British Prime Minister Theresa May
Mr. Trump told the British prime minister, Theresa May, “If you travel to the U.S., you should let me know,” an offhand invitation that came only after he spoke to nine other leaders. He later compounded it by saying on Twitter that Britain should name the anti-immigrant leader Nigel Farage its ambassador to Washington, a startling break with diplomatic protocol.Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
A handout photo shows Trump meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Manhattan's Trump Tower...along with Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump. CNN correspondent Ivan Watson deleted his tweet of the picture, but not before various reporters, political commentators, and other users quoted it pointing out the inappropriateness of Ivanka's presence.
The reason why so many people are peeved? Allegedly, Ivanka will be running Trump's businesses in a blind trust, which means that her presence in diplomatic meetings is mixing Trump's presidency with his business. Just fantastic.Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
Mr. Trump’s conversation with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan has generated the most angst, because, as Mr. Earnest put it, the relationship between Mr. Sharif’s country and the United States is “quite complicated,” with disputes over issues ranging from counterterrorism to nuclear proliferation.
In a remarkably candid readout of the phone call, the Pakistani government said Mr. Trump had told Mr. Sharif that he was “a terrific guy” who made him feel as though “I’m talking to a person I have known for long.” He described Pakistanis as “one of the most intelligent people.” When Mr. Sharif invited him to visit Pakistan, the president-elect replied that he would “love to come to a fantastic country, fantastic place of fantastic people.”President Nursultan A. Nazarbayev
Mr. Nazarbayev has ruled his country with an iron hand since 1989, first as head of the Communist Party and later as president after Kazakhstan won its independence from the Soviet Union. In April 2015, he won a fifth term, winning 97.7 percent of the vote and raising suspicions of fraud.
The Kazakh government, in its account of Mr. Trump’s conversation, said he had lavished praise on the president for his leadership of the country over the last 25 years. “D. Trump stressed that under the leadership of Nursultan Nazarbayev, our country over the years of independence had achieved fantastic success that can be called a ‘miracle,’” it said.Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte
Philippines leader Rodrigo Duterte described as "encouraging" his phone call with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Friday, during which he felt a rapport between them and gave assurance that ties were intact, despite a period of rocky relations.
Trump's seven-minute chat with the firebrand Philippine president follows months of uncertainty about one of Washington's most important Asian alliances, stoked by Duterte's hostility towards President Barack Obama and repeated threats to sever decades-old defense ties.
Duterte's anger was unleashed following Obama's concerns about possible human rights abuses in his war on drugs, during which more than 2,000 people have been killed.
Duterte said Trump was "sensitive" and understanding about his crackdown and was encouraged by what he interpreted as Trump's indication he would not interfere.
"I could sense a good rapport, an animated President-elect Trump. And he was wishing me success in my campaign against the drug problem," Duterte said in comments his office released on Saturday.And now, you can add to the list --
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-Wen
President-elect Donald Trump spoke Friday with Taiwan’s president, a major departure from decades of U.S. policy in Asia and a breach of diplomatic protocol with ramifications for the incoming president’s relations with China.
The call is the first known contact between a U.S. president or president-elect with a Taiwanese leader since before the United States broke diplomatic relations with the island in 1979. China considers Taiwan a province, and news of the official outreach by Trump is likely to infuriate the regional military and economic power.He's a month and a half away from being the official Bumbler in Chief, when his tweets, his calls, his thin skin, and his bottomless ignorance will really matter. He'll always be putting his family's shady global business interests ahead of American economic and strategic interests, though he almost assuredly sees no daylight between the two. Good times.
UPDATE: The bumbling nature of Rump's foray into international diplomacy -- illustrated in his clueless, fawning praise of Pakistani President Sharif -- is revealed in this tidbit:
What made Trump’s conversation with Sharif all the more terrific, amazing, tremendous, fantastic and exceptional was that only days earlier, a member of Trump’s transition team had told journalists in India that Trump is in favor of legislation declaring Pakistan a “terror state.” The promise, consistent with Trump’s previous complaints about Pakistan’s “betrayal and disrespect,” was huge news on the subcontinent.Fool's going to start a war, just give him time.
2 comments:
If any other person on U. S. soil, regardless of their position or affiliations, had attempted most of these contacts, Men In Black would have disappeared the culprit within minutes. Why (to break my own rule against rhetorical questions) is Trump different?
For lack of anything else, we'll rely on the ol' "firehose of falsehood" explanation, though we'd substitute "firehose of jaw dropping behavior." It seems there's several examples every day of Trump violating norms, laws, decency, so much so that it's hard to work up sufficient outrage before the next example comes on its heels. That's how he carried on during the primaries and election, and it appears whether by choice or chance it's how he'll be proceeding in the future. Our institutions are too compromised - Congress, FBI, etc. - to act accordingly. Thanks for commenting, Frank.
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