OPINION | Barry Richard: Will There Be a Summit After All?

The on again, off again summit between President Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un may be on again.

The White House says it heard from the North Korea regime shortly after President Trump announced the summit was being deep-sixed for a number of reasons, not the least of which was NoKo's failure to show for a high-level security meeting in Singapore, where the summit was scheduled to be held June 12. Trump has also expressed concern about the level of rhetoric emanating from Pyongyang.

But Trump says Kim still wants to meet, and discussions to that end have resumed. He even left open the possibility that a summit could still be held on June 12.

What is truly amazing about all of this was the reaction from Democrats and the left-wing media to Trump's decision to cancel the summit. After lecturing him about stepping into a trap by agreeing to meet with Kim in the first place, they reversed course yesterday and bashed Trump for calling off the meeting when Kim appeared to be backing away from his commitment to peace.

Trump has continued to show strength and leadership on the issue of North Korea and has refused to capitulate to North Korea's demands, as many American leaders have in the past. Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and Ed Markey show clearly their partisan stripes by refusing to acknowledge that calling off the summit was the right thing to do for America.

Whether the summit is held at all, and if one can truly produce positive results, is anyone's guess at this point. But one thing is for sure, Trump's approach has led to dialogue and not war, and his commitment to placing America's interests first has allowed us to hold fast to our objective, which is a non-nuclear North Korea. There have been no pallets of cash delivered by this president.

Barry Richard is the host of The Barry Richard Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. Contact him at barry@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @BarryJRichard58. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.