Keep telling US partners & friends who don’t understand why POTUS berates them to hang on a just few more months.
Again and again, when I meet Korean or other foreign diplomats/military/business people, they are nervous and frustrated about what Trump will do and ask about /1
Again and again, when I meet Korean or other foreign diplomats/military/business people, they are nervous and frustrated about what Trump will do and ask about /1
it. The Koreans, for example, ask about whether Trump will try to pull out USFK as he is trying to pull out US military from Germany. The Europeans ask if that pull-out is just because Trump hates Merkel. (Yes.)
For 4 years now, this has been a constant. On the sides of /2
For 4 years now, this has been a constant. On the sides of /2
conferences, at the dinners, and so on, this is what our partners want to know - and not just public sector people, but business,NGOs, religious.
I’m not sure Americans realize just how how much damage control Americans living overseas are doing for the Trump administration. /3
I’m not sure Americans realize just how how much damage control Americans living overseas are doing for the Trump administration. /3
A lot of people out there who are our friends and want a US presence - and don’t want Chinese bullying instead - don’t understand what Trump is doing. They don’t understand why T seems to determined to attack US allies and friends while flattering dictators. (I don’t either.) /4
They can be mollified a bit by noting Trump’s popular vote defeat, the weirdness of the Electoral College, the possibility that Trump is a bizarre, one-off cul-de-sac of US history.But these excuses won’t last. Trump needs to lose in November, or US allies will start to drift. /5
In Asia specifically, they’ll start to look for separate peaces with China, or at least some kind of arrangement to keep Chinese market access. That will likely require a looser relationship with the US, but that won’t be as domestically controversial as normal if Trump is /6
POTUS still and attacking US friends as free-riders.
US elections aren’t usually decided by foreign policy, and the core issues this year are Trump’s moves against US democracy. But the rest of the world is also watching. The countries that we should want to like us - the EU /7
US elections aren’t usually decided by foreign policy, and the core issues this year are Trump’s moves against US democracy. But the rest of the world is also watching. The countries that we should want to like us - the EU /7
states, eg, & not Putin’s gangster Russia - do not like us much at the moment but are still willing to give us a pass if we behave like a friend again, a liberal hegemon, and not a bully.
But if T gets re-elected, it’s going to be a lot more America Alone than America First. /8
But if T gets re-elected, it’s going to be a lot more America Alone than America First. /8
