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CPUd
05-19-2017, 11:16 PM
‘People Here Think Trump Is a Laughingstock’: On the president’s ill-timed world tour.

By SUSAN B. GLASSER May 19, 2017


“Chaos.”
“Circus.”
“Laughingstock.”

Those were just a few of the comments I heard in Berlin this week from senior European officials trying to make sense of the meltdown in Washington at just the moment when a politically imploding President Trump embarks on what he called “my big foreign trip” in this morning’s kickoff tweet.

For months, the American president has raised unprecedented questions about the future of the American-led alliance that has persisted since the end of World War II. He has slagged off NATO, evinced skepticism about the European Union, cheered for like-minded right-wing populists, boosted antidemocratic strongmen like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and vowed to rip up free trade deals—and Europe’s political class has been outraged, confused and even terrified.

Trump’s tumultuous last two weeks—from firing his FBI director to allegedly sharing highly classified information with Russian officials even as a formidable special counsel was being named to investigate his campaign team’s possible collusion with the Kremlin—has them still confused about his foreign policy. But now they are more appalled than afraid of the man with whom they have no choice but to partner.

Many I spoke with said they had made a fundamental mistake of viewing Trump primarily as an ideologue with whom they disagreed rather than what he increasingly appears to be: an ill-prepared newcomer to the world stage, with uninformed views and a largely untested team that will now be sorely tried by a 9-day, 5-stop world tour that would be wildly ambitious even for a seasoned global leader.

“People are less worried than they were six weeks ago, less afraid,” a senior German government official with extensive experience in the United States told me. “Now they see the clownish nature.” Or, as another German said on the sidelines of a meeting here devoted to taking stock of 70 years of U.S.-German relations, “People here think Trump is a laughingstock.”

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“The dominant reaction to Trump right now is mockery,” Jacob Heilbrunn, the editor of the conservative journal the National Interest, told the meeting at the German Foreign Office here while moderating a panel on Trump’s foreign policy that dealt heavily on the difficulty of divining an actual policy amid the spectacle. Heilbrunn, whose publication hosted Trump’s inaugural foreign policy speech in Washington during last year’s campaign, used the ‘L’ word too. “The Trump administration is becoming an international laughingstock.” Michael Werz, a German expert from the liberal U.S. think tank Center for American Progress, agreed, adding he was struck by “how rapidly the American brand is depreciating over the last 20 weeks.”

Of course, Americans have had presidential scandals before, and Europe has a long history of substantive clashes with U.S. presidents over everything from the Vietnam war and confronting the Soviets to the widely opposed 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Even Trump flying off on a poorly timed international tour isn’t entirely unfamiliar territory: Many embattled U.S. leaders have hit the road for a dose of statesman-like pageantry, red-carpet receptions and global superpower-style pomp to compensate for pressing investigations and congressional uproar back home. Bill Clinton toured Russia and Northern Ireland after testifying to the grand jury in the Monica Lewinsky affair and was in Israel when he learned the House of Representatives had the votes to impeach him. Ronald Reagan summited with Mikhail Gorbachev as the congressional Iran-Contra hearings threatened to derail his second-term agenda.

But Trump’s tribulations have confounded the world, and especially America’s closest allies here in Europe, in a whole different way. Never has a U.S. president flailed so early in his tenure at a time when he is still such an unknown quantity in the world. In Trump’s case, he will arrive in a skeptical Europe with an inexperienced or nonexistent staff appointed to deal with global problems and a record of wildly contradictory statements even on matters of core principle. Does he think NATO is still “obsolete” or not? Is he prepared to offer the Russians anything more than the symbolism of his recent, chummy Oval Office visit with its foreign minister? Want to blow up carefully negotiated agreements with Europe on climate change and trade?

No one knows.
...


http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/05/19/trump-middle-east-trip-saudi-arabia-215163

timosman
05-19-2017, 11:31 PM
You should cool off, you might be overheating. Not good for the circuitry. :rolleyes:

UWDude
05-19-2017, 11:36 PM
Media still so stupid, as is it's deep state intelligence and script writers.
They think Trump is going for the distraction from the "Russia Investigation".
As I have stated before, Trump knows something deep state (fooled by yours truly) and the media (fooled by those fooled by yours truly) do not.... ...there is absolutely no Russian connection.*
No, Trump's visit is for something far more poisonous.

I am going to LOVE the deep state's newest neurological spasms as the poison sets in.







*(Deep State now knows this too, but they are already in too deep, so now they have to try and geobbelsify it into reality. But just like those Iraqi WMD's, there are reasons you can't just make lies truth. Did you guys ever figure out why you couldn't just make up some weapons, say they were Saddam's, and prove yourselves right about WMD's in Iraq? Hey, why not? Why didn't you shady dirty bad boy players just pin evidence on Saddam like your cop friends do to *******? Ask your superior tonight, junior.)

Danke
05-19-2017, 11:40 PM
Politico, lol.

CPUd
05-19-2017, 11:41 PM
Tips for Leaders Meeting Trump: Keep It Short and Give Him a Win

By PETER BAKERMAY 18, 2017

WASHINGTON — As Saudi Arabia’s leaders prepared to make a pitch to the White House for a visit by President Trump, a PowerPoint presentation was put together complete with slides describing Saudi demographics, investments in the United States and ambitious plans for reform.

Another slide showed pictures of three palaces Mr. Trump could choose to stay at should he come, including “His Majesty’s weekend personal residence.” Ultimately, someone must have thought better of it, because that slide was not shown. But the pitch worked. Mr. Trump heads to Riyadh on Friday, the first stop in his first overseas trip since taking office.

For foreign leaders trying to figure out the best way to approach an American president unlike any they have known, it is a time of experimentation. Embassies in Washington trade tips and ambassadors send cables to presidents and ministers back home suggesting how to handle a mercurial, strong-willed leader with no real experience on the world stage, a preference for personal diplomacy and a taste for glitz.

After four months of interactions between Mr. Trump and his counterparts, foreign officials and their Washington consultants say certain rules have emerged: Keep it short — no 30-minute monologue for a 30-second attention span. Do not assume he knows the history of the country or its major points of contention. Compliment him on his Electoral College victory. Contrast him favorably with President Barack Obama. Do not get hung up on whatever was said during the campaign. Stay in regular touch. Do not go in with a shopping list but bring some sort of deal he can call a victory.

“If you were prepping people for Donald Trump, the two or three points would be: one, bear in mind this is still a guy who focuses on wins,” Peter Westmacott, a former British ambassador to the United States, said. “He likes to have wins for America and wins for himself from bilateral meetings.”

“Secondly,” he continued, “he is a deal maker, a pragmatist. Third, this is a guy with a limited attention span. He absolutely won’t want to listen to visitors droning on for a half-hour — or longer if they need an interpreter.”

...
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/18/world/middleeast/trump-saudi-arabia-foreign-trip.html

timosman
05-19-2017, 11:44 PM
CPUd is very engaging tonight. Autopilot improvements? :cool:

oyarde
05-19-2017, 11:46 PM
Politico, lol.

Are they still in business ? Who owns that now ?

Origanalist
05-20-2017, 12:25 AM
You should cool off, you might be overheating. Not good for the circuitry. :rolleyes:

That account needs a governor.

Danke
05-20-2017, 12:30 AM
That account needs a governor.


Well, it has slowed down a bit.

r3volution 3.0
05-20-2017, 12:30 AM
Yea Trump's terrific.

It's awful how people are attacking him over nothing; it can't be that there's a good reason to hate him (or dozens of them).

The people criticizing Donald Trump on Ron Paul forums are trolls. The people defending his warmongering and socialism are libertarians.

CPUd
05-20-2017, 12:39 AM
Related:


Here is how it works: Rather than defend President Trump’s specific actions, his conservative champions change the subject to (1) the biased “fake news” media, (2) over-the-top liberals, (3) hypocrites on the left, (4) anyone else victimizing Mr. Trump or his supporters and (5) whataboutism, as in “What about Obama?” “What about Clinton?” For the anti-anti-Trump pundit, whatever the allegation against Mr. Trump, whatever his blunders or foibles, the other side is always worse. But the real heart of anti-anti-Trumpism is the delight in the frustration and anger of his opponents. Mr. Trump’s base is unlikely to hold him either to promises or tangible achievements, because conservative politics is now less about ideas or accomplishments than it is about making the right enemies cry out in anguish.
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?510755-If-Liberals-Hate-Him-Then-Trump-Must-Be-Doing-Something-Right

timosman
05-20-2017, 01:58 AM
What would you like for your parting gift?:cool:

Anti Federalist
05-20-2017, 07:28 AM
and Europe’s political class has been outraged, confused and even terrified

Doing a good job then.

Keep it up.

juleswin
05-20-2017, 08:11 AM
CPUd is very engaging tonight. Autopilot improvements? :cool:

The thing about criticizing Trump is that he is too easy of a target to make fun of. You don't need autopilot, just get someone who is not an as*kisser and tell him/her to tell you what he honestly thinks about him and the game is over.

He is dishonest, unintelligent, lazy, speaks in the most rudimentary form of English, looks out of place, gullible, talks funny, a hypocrite, hyperbolic etc etc and he displays all these qualities just about every time you see him on TV. Don't get me wrong, I understand the desire for unpolished, normal talking, individuals, I want those too but the dishonesty and deceptiveness just put me off to everything else he may have going for him

juleswin
05-20-2017, 08:12 AM
The thing about criticizing Trump is that he is too easy of a target to make fun of. You don't need autopilot, just get someone who is not an as*kisser and tell him/her to tell you what he honestly thinks about him and the game is over.

He is dishonest, unintelligent, lazy, speaks in the most rudimentary form of English, looks out of place, gullible, talks funny, a hypocrite, hyperbolic etc etc and he displays all these qualities just about every time you see him on TV. Don't get me wrong, I understand the desire for unpolished, normal talking, individuals, I want those too but the dishonesty and deceptiveness just put me off to everything else he may have going for him

I criticize him anytime I think it would take people away from supporting him. But its tricky doing that around here anymore cos the more you criticize him, the more the fence sitter fall in love with the manpig

AuH20
05-20-2017, 08:22 AM
The treasonous weasels are irritated by Trump? Well, that was the whole point. We can even get mileage from the symbolism associated with Trump.

CPUd
05-20-2017, 10:08 AM
865829215379361793
https://twitter.com/JenniferJJacobs/status/865829215379361793
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DARB6edXkAAJ7Zt.jpg

timosman
05-20-2017, 10:30 AM
I criticize him anytime I think it would take people away from supporting him. But its tricky doing that around here anymore cos the more you criticize him, the more the fence sitter fall in love with the manpig

Manpig? M'kay.:rolleyes:

susano
05-20-2017, 10:35 AM
Politico, lol.

And "senior European officials". Lord knows everyone cares what they think. Besides, I thought they were busy shipping in Africans to Italy and trying to bully Hungary and Poland into multikulti suicide.

ILUVRP
05-20-2017, 10:40 AM
i am no big fan of trump but i think he would be better than vp pence .

susano
05-20-2017, 10:48 AM
Jew York Times and Susan (((Glasser))) for Politico. Wonder if that was run by Hillary's peeps prior to publication.

I do agree with what juleswin says but Trump is still not Hillary Clinton and however horrid Trump is, the country is not being run by the Clinton Foundation so there's that.

susano
05-20-2017, 10:50 AM
i am no big fan of trump but i think he would be better than vp pence .

OMG, yes. I hate Pence. Reminds me of some oily TV preacher. He's only there because of Trump's stupid mouth driving off any other VP prospects.

Iowa
05-20-2017, 05:01 PM
Meh. Bush still has him beat for international laughing stock.