George Friedman on Trump's Negotiations With China: "I've Never Seen A Politician Openly Admit What The Game Is"

Geopolitical forecaster George Friedman speaks with Fox News Channel's Tucker Carlson about what a war with North Korea might look like and how President Trump is handling negotiations with China over trade and keeping peace in Korea.

"We don't know if they have nuclear weapons that are operational, but we have to assume the worst. So we have to think about taking out the nuclear faciilities that they have," he said about a potential American strike on North Korea. "But the big problem is this: A huge concentration of artillery on the DMZ that has Seoul in range. Seoul is the capitol of Korea. It is a city of ten million people, and if they open fire on that city, there is going to be a holocaust."

"Therefore, it is not enough to bomb nuclear facilities, we have to take out the artillery, and that is not going to be an easy job. That is not going to be a one day strike... It will be strategic bombers attacking day after day, and meanwhile, they will be firing at Seoul," he said.

Moving on to China, he said: "For a very long time I have seen [China] facing demands from the U.S. for shifts in their trade policy, or shifts in currency."

"What has constantly happened is that some time in those negotiations, the North Koreans do something insane. We feel we have to respond, we immediately run to the Chinese and ask them to help us out. They do, and the North Koreans calm down. We go back the negotiations, and they say: 'Hey guys, we just helped you out, now you're going to push us on trade?' The interesting thing about Donald Trump is that he has admitted that this is a game. Admitted this is a game that has been played for many years. But he said: 'I'll trade Trade for North Korea.'"

"It has this much help: It takes the obvious and makes it believable... Now the president has simply said this is the game the Chinese are playing. It sets up his future move, however: To say that we've been blackmailed on North Korea, let's get back to trade. But he has made it clear that if they help [with north Korea] this time, he is going to cut them a better deal [on currency manipulation]."

"I've never seen a politician do this," Friedman said laughing. "In the open, simply admit what the game is.

Finally, Tucker Carlson asks Friedman if he thinks the North Korean government is rational: "It has been utterly predictable. It wants to appear to be weak, so nobody bothers it, crazy so nobody pokes at it because who knows what they'll do, and ferocious, capable of desroying the world. And even though they are a country that is insignificant by many measures, they have managed to manuever the Japanese, South Koreans, Chinese, Russians, and Americans into treating them as an equal. That is a brilliant move and you don't have to like them to respect them. They are good at this."