vincentML -> The President's Credibility with Allies ... (3/17/2017 8:56:32 AM)
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was further shattered yesterday when the WH Press Sec read an opinion from Faux News claiming the British Intelligence Agencies were wire tapping Trump Tower. This added upon two months of shaky governance and childish twitter tantrums. Our Allied Leaders are asking WTF? This article from February was prescient. An inexperienced, fractious and mediocre staff and a spectacularly unknowledgeable president will get better at planning and execution in the months ahead. If nothing else, they will learn to fake competence. Faking credibility may be harder. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway often does not tell the truth. White House press secretary Sean Spicer often does not tell the truth. White House national security adviser Michael Flynn appears to have been untruthful on a crucial matter of his communications with a hostile foreign power. And, of course, Trump himself states so many falsehoods, with such unrepentant regularity, that political reporters now tabulate the daily hits and misses like a box score. None of this bothers Trump's base voters, who are, for now at least, fully at home with the administration's alternative facts. But the world at large is less accommodating. Neither Washington nor other capitals are populated by uncritical consumers of information. Credibility is political currency. After three weeks in office, and clueless bluster on everything from Taiwan to Obamacare, Trump is low on funds. Imagine the mental checklist required of, say, German Chancellor Angela Merkel in approaching a sensitive conversation with Trump. If she is honest with him, will Trump betray her to Russia's Vladimir Putin, or to his own shady staff who will use the information against her? Will Trump unleash a childish tweet that muddies and undermines whatever understanding Merkel thought they had reached? If something goes awry, will Trump immediately seek to scapegoat Merkel? Does Trump, who is ignorant of basic historical facts, even have enough information to understand the issues under discussion? If winning the clash of ideas is crucial to our national security, the arrogant Bronx Bungler has put the nation in jeopardy. Who can trust him abroad? Are you worried yet?
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