No one yet knows if there's going to be a summit with North Korea. But the alternative to a Trump-Kim tête-à-tête should be a different form of diplomacy, not war, as the administration and its cheerleaders have suggested.

When Lord Acton coined the phrase "power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely," he might have had America in mind. Never mind U.S. leaders' professed good intentions: possession of extraordinary military power continues to lead otherwise sensible people to pursue dangerous, even monstrous policies.

So it is with North Korea. President Donald Trump beat the war drums loudly last year. He sounded a lot like Kim Jong-un when he threatened to visit "fire and fury" upon the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Senator Lindsey Graham led the Greek chorus in support of the administration, amplifying the president's threats.