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Charles P. Pierce: Trump's New Foreign Policy Kick Is a Five-Alarm Fire
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a19852844/trump-haley-feud-syria-strike-tweets/Trump's New Foreign Policy Kick Is a Five-Alarm Fire
The president* is feuding with his U.N. ambassador and launching wars to back up his tweets.
By Charles P. Pierce
Apr 18, 2018
I don’t know how many of you have noticed, but events down at Camp Runamuck indicate at the moment that the president* currently is running an administration* that can fairly be described as five alarms in Shanghai. Let us summon the spirit of Walter Winchell and pop those bullet points.
Item: Ambassador Nikki Haley tells the United Nations that the United States is prepared to drop additional sanctions on Russia, only to have Larry Kudlow at the White House submarine her by telling the country that Haley was “confused." Evidently, this caused the president* to have a nutty at his television. To which Haley responded, “Confuse this, Cable Boy.” From The New York Times:
It was not the first time Mr. Trump has yelled at the television over something he saw Ms. Haley saying. This time, however, the divergence has spilled into public in a remarkable display of discord that stems not just from competing views of Russia but from larger questions of political ambition, jealousy, resentment and loyalty. The rift erupted into open conflict on Tuesday when a White House official blamed Ms. Haley’s statement about sanctions on “momentary confusion.” That prompted her to fire back, saying that she did not “get confused.” The public disagreement embarrassed Ms. Haley and reinforced questions about Mr. Trump’s foreign policy — and who speaks for his administration.
Some morning, he’s going to see something on Fox and Friends and nuke his own Cabinet.
Item: There seems to be less to the big Syrian boom-boom than we were told at the time. And it also appears that the big Syrian boom-boom only happened at all because the president* needed a performance piece. Again, from the NYT:
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis urged President Trump to get congressional approval before the United States launched airstrikes against Syria last week, but was overruled by Mr. Trump, who wanted a rapid and dramatic response, military and administration officials said. Mr. Trump, the officials said, wanted to be seen as backing up a series of bellicose tweets with action, but was warned that an overly aggressive response risked igniting a wider war with Russia.
Until this month, Mr. Mattis had a buffer at the White House in the former national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who often deferred to the defense secretary, a retired four-star Marine general. The arrival of Mr. Trump’s new national security adviser, John R. Bolton, means that buffer is gone. Administration and congressional officials said the hawkish Mr. Bolton is not expected to defer to the defense secretary; already, neoconservative members of the Republican foreign policy establishment have started to air concerns that Mr. Mattis is ceding strategic territory to Iran and Russia in Syria.
Until this month, Mr. Mattis had a buffer at the White House in the former national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who often deferred to the defense secretary, a retired four-star Marine general. The arrival of Mr. Trump’s new national security adviser, John R. Bolton, means that buffer is gone. Administration and congressional officials said the hawkish Mr. Bolton is not expected to defer to the defense secretary; already, neoconservative members of the Republican foreign policy establishment have started to air concerns that Mr. Mattis is ceding strategic territory to Iran and Russia in Syria.
Mad Dog is being outmaneuvered by John Bolton, public crazy person and Walrus of Death? This does not fill me with hope. (On Wednesday, a spokesperson for Mattis denied the report about the rift.) But even more significant than the facts of the stories of chaos and discord is the fact that these stories are leaking out at all.
People in the White House are looking at their longterm job prospects in politics and turning to ice sculptures as a result. So, they’re sending out flares to the permanent governing class that they’re just the piano players. I leave the ethics of leaking for the purpose of undermining an incompetent president and his dime-store grab-bag of dim and dangerous policy ideas to someone smarter than me.
I admit, in some ways, the softer part of my heart looks at these leaks as desperate cries for help. These moments pass by quickly. In large part this is because, for all their qualms and fears for the future, these people are still willingly working for the guy who, with his administration coming apart around him, spent Wednesday morning railing against an adult movie star on the electric Twitter machine and at least a part of his afternoon listening to John Bolton.
