Trump's Conversations with Other Leaders

[lpetrich]

Trump’s calls with foreign leaders have long worried aides, leaving some 'genuinely horrified' - The Washington Post

In one of his first calls with a head of state, President Trump fawned over Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling the man who ordered interference in America’s 2016 election that he was a great leader and apologizing profusely for not calling him sooner.

He pledged to Saudi officials in another call that he would help the monarchy enter the elite Group of Seven, an alliance of the world’s leading democratic economies.

He promised the president of Peru that he would deliver to his country a C-130 military cargo plane overnight, a logistical nightmare that set off a herculean scramble in the West Wing and Pentagon.

And in a later call with Putin, Trump asked the former KGB officer for his guidance in forging a friendship with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un — a fellow authoritarian hostile to the United States.

Many of Trump's aides have been "genuinely horrified" by what their boss often said.

They worried that Trump would make promises he shouldn’t keep, endorse policies the United States long opposed, commit a diplomatic blunder that jeopardized a critical alliance, or simply pressure a counterpart for a personal favor.

... Trump has been consistently cozy with authoritarian leaders, sparking anxiety among aides about the solicitous tones he struck with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Turkish President *Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Putin.

... Officials expressed surprise in both of his early Putin calls at why he was so friendly.

In another call, in April 2017, Trump told Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who had overseen a brutal campaign that has resulted in the extrajudicial killings of thousands of suspected drug dealers, that he was doing an “unbelievable job on the drug problem.”

... “People who could do things for him — he was nice to,” said one former security official. “Leaders with trade deficits, strong female leaders, members of NATO — those tended to go badly.”

Even Theresa May, someone whom he might consider to be on his side.

“When I was at the White House, there was a very deliberative process of the president absorbing information from people who had deep substantive knowledge of the countries and relationships with these leaders. Preparation for these calls was taken very seriously,” Willett said. “It appears to be freestyle and ad-libbed now.”

... Instead, Trump often sought to use calls as a way to befriend whoever he was talking to, one current senior administration official said, defending the president. “So he might say something that sounds terrible to the outside, but in his mind, he’s trying to build a relationship with that person and sees flattery as the way to do it.”

... Tim O’Brien, a Trump biographer and critic, said the calls fit Trump’s style as a business leader.

The Washington Post on Twitter: "Trump’s calls with foreign leaders have long worried aides, leaving some "genuinely horrified" https://t.co/ZCqFCPPiHe" / Twitter
with response
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "With respect to the betrayal of our country, it doesn’t matter much how these aides felt.
History will judge them by what they did.
And the answer is nothing. https://t.co/j5fJUXhMbk" / Twitter
She hit the nail on the head.

 

[Elixir]

Trump’s calls with foreign leaders have long worried aides, leaving some 'genuinely horrified' - The Washington Post

Many of Trump's aides have been "genuinely horrified" by what their boss often said.

Even Theresa May, someone whom he might consider to be on his side.

“When I was at the White House, there was a very deliberative process of the president absorbing information from people who had deep substantive knowledge of the countries and relationships with these leaders. Preparation for these calls was taken very seriously,” Willett said. “It appears to be freestyle and ad-libbed now.”

... Instead, Trump often sought to use calls as a way to befriend whoever he was talking to, one current senior administration official said, defending the president. “So he might say something that sounds terrible to the outside, but in his mind, he’s trying to build a relationship with that person and sees flattery as the way to do it.”

... Tim O’Brien, a Trump biographer and critic, said the calls fit Trump’s style as a business leader.

The Washington Post on Twitter: "Trump’s calls with foreign leaders have long worried aides, leaving some "genuinely horrified" https://t.co/ZCqFCPPiHe" / Twitter
with response
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "With respect to the betrayal of our country, it doesn’t matter much how these aides felt.
History will judge them by what they did.
And the answer is nothing. https://t.co/j5fJUXhMbk" / Twitter
She hit the nail on the head.

Cheato has managed to incriminate so many people, it would look very unseemly if the Democrats put them all in jail. Not to mention, it would effectively shut down the government...

 

[Keith&Co.]

Hello. You have reached the US Government. All our functions are suspended as all personnel are either prosecuting outrageous constitutional malfeasance or preparing for their constitutionally guaranteed defense.
If this is not an emergency, please hold your question, comment, or whistle until after the 2020 election.
If this us an emergency, yeah, well, i dunno, call the Army?
If you have any skills at legal proceedings, travel, or any foreign language, why not consider a summer job at the State Department. We could use some people... fuck, anywhere.