band Foxhall. The podcast transcription below was generated using artificial intelligence and may include occasional errors or misspellings. Steve Hayes 0:00 [intro music playing] Welcome to the Dispatch Podcast. I'm Steve Hayes. On today's roundtable, we'll discuss President Trump's decision to scale back military exercises with South Korea, his, quote, "Good relationship with Kim Jong-un," unquote, and the US munitions crisis. And then, not worth your time, the end of Columbia House's mail order CDs. I'm joined today by Dispatch Editor-in-chief Jonah Goldberg, National Correspondent Kevin Williamson, and Dispatch contributor and retired Special Forces officer Mike Nelson. Let's dive right in. Steve Hayes 0:41 [music playing] Gentlemen, I wanna start in South Korea, or actually in Washington, DC, Truth Social, Donald Trump's post about South Korea from August 16th, this past weekend. Kevin, I'm not gonna read the whole thing like I would if it were a People exclusive- Jonah Goldberg 1:07 [laughs] Steve Hayes 1:07 -but I do wanna give you proper context for this. So this is Donald Trump's post from August 16th. "Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong-un of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has long ago agreed to participate in joint military exercises with South Korea. These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America, as usual, but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile to a country that..." And he's speaking here of North Korea. "To a country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been president, has been unthreatening and respectful. Therefore, and based on the fact that it is too late to cancel, I have instructed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to substantially reduce the joint military exercises. While somewhat unrelated, question mark, I recently asked the president of South Korea if they would like to join us in the denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, quote, 'No thanks,' unquote. Thank you for attention to this matter, President Donald J. Trump." That tweet has set off a flurry of activity, substantial reporting on Donald Trump and what led him to make that post, diplomatic back and forth with US allies in the regions, people weighing in on what it means, what the implications are, what have you. Jonah, let me start with you. When you saw that tweet, what was your initial reaction, and has what we've seen over the past several days changed anything as it relates to your initial reaction? Jonah Goldberg 2:42 We should also just add, I don't know if you saw, but the wires are reporting this morning Interactive transcripts are available to Premium members. Join to follow along with the audio. Join Now More We Think You’d Like