Trump meets Dennis Rodman, New Hope for Korea Peace Talks?
“When I wanted to get to know Kim Jong Un when we’re having a problem, Kim Jong Un and I get along. But the one who knew him best was Dennis Rodman.”
President Donald Trump made the remarks on October 1 while appearing with basketball legend Dennis Rodman at a Peterbilt factory in Denton, Texas. Trump praised Rodman as a longtime friend before highlighting his important relationship with Kim Jong Un, leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Rodman subsequently joined Trump’s motorcade as the president traveled to Durant, Oklahoma. The reunion comes as Trump has publicly expressed interest in meeting Kim again.
Trump met Kim three times during his first administration, including the historic 2019 encounter at the DMZ, when Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to enter North Korea. In recent months, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, and other U.S. media outlets have highlighted the economic boom observed in Pyongyang. All of this indicates that the possibility of improved relations and renewed dialogue could be on the horizon.
The Center for Political Innovation has made friendship with the Korean people and opposition to the militarization of the Korean Peninsula a central focus of our political work. Our founder, Caleb Maupin, has been a pioneer on this issue, raising the issue of solidarity with North Korea and engagement with its revolutionary Juche ideology while the bulk of so-called “leftists” and “anti-imperialists” choose to ignore the issue, pandering to liberals who demonize the DPRK.
Caleb Maupin’s involvement in Korea solidarity predates even the founding of CPI. In 2013, he attended the World Festival of Youth and Students in Quito, Ecuador, where he met young representatives associated with the Kim Il Sung youth organization. An article written by Caleb Maupin was even published in North Korea’s daily newspaper, Rodong Sinmun.
Under Caleb Maupin’s leadership, CPI has subsequently made U.S.–DPRK peace a highly visible part of its activism. In 2023, CPI demonstrated outside the White House with a huge banner showing Trump and Kim shaking hands and declaring, “Finish What Trump Started! Peaceful Reunification of the Korean Peninsula!” The organization also participated in a New York City peace march and held an event with the Los Angeles Family Church supporting peaceful reunification and negotiations with North Korea.
Ahead of the 2024 World Youth Festival in Sochi, CPI published Journey of Hope: Building a Movement for Peaceful Reunification of the Korean Peninsula in America. CPI members distributed the book at the festival, met DPRK representatives, and participated in a panel alongside representatives from North Korea discussing youth movements and international affairs.
During the 2024 election cycle, CPI took its message directly into the streets with its “Only Peace Can Make America Great Again” campaign. Members carried a ten-foot banner depicting Trump and Kim shaking hands through Manhattan, including appearances outside Trump Tower, the New York Public Library, and Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally. The banner was featured in The New Yorker, USA Today, and other media outlets. CPI brought the message to Washington again for Trump’s January 2025 inauguration and distributed thousands of pamphlets promoting Korean reunification and an end to wars.
These efforts have continued in 2026. CPI launched an American Juche Study Group, led by Noah Schenck, and published Juche for American Workers as a study text. The organization has also distributed thousands of pamphlets about the Kimilsungia flower, named for North Korea’s founding leader during his historic relationship with Indonesia, as a way of introducing Americans to aspects of DPRK history largely unknown in the United States. CPI members have distributed the material in New York, Los Angeles, Minnesota, and elsewhere.
The Innovationist community very much hopes Trump’s interaction with Dennis Rodman indicates that renewed peace efforts on the Korean Peninsula are in the works, and we will continue advocating for this as the loudest and most visible friends of Pyongyang in America.
Founder and Director Caleb Maupin meets with Kim Il Sung Youth Organization in Quito, Ecuador in 2013.