FLASH
Shkruar nga Tom Nichols
The damage Trump is causing to American power and prestige would be less severe if the president had a foreign policy and a team to implement it...
The leaders of Russia, China, and North Korea are not good men. They preside over brutal autocracies filled with secret police and prison camps. But they are serious men nonetheless, and they know a frivolous man when they see one. For nearly a decade, they have followed Donald Trump’s example and have clearly come to one conclusion: The president of the United States is not worthy of their respect.
Wednesday’s military parade in Beijing is the latest evidence that the world’s authoritarians consider Trump a softie. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korea’s eldest grandson, Kim Jong Un, gathered to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. The American president was not invited: After all, what role did the United States play in defeating Japan and liberating Eurasia? Instead, Trump, like America itself, was left to watch from the sidelines.
But the parade was worse than mere contempt. Putin, Xi and Kim stood in solidarity as they reviewed China’s military might just weeks after Putin came to Alaska and rejected Trump’s pleas to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. The White House tried to turn that ill-conceived summit into at least a draw between Putin and Trump, but when the Kremlin dictator appears uninterested in negotiations, speaks first at a press conference and then ends the day by turning down a carefully planned lunch and flying home, that’s humiliation, not an exchange of views.
Trump hasn’t had much success with the other two members of this cheerful 21st-century incarnation of SPECTRE either. Amid the Trumpian chaos, Xi is cleverly positioning China as the new face of international stability and responsibility. He has even made a show of offering partnership to China’s rival and former enemy, India: Chinese diplomats last month said China stood with India against American “bullying” when Trump was trying to impose 50 percent tariffs on India.
Likewise, the North Koreans, after playing on Trump’s ego and his ignorance of international affairs during meetings during the president’s first term, have continued their march toward a nuclear arsenal that could within years be larger than that of the United Kingdom. Trump was confident he could negotiate with Kim, but the days of perfumed “love letters” between Trump and Kim are long over. Pyongyang’s leadership seems to know that it costs them little to make polite jokes with Trump, but that they should reserve serious discussion for leaders of serious countries.
Trump responded to his exclusion from the gala in Beijing by behaving exactly like the third-tier leader that Xi, Putin, and Kim seem to think he is. As the event unfolded, Trump took to his social media page, of course, to express his hurt feelings in a disgustingly snarky attempt.
Now, the reality is that Russia, China, and North Korea are conspiring against America, but it is beneath the dignity and power of an American president to complain about it. Trump continued his indecent jokes by demanding that China recognize the bravery of the Americans who died in the Pacific: “The big question that needs to be answered is whether or not President Xi of China will mention the massive amount of support and ‘bloodshed’ that the United States of America gave to China to help it secure its FREEDOM from a very hostile foreign invader. Many Americans died in China’s quest for Victory and Glory. I hope they are honored and rightly remembered for their Bravery and Sacrifice!”
This message doesn’t exactly project confidence and leadership; instead, it sounds like the lament of a man surrounded by insecurities. A more confident commander in chief would have ignored the parade and, if asked about it, would have said something to the effect that the United States has always respected the sacrifices of our allies in World War II. But not Trump: He angrily declared that he wouldn’t have attended even if the good kids had invited him.
Authoritarians are unfortunately in good company in treating Trump as an incompetent leader. Even America’s allies have acknowledged that Trump may be their formal partner, but that they mostly get things done with the American president by soothing his ego and working around him. After Trump emerged from the Anchorage summit essentially repeating Putin’s talking points, seven senior European leaders rushed to Washington to tell Trump that he had done well and that they really, really respected him, but that perhaps he should refrain from being a co-signatory to Kremlin policy.
The damage Trump is inflicting on American power and prestige would be less severe if the president had a foreign policy and a team to implement it. He has neither: Trump ran for president largely for personal reasons, including to stay out of prison, and his foreign policy, such as it is, is simply an extension of his personal interests. He holds summits, issues statements on social media, and engages in photo ops, mostly, it seems, either to shine a light on his claim to a Nobel Prize or to change the news cycle when issues like the economy (or the Jeffrey Epstein files) get too much attention.
Worse still, Trump is no longer surrounded by people who care about foreign affairs or who can intervene competently and create consistent policies. In his first term, Trump had a defense secretary, James Mattis, who helped create a national defense strategy, a document that Trump could have ignored but at least was announced to a national security establishment that needed guidance from someone, somewhere. Now, at the Pentagon, Trump has Pete Hegseth, who shows little inclination or apparent ability to think through the complexities.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was supposed to be one of the new “adults” in the room, but instead he has become a man in a Velcro suit, with the president handing him jobs and responsibilities without any further guidance. He has been reduced to sitting grimly in White House press briefings with foreign leaders while Trump embarrasses himself and his guests. Meanwhile, the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, is spending her time trying to root out spies she thinks hate the president. Unfortunately, the agents she is hunting are American, which should bring a smile to Xi’s face and perhaps even a big laugh from former KGB officer Putin.
America is at a crossroads. It has no coherent foreign policy, no team of senior professionals managing its national defense and diplomacy, and a president who has little interest in the world beyond what it can offer. It’s no wonder that the men gathered in Beijing, three autocrats whose nations are collectively pointing hundreds of nuclear weapons at the United States, feel free to act as if they don’t think twice about Trump or the country he leads./Adapted from “Pamphlet” by “TheAtlantic”
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