Originally posted by dontomasso:
(Michael) says "I'm still your brother!" I wonder if Fredo had taken that ride, and gone back to the US with Mike whether things would have been different for him. Note that when Mike gets back to Nevada, the first thing he asks Tom after asking whether Kay knows he is back, is "Where is my brother?" Then he tells Tom to get word to Fredo that he knows he was misled, etc. This shows Mike was still ambivalent about what to do about Fredo
I disagree.
After Michael knew that Fredo was the traitor, he had made up his mind.
He had already given Fredo the "kiss of death." His attempt to lure him into the car was simply so he didn't lose track of him, because he had already decided to eliminate him.
His comments to Hagen were desgned to mislead Fredo, make him believe that he was forgiven, and bring him back to make it easier to kill him.
In the "I'm smaht" scene, Fredo didn't really say anything to Mike that indicated his treachery was on-going, with the possible exception of the comment about Questadt.
Michael had already made up his mind before then.
