The build-up to the one-on-one meeting between Donald Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had greater publicity than any blockbuster movie in recent times — mainly because both have reputations for doing things their way, irrespective of basic rules of decency and respect.

Trump is embroiled in numerous allegations that Russia meddled in the presidential election and aided him in winning the White House. Although Trump has vehemently denied there was any collusion with Russia, investigators looking into the matter claim they have uncovered evidence that members of his campaign had connections with Russian officials. The matter remains under investigation.

The free press in the United States set out to learn all there was to know about an outside entity interfering with an American presidential election. In their quest for the truth, they came in for a blistering attack from the President, who went as far as to describe them as the enemy of the people. That sent alarm bells ringing throughout the journalism world, giving rise that something must be beneath the surface yet to be exposed.

What followed was a White House bubbling with confusion and tension, which led to subsequent firings by the chief executive, and a guessing game over whose head would roll next. Even more dark clouds gathered when it was revealed that Trump’s personal lawyer had paid $130,000 to a woman for her silence over an alleged intimate encounter with the President.

Again the President denied that ever happened. What baffled most people was that money would be paid if in fact nothing happened.

Amid such continuing controversy, people were beginning to wonder whether the most powerful nation on earth was stumbling in the area of leadership. Despite of it all, Trump remained upbeat about meeting with Kim. Most of the world knows that dictators seldom concede anything, and even after the meeting, observers are still trying to assess the outcome.

While much of the Kim regime is a mystery, it is no secret that he has engaged in brutal acts against anyone, even relatives, whom he felt was not fully behind his every move. It is widely reported that he had some executed by an anti-aircraft gun. Yet this was the man Trump was so anxious to meet, mainly over having North Korea dismantle its nuclear arsenal.

It was ironic that even as the two men sat down for talks in Singapore, there were North Koreans starving and dying with no voice. Some who managed to escape such gross suffering told of having one meal a week, with many simply dying from lack of food.

That is the North Korea that Trump chose to ignore, claiming all countries do bad things.

With the world still wondering whether anything was achieved from that summit meeting, Trump now finds himself in an immigration dilemma with screaming children being taken from their parents in a processing policy for illegal entry into America, which has ignited a storm of protests. Even the President’s wife has disapproved of how children are being treated by the authorities.

Much of the world continues to wait for something positive from those Americans who still believe that the country was formed on the basis of freedom for all and respect for truth.

That is the America the world would want to see.