Flying in the face of the history of U.S. alliances and the collective foreign policy expertise of the entire government, Donald Trump will wing his way to the NATO summit this week and then on to Vladimir Putin, and wing is the operate word. He has not prepared. Washington Post:
The president rarely reads his nightly briefing book, which focuses on issues likely to come up in meetings, a second senior U.S. official said. To slim down Trump’s workload, aides have sometimes put the most critical information in a red folder, the official said.
Trump predicted success in Singapore, based upon his much vaunted instincts and ability to form immediate bonds with another. Vladimir Putin is the main person he seeks an instantaneous rapport with, after he blows up the NATO summit, which is what everyone expects.
Ahead of the NATO summit, European officials have huddled to discuss how to avoid a repeat of the Group of Seven meeting in June, in which Trump arrived late, left early and refused to sign a customary joint statement with the other leaders. […]
European Council President Donald Tusk has derided Trump’s “capricious assertiveness” and warned that European Union countries need to prepare for “worst-case scenarios.” Trump, for his part, frequently tells European leaders how much he dislikes the E.U. — and how it is “worse than China.” […]
Trump…has highlighted grievances. “I’m going to tell NATO — you got to start paying your bills,” he said at a rally this week in Montana. “They kill us on trade. They kill us on other things. . . . And on top of that they kill us with NATO.” And he defended Putin, calling him “fine” at the event.
“The president thinks he can be friends with Putin,” former national security adviser H.R. McMaster complained during his time in the White House, according to U.S. officials. “I don’t know why, or why he would want to be.”
Now you know why McMaster is gone. Meanwhile, Putin is playing Trump like a Stradivarius, while Trump delusionally thinks he is in control.
In an interview with Fox News last month, Trump speculated that he and Putin could potentially hash out solutions to Syria and Ukraine over dinner.
“I could say: ‘Would you do me a favor? Would you get out of Syria,’ ” Trump said. “ ‘Would you do me a favor? Would you get out of Ukraine.’ ”
Some White House officials worry that Putin, who has held several calls with Trump, plays on the president’s inexperience and lack of detailed knowledge about issues while stoking Trump’s grievances.
The Russian president complains to Trump about “fake news” and laments that the U.S. foreign policy establishment — the “deep state,” in Putin’s words — is conspiring against them, the first senior U.S. official said.
“It’s not us,” Putin has told Trump, the official summarized. “It’s the subordinates fighting against our friendship.”
Such is the way of star crossed lovers, alas. Love is an unquenchable flame and to paraphrase Einstein, “only two things are unlimited, the universe and human Trump’s stupidity.” This is going to be one hell of a week.
