The Final Solution: Two Dark Horses

Here is a quote from a piece on Kim Jong-un, appearing in Friday’s Times front page center ("Meet Kim Jong-un, A Moody Young Man With a Nuclear Arsenal," 8/10/17). A huge photo of Trump flanked by McMaster and Pence appears at the top and inset below is a small picture of the smiling Kim waving.  “Now, against long odds,  Mr. Kim is on the verge of making his isolated, impoverished nation one of the very few in the world that can hit the United States with a nuclear missile--defying not only the Trump administration but also international sanctions and North Korea's traditional allies in Beijing.” But who does that sound like? Way back when pollsters laughed at the prospect of a Trump candidacy, more less presidency. Now Trump is president and Kim is close to being able to perfect a missile that can hit the U.S. mainland. There's some disagreement amongst experts about the question of whether the North Korean product will self-destruct when it reenters the atmosphere. But that's a question the pundits will be trying to decide right up until the final launch. The real story here is the rise of not one but two long shots. Who would you rather have determining the fate of the planet? The blind seer Tiresias from Greek mythology or two dark horses whose nostrils flare with hormones as they pull their stage coach into the sunset?