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'This isn't a reality show': Ex-Obama security adviser kneecaps Trump's nuke negotiation skills

Ben Rhodes on ABC -- screenshot
Tom Boggioni
March 11, 2018

Speaking with ABC host Jonathan Karl, a former security adviser to President Barack Obama scoffed at the notion that Donald Trump would be able to hold his own in nuclear negotiations with North Korean strongman Kim Jong-un, saying Trump is over his head.

Appearing on This Week, ex-Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes expressed concern that the meeting between the two heads of state could end in disaster.

"This is not a real estate deal or a reality show. When you're in a negotiation as complex as a North Korean nuclear program, and a situation that is volatile as the Korean peninsula, you need diplomats," Rhodes explained to the ABC host.

"You don't hollow out the State Department," Rhodes warned. "Look -- they have no ambassador to Seoul. The person who was in charge of North Korean negotiations just left the State Department."

According to Rhodes, he has been in contact with Obama and they both are worried about what might transpire after watching how the State Department under Trump has been decimated and run under Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

"We have a lot of concerns with how they've handled the State Department, how they've handled science, and how they've been erratic on this issue with North Korea," he said, before adding, "I think the nation should be rooting for diplomacy to work with North Korea, and I think that's certainly President Obama's view."

Watch the video below via ABC on Twitter:

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