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20 Oct, 8 tweets, 4 min read
Last week @Telegraph published a fantastic series of deep dives from our foreign corrs on the impact the Trump presidency has really had on the world. The pieces below...
1) In Germany @justinhuggler went to the border town of Grafenwöhr, where Americans outnumber locals thanks to a US base there, to see the impact of Trump’s ordered reduction of troop numbers. telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/1…
2) The impact of the Trump presidency is not just changes in policy but a starkly different approach to diplomacy. @colinfreeman99 tracked knock-on impacts of the acerbic rhetoric. telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/1…
3) There are apparent winners from the Trump approach, not least Israel. @JamesERothwell found fans of his in ‘Trump Heights’, a tiny Israeli settlement in the Golan Heights named after the president.
telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/1…
4) One of the most interesting but little discussed aspects of Trump’s migration policy are the deals he struck with Latin American nations. @mat_charles_ looked at how Guatemala is now a common end point for migrants who reach the US. telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/1…
5) Away from the fireworks of Trump’s Asia policy - trade clashes with Beijing, talks with Kim - his early withdraw from the TPP gets overlooked. @niccijsmith explores the opportunity cost of what could have been a big economic counterweight to China.
telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/1…
6) What is the real world impact of Trump’s praise for strongmen + undercutting of democratic norms? In Africa, @colinfreeman99 finds, it could be a factor as leaders ditch term limits and feel less inhibited. telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/1…
And finally kudos @louisjemanuel for coming up with the project. A real depth of insight into the 45th president’s impact worldwide.

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More from @benrileysmith

Ben Riley-Smith Profile picture
21 Oct
Obama going in hard on Trump.

"He hasn't shown any interest in doing the work or helping anybody but himself and his friends" ... "But the thing is this is not a reality TV show. This is reality."
More from Obama on his first in-person campaign event.

"Can you imagine if I had had a secret Chinese bank account when I was running for reelection?"

Says Fox News would have called him "Beijing Barry"
Obama says he probably paid more than $750 in income tax in his first job at Baskin Robbins, the ice cream chain.
Read 10 tweets
Ben Riley-Smith Profile picture
21 Oct
There is endless discussion about whether the 2020 US election will just be a repeat of the 2016 one.

Here are four key differences... (quick thread) 1/5
1) Trump is the incumbent. That means to some degree he owns the last 4 years. This was a plus when economy was booming, less so after 2020’s mass unemployment + brutal pandemic. Trump still trying to run as the non-politician outsider but much much harder to do as president. 2/5
2) Biden is not Clinton. She was one of the least personally popular candidates in modern US history. At this point @RealClearNews had 53% of voters viewing Clinton unfavourably. Biden is c. 44%. Anecdotally in swing states people don’t have the same visceral reaction to him. 3/5
Read 5 tweets
Ben Riley-Smith Profile picture
18 Oct
If Trump wins next month there will be a slew of ‘the signs were there all along’ pieces. So perhaps it’s worth considering what those signs would be.... (quick thread) 1/?
1) The economy. Battleground state voters put the economy top or joint top of issues they are voting on. Trump continues to beat Biden on leading a US recovery - a reflection of him not getting the blame for the covid-triggered crash + the depth of his ‘business wizard’ image 2/?
... On my bits in swing states the thing that keeps coming up is the intense financial pain people are feeling from the pandemic. Yes, absolutely they want safety. They also want jobs. 7m got covid. 50m+ filed for unemployment. Trump is speaking to that pain more than Biden. 3/?
Read 10 tweets
Ben Riley-Smith Profile picture
5 Sep
💥💥The Telegraph has been leaked details of notes made during seven high level UK-US meetings.

They show Boris Johnson privately told US diplomats Trump was “making America great again”. Also wild May-Trump conversations.

Thread with the quotes...
telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/09/0…
Here are the 7 meetings and calls that were captured in the notes, details of which were shared.

The notes were made by US officials during the conversations - ie they are contemporaneous notes.
One other bit of context. This, per numerous sources, is how US officials take notes in such meetings.

Someone is designated note-taker. And for in-person meetings, notes are taken by hand, writing down direct quotes.
Read 28 tweets
Ben Riley-Smith Profile picture
4 Sep
🚨Exclusive

Donald Trump ordered the removal of UK ambassador Kim Darroch after his cables leaked.

John Bolton tells @Telegraph the president called and said “get him out of here”.

Thread...
telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/09/0…
Bolton got the call early in the morning after Darroch’s cables disparaging Trump were published.

He says around 6am or 7am - which was early for the president...
He then picked up the phone to Mark Sedwill, Britain’s top civil servant, to pass on the order.

Bolton said “things are going to get worse unless you can figure out how to get him out”.
Read 8 tweets
Ben Riley-Smith Profile picture
2 Aug
EXC: Spain secretly lobbied the US Congress to strip Britain of its sole sovereignty over Gibraltar.

7 current/ex members told me they got rebuked by the embassy after backing UK position, sometimes in “aggressive” + “belligerent” tone.

👇Quick thread...
telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/08/0…
Between at least 2014 and 2019 the Spanish embassy in Washington DC has been lobbying US congressmen against UK stance on Gibraltar, @Telegraph has learned.

Came through calls into offices, letters personally signed by the Spanish ambassador or requests for face-to-face meetings
Reminder: Gibraltar has been a point of contention between Spain and UK for at least three centuries.

The territory (3 miles squared at the southern tip of Spain) was ceded to Britain in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht.

It’s a British Overseas Territory. UK claims sole soverignty.
Read 16 tweets

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