Just a few hours before President Trump was scheduled to sit down with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un for a historic summit for peace and denuclearization on Monday, CBS correspondent Bianna Golodryga chided the President’s ability to negotiate in the United States’s best interest.
While she began her CBS Evening News report talking about how Trump and others viewed and talked about his ability to negotiate in positive terms, Golodryga ultimately declared “the self-proclaimed dealmaker-in-chief has so far proven to be more of a deal-breaker.”
Anchor Jeff Glor led into Golodryga’s report by joking that Kim got inside information on Trump’s deal-making strategy by reading Trump’s book:
President Trump wrote a book on deal-making and we know Kim Jong-un is aware of it. Dennis Rodman says he presented the book The Art of the Deal to a government official in North Korea last year. So Kim may have got a look inside the Trump playbook in advance.
“The Singapore summit isn't exactly Thrilla in Manila but it's close, both in proximity and buildup. So who will walk away with the better deal,” Golodryga wondered at the start of her report.
She marveled at how fast Kim was able to get himself a position of strength, something that alluded his country for decades. “[T]he 30-something dictator has done what his father and grandfather before him couldn't do, rapidly advance his nuclear program, and now the ultimate feat, a meeting with the presidents of the United States,” she touted.
But for Trump’s hand coming into the meeting, Golodryga sounded skeptical and cited his lack of deals at home as the reason. “But the self-proclaimed dealmaker in chief has so far proven to be more of a deal breaker, tearing up international deals and coming up short on domestic policies. Taxes with Republicans in charge is his only big win so far,” she scoffed.
While she was calling him a “deal-breaker,” CBS had the on-screen graphics flip through deals Trump had pulled the U.S. out of or failed to get passed (including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Paris climate accord, Iran nuclear deal, DACA, and health care reform). Of course, there was no mention of how some of those deals were bad for America or how the lack of a deal was because of another party.
In wrapping up her report, Golodryga talked about how “millions of people will be watching” the “photo op” summit in which “billions of lives have a stake in the outcome.” “This is where the substance and deals of any deal, arguably Trump's most important yet, play a crucial role,” she said.
The relevant portions of the transcript are below, click "expand" to read:
CBS Evening News
June 11, 2018
6:45:51 PM Eastern [2 minutes 14 seconds]JEFF GLOR: Back now from Singapore. President Trump wrote a book on deal-making and we know Kim Jong-un is aware of it. Dennis Rodman says he presented the book The Art of the Deal to a government official in North Korea last year. So Kim may have got a look inside the Trump playbook in advance. Here's Bianna Golodryga.
[Cuts to video]
BIANNA GOLODRYGA: The Singapore summit isn't exactly Thrilla in Manila but it's close, both in proximity and buildup. So who will walk away with the better deal? While little is known of Kim Jong-un, in just seven years, the 30-something dictator has done what his father and grandfather before him couldn't do, rapidly advance his nuclear program, and now the ultimate feat, a meeting with the presidents of the United States.
(…)
GOLODRYGA: The summit, reportedly a one-on-one meeting, is exactly where Trump feels most comfortable.
GWENDA BLAIR: He hates multilateral meetings.
GOLODRYGA: Gwenda Blair, author of The Trumps: Three Generations of Building and a President says winning was ingrained into him from an early age. Is it fair to say that Donald Trump views his life through the lens of a competition?
BLAIR: Totally. Donald Trump is an extremely competitive guy.
GOLODRYGA: He's been doing it since the 1980s. He painted a self-portrait in the art of deal-making, which led to a turn as a TV celebrity and ultimately a ticket to the White House.
(…)
GOLODRYGA: But the self-proclaimed dealmaker in chief has so far proven to be more of a deal breaker, tearing up international deals and coming up short on domestic policies. Taxes with Republicans in charge is his only big win so far. Blair says the President is now looking for a diplomatic knock-out.
BLAIR: I think there's going to be the world cameras are going to be focused on the handshake, and whether -- who leaves the imprint other guy's hand.
[Cuts back to live]
GOLODRYGA: While millions of people will be watching for that photo op, billions of lives have a stake in the outcome. This is where the substance and deals of any deal, arguably Trump's most important yet, play a crucial role. Jeff?
GLOR: Bianna, thank you.
