Donald Trump said what? That he doesn’t need to prepare for a landmark summit meeting with the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un?

The president says the meeting set for next week will float or sink on “attitude.”

OK, then.

Do you think Kim is flying by the seat of his pants as the historic meeting approaches? I do not believe that’s the case.

Which brings me to pose this question: Will an unprepared Trump be able to reach some sort of rapprochement with an adversary with whom we have been at war since 1950?

Politico reported today: In extensive remarks during a visit from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump mused about what might come out of the Singapore summit scheduled for next week, telling reporters that he’s “totally” prepared to walk away from the negotiating table, that he’s holding out hope for normalized relations with the repressive regime, that the U.S. could strike an agreement to formally end the Korean War, and that he could see hosting Kim in America if the meeting goes well. 

Trump has indicated the meeting could only be the first of several such meetings that produce groundbreaking agreements.

Does anyone out there wonder how in the world the president figures to make any constructive steps toward those ends without cracking the books, poring through briefing papers, learning about the man with whom he will meet?

Look, we all should hope for the best. We all should want the president to succeed, for the sake of the nation and the world. No one should want to be in a constant state of tension with a nation that possesses nuclear weapons. And no one should endorse a president who continues to threaten that nation with “fire and fury the likes of which the world has never seen.”

“Attitude” well might be insufficient to produce a result that Trump wants. Oh, I do hope the president can succeed in this wholly unconventional run-up to a landmark summit.

My fear keeps me from believing fully in his ability to pull it off.