Foreign Policy Dysfunction in the Trump White House

[Chosen Daughter]

Foreign Policy Dysfunction in the Trump White House

By Daniel Larison • June 5, 2017, 1:38 PM


Susan Glasser reports on an example of the ongoing dysfunction in the running of the Trump administration’s foreign policy:


What’s not is that the president also disappointed—and surprised—his own top national security officials by failing to include the language reaffirming the so-called Article 5 provision in his speech. National security adviser H.R. McMaster, Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson all supported Trump doing so and had worked in the weeks leading up to the trip to make sure it was included in the speech, according to five sources familiar with the episode. They thought it was, and a White House aide even told The New York Times the day before the line was definitely included.

It was not until the next day, Thursday, May 25, when Trump started talking at an opening ceremony for NATO’s new Brussels headquarters, that the president’s national security team realized their boss had made a decision with major consequences—without consulting or even informing them in advance of the change.

If that’s true, it shows how poor the communication between the president and his top foreign policy officials is, and it demonstrates how little respect he has for all of them. It may also reflect a certain insecurity on the president’s part if he feels he has to hoodwink his National Security Advisor and leading Cabinet members on this issue because he doesn’t know how to make an argument for a different position. This time it happened to center on a reaffirmation of Article V at a NATO summit, but this could have been about almost anything that these officials considered important.

That points to a deeper problem with the way Trump is conducting foreign policy: he cuts his top officials out of the loop, makes a decision without their knowledge, and then relies on them to provide him with political cover later on. Even if you happen to think Trump is on the right side of a given issue, that is a toxic and unsustainable way to run foreign policy. It not only creates unnecessary friction with top officials, who will understandably not appreciate being misled and surprised on a regular basis, but it also makes those officials much less effective in their dealings with other governments. The next time that McMaster or Mattis or Tillerson tells a foreign leader that U.S. policy is X, the other leader will have good reason to doubt that his interlocutor actually speaks for the president. On top of that, these officials are left offering ridiculous spin that Trump said things he didn’t say, and in the process they are making themselves seem less credible by the day.


http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/foreign-policy-dysfunction-in-the-trump-white-house/

[DB]

Having a tweet war with London's mayor isn't exactly great diplomacy... It also lowers the office of President. Why do it???

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Interesting comment from the article:

Ollie says:
June 5, 2017 at 8:33 pm
I’ve viewed the video of the Mayor of London speaking about his city’s latest attack and tragedy. His remarks struck me as heartfelt, poignant and sensible in every respect.

By contrast, the comments of our Trump in response were the comments of a slug. It is what we have come to expect from an inappropriate and incompetent president.

He is simply not all right. He is all wrong. He is deficient apropos the 25th amendment to US Constitution.

If neither treason nor justice obstruction is uncovered, Trump should be the candidate for the first invocation of the 25th amendment to relieve the nation of the danger in which it has been placed by his obvious mental deficiency.

Patrick Buchanan and others associated with The American Conservative should stop pretending today that Donald J. Trump is mentally competent to discharge the duties of the presidency.

The nation would better be served if all conservatives abandoned any misguided loyalty to Trump. He’s just not much of a conservative at all.

[Frank Cannon]

So we have some no name blogger commenting on a Polutico piece that relies on some unnamed official maybe saying something to the NY Times, all so they can bash the President and show off what a pack of pseudo-intellectuals they are.

Eff that shit and the broke down, maggot infested pony it rode in on. These garbage pieces have as much political and intellectual relevance and the massive dump I took last night after I ate Chinese.


About Daniel Larison

Daniel Larison is a senior editor at TAC, where he also keeps a solo blog. He has been published in the New York Times Book Review, Dallas Morning News, Orthodox Life, Front Porch Republic, The American Scene, and Culture11, and is a columnist for The Week. He holds a PhD in history from the University of Chicago, and resides in Dallas. Follow him on Twitter.


I'd be GD embarrassed to publicly display that lame list of non-accomplishments. No wonder he writes in a 6 degrees of separation from facts sort of way.

[TomSea]

Trump and the Paris Agreement
By Daniel Larison • June 1, 2017, 11:55 PM

Trump decided that the U.S. will withdraw from the Paris climate change agreement signed last year:

...

All things considered, this is a bad decision made for dubious reasons.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/trump-and-the-paris-agreement/

The same author argues against withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement. He may say some good things but many including people like Rand Paul and John Bolton both say it was a good decision.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Having a tweet war with London's mayor isn't exactly great diplomacy... It also lowers the office of President. Why do it???

Trump's gonna be Trump, yo.

[Frank Cannon]

The same author argues against withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement. He may say some good things but many including people like Rand Paul and John Bolton both say it was a good decision.

Nice catch @TomSea  . More evidence that this guy is a cracked pot nitwit banging out screeds in between masturbating to cartoon porn.

[Chosen Daughter]

So we have some no name blogger commenting on a Polutico piece that relies on some unnamed official maybe saying something to the NY Times, all so they can bash the President and show off what a pack of pseudo-intellectuals they are.

Eff that shit and the broke down, maggot infested pony it rode in on. These garbage pieces have as much political and intellectual relevance and the massive dump I took last night after I ate Chinese.


About Daniel Larison

Daniel Larison is a senior editor at TAC, where he also keeps a solo blog. He has been published in the New York Times Book Review, Dallas Morning News, Orthodox Life, Front Porch Republic, The American Scene, and Culture11, and is a columnist for The Week. He holds a PhD in history from the University of Chicago, and resides in Dallas. Follow him on Twitter.


I'd be GD embarrassed to publicly display that lame list of non-accomplishments. No wonder he writes in a 6 degrees of separation from facts sort of way.

I hope you are alright after all that food.  Guess that's why they say Chinese will not fill you up.  You get rid of it right away.

Well I guess you can dump the article too but it is apparent to me that its been a rocky road (LOL) with his staff.  What came to mind when I read this was................


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzbHXKp6Y6I

And maybe the reporter is a dud but the question is whether it happened.  I report you decide. 

[Frank Cannon]

I hope you are alright after all that food.  Guess that's why they say Chinese will not fill you up.  You get rid of it right away.

Well I guess you can dump the article too but it is apparent to me that its been a rocky road (LOL) with his staff.  What came to mind when I read this was................


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzbHXKp6Y6I

And maybe the reporter is a dud but the question is whether it happened.  I report you decide.

This was not reporting. This was 4th removed gossip by a bunch of Libs.

[Night Hides Not]

I hope you are alright after all that food.  Guess that's why they say Chinese will not fill you up.  You get rid of it right away.

Well I guess you can dump the article too but it is apparent to me that its been a rocky road (LOL) with his staff.  What came to mind when I read this was................


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzbHXKp6Y6I

And maybe the reporter is a dud but the question is whether it happened.  I report you decide.

Every administration has growing pains. The Democrats have run the show on foreign policy for 8 years, and Trump is an unsympathetic figure.

I give Trump credit for taking actions that are controversial to the "Citizens of the World", for the benefit of the citizens of the US.

[Chosen Daughter]

This was not reporting. This was 4th removed gossip by a bunch of Libs.

Frank you say that about every article negative to the President.  I don't know this author but it did come from a site that said it was Conservative.  Either he did this or he didn't, I don't know but he is a person who values his own opinion above all others.  I think that makes for these contradictions from his staff very likely for the long term.  He so much has already said so.

I posted it because it was believable to me. 

[Cripplecreek]

Having a tweet war with London's mayor isn't exactly great diplomacy... It also lowers the office of President. Why do it???

Well it excites the monkeys so what more do we need.

[Frank Cannon]

Frank you say that about every article negative to the President.  I don't know this author but it did come from a site that said it was Conservative. 

Donald Trump says he is a Conservative. I don't see you posting his tweets in a glowing and approving fashion.

BTW, I say that about every article because people bashing Donny are relegated to posting offshoots of NY Times, WaPo, The Hill and Polutico articles. Every single one of those sources are A) Proven liars B) Have an openly pro #Resist agenda and C) are making up stories that are later discredited because they are using unnamed sources.

Even if you believe this gossip, there is one thing that is undeniable. We are in a stronger position now with our foriegn policy than we were a year ago. China is cooperating, we have a relationship with Israel again. I am not looking around seeing the tangible shitshow that the gossip columnists are selling.

[txradioguy]

This was not reporting. This was 4th removed gossip by a bunch of Libs.

Are you ever going to actually debate the merits of anything posted ever again?  Or just plug your ears and scream fake news when you see something you don't like?

[Frank Cannon]

Are you ever going to actually debate the merits of anything posted ever again?  Or just plug your ears and scream fake news when you see something you don't like?

Tell me when a certain group of people here decided that not only were news sources we all disregarded because of their open dishonesty are now given a pass because they fit neatly into the Anti-Trump hysteria, despite them being based on unnamed sources AND they end up being false after a weeks time in the sunlight.

I also have a real big problem with no name loser blogs being posted in Politics like it is news. The poster here could have EASILY done what I did and follow the hyperlinks back to the original source for this piece and posted that. Instead I get a royal stack of vomit from some blogger being passed off as news.

I am going to call out the shit quality of these pieces at every GD opportunity I have because I am not a mindless idiot who thinks some circle jerk piece is worth considering as "thoughtful" discourse. For Christs sake, Tom showed earlier in this thread that this blogger is a pro Paris Accord Leftist. 

[txradioguy]

Tell me when a certain group of people here decided that not only were news sources we all disregarded because of their open dishonesty are now given a pass because they fit neatly into the Anti-Trump hysteria, despite them being based on unnamed sources AND they end up being false after a weeks time in the sunlight.

I also have a real big problem with no name loser blogs being posted in Politics like it is news. The poster here could have EASILY done what I did and follow the hyperlinks back to the original source for this piece and posted that. Instead I get a royal stack of vomit from some blogger being passed off as news.

I am going to call out the shit quality of these pieces at every GD opportunity I have because I am not a mindless idiot who thinks some circle jerk piece is worth considering as "thoughtful" discourse. For Christs sake, Tom showed earlier in this thread that this blogger is a pro Paris Accord Leftist.

That's kinda funny coming from you since you and others which your shriek of "fake news" are trying to be the arbiters of what is legitimate and what isn't.

And more often that not the same kind of anonymous sources you and others bash in an article like this are perfectly acceptable when it's a glowing report about Trump or something he's planning on doing that you approve of.

Example:

Politico = Good news source of its favorable to your guy.

Politico = fake news POS MSM lying dishonest bastards if it's something you and others here don't like.

And you could really insert anything short of InfoWars or Fox News in there and the pattern is the same.

It's a childish way to avoid having to actually read or comprehend what was written and consider that maybe they are on to something...which in turn would mean you'd have to admit your guy isn't perfect.

[Frank Cannon]

It's a childish way to avoid having to actually read or comprehend what was written and consider that maybe they are on to something...which in turn would mean you'd have to admit your guy isn't perfect.

That's what you tell yourself that you are above the fray and thinking deeply about issues. I'll pass on that sophistry and wait for people with names being quoted or hard facts being layed down to believe a word of it.

BTW, can you point to one tangible thing that the administration has done that would buttress this bloggers lazy argument? Any firings, dismissals, policies? I don't see them.