Is Dennis Rodman the Unofficial US Diplomat to North Korea?

Here is the latest on Dennis Rodman’s trip to North Korea:

Mr. Rodman declined to say whether he had spoken about the trip with Mr. Trump, who four years ago endorsed Mr. Rodman’s visiting North Korea.

“Well, I’m pretty sure he’s pretty much happy with the fact that I’m over here trying to accomplish something that we both need,” Mr. Rodman said, as reported by The A.P.

Mr. Trump spoke to Fox News in 2013 about Mr. Rodman and North Korea, a year in which Mr. Rodman also appeared on his “Celebrity Apprentice” show. “Maybe Dennis is a lot better than what we have,” he said.

Suzanne DiMaggio, a director and senior fellow at the New America think tank who had been involved in unofficial talks with North Korea, said on Twitter that there was a “high probability” of communication between the Trump administration and Mr. Rodman.  [New York Times]

You can read more at the link, but the media’s interpretation of President Trump’s comments four years ago about Rodman’s trip to North Korea I think are not interpreted correctly.  Trump was clearly taking a shot at President Obama by claiming that Rodman was a better diplomat than what the State Department had to offer.  To link those comments to Trump than actually using Rodman in a diplomatic role I think is a stretch.

This latest Rodman trip I think was arranged by the Kim regime to take media attention away from their treatment of American detainee Otto Warmbier who they just happened to release the same time as Rodman’s visit.