Trump had quite a few idiot generals who LIED to him about current force sizes in Syria and Afghanistan.
If you lie to the boss because you know he's going to make decisions you don't like, you're absolutely an idiot -- especially if you don't think you'll get caught or suffer consequences.
As for the intelligence of N. Korea's, or any other nation's, leader, compared to the demented, groping grandpa in the White House today, they are ALL geniuses!
The comments about it being cheaper to leave equipment than transport it home, that conclusion is the norm for most short term deployments. After 20 years, I guarantee we have lots of high-dollar equipment to bring home that more than justifies the cost to transport. The issue was likely one of timing. If they'd PLANNED AHEAD, they could have had ships do the transporting. As it turned out, the rapid exit meant they relied on air transport. That makes all the difference in whether or not the transportation costs are justified.
Getting the larger equipment to a port would have required ground transport and time. While that adds to the cost, it should still be within the value of the items shipped. The more items shipped at once on the same conveyance, the more efficient and less costly it is.