Just past the 100 day mark in Trump’s presidency , it is likely that whatever emanates from the Oval Office, is likely to get worse in terms of the incumbent’s behaviour.
He is perpetuating fake news and other lies every day. Thanks to him, the boundaries that separate the developed and developing worlds – decency and indecency, tyranny and democracy – have effectively disappeared. Apparently he has decided that, to “make America great again”, he needs the help of dictators, killers and other hotheads overseas.
The biggest winner in global politics today is North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un. His incessant rumblings on the warpath, both in word and deed, have somehow had an impact on the President’s billionaire nerves.
For decades the leaders of North Korea – Kim’s father and grandfather – used rogue strategies to gain world attention and then concessions to their needs and ambitions. The drumbeat sounded by endless missile tests in recent years has had the same effect, breaking Trump’s nerve and earning from him the assessment that Kim is a “pretty smart cookie” – and a suggestion they get together for a hamburger and a chat.
There will be more strangeness ahead in American diplomacy and interactions with the world. Trump talks no sense anymore, refuses to budge when corrected on his nonsense claims, and spreads misinformation like a banana-republic con man.
This week Trump had major surprises for Southeast Asia, phoning Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday and the leaders of Thailand and Singapore the next day, inviting them all round to the While House. Ostensibly he wants their help in dealing with North Korea – an odd enough notion given how little sway these countries are likely to have with Pyongyang.
Our Prime Minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha, must have been relieved that the President didn’t mention the Kingdom’s closer friendship with China. But weaning Asian nations away from Beijing seems to be the actual intention in Washington. The US needs to stop China from taking over as the world’s biggest economy.
What the American public doesn’t realize at present is that US credibility abroad has been reduced to ashes since Trump’s inauguration. In place of reassuring pledges or any notable action plan for foreign affairs, we have seen only knee-jerk reactions and a failure among US news media to focus on this perilous decline in American influence.
The focus is instead on responding to Trump’s deliberately distracting rhetoric. Expect this situation to worsen. Whatever the President says will continue to dominate US headlines and network TV news amid analyses of the growing divide between domestic pro-Trump and anti-Trump camps that will in turn further perpetuate Trump mythmaking and mythology.
As matters stand, key positions in the US State Department and at embassies around the globe have yet to be filled. The resulting vacuum leaves American foreign policy being dictated by Trump and his close advisers, often on a whim and without the necessary background information, foresight or attention to political and diplomatic precedent. Under Trump, the US risks facing a world that is entirely anti-American.
Still the same question arises, “How did the American people allow this to happen? ” Scary !
(Source:The Nation, Thailand)