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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump's calls with foreign leaders have long worried aides, leaving some 'genuinely horrified'
By Carol D. Leonnig, Shane Harris and Josh Dawsey
Oct. 4, 2019 at 7:19 p.m. EDT
In one of his first calls with a head of state, President Trump fawned over Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling the man who ordered interference in Americas 2016 election that he was a great leader and apologizing profusely for not calling him sooner.
He pledged to Saudi officials in another call that he would help the monarchy enter the elite Group of Seven, an alliance of the worlds leading democratic economies.
He promised the president of Peru that he would deliver to his country a C-130 military cargo plane overnight, a logistical nightmare that set off a herculean scramble in the West Wing and Pentagon.
And in a later call with Putin, Trump asked the former KGB officer for his guidance in forging a friendship with North Koreas Kim Jong Un a fellow authoritarian hostile to the United States.
Starting long before revelations about Trumps interactions with Ukraines president rocked Washington, Trumps phone calls with foreign leaders were an anxiety-ridden set of events for his aides and members of the administration, according to former and current officials. They worried that Trump would make promises he shouldnt keep, endorse policies the United States long opposed, commit a diplomatic blunder that jeopardized a critical alliance, or simply pressure a counterpart for a personal favor.
There was a constant undercurrent in the Trump administration of [senior staff] who were genuinely horrified by the things they saw that were happening on these calls, said one former White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversations. Phone calls that were embarrassing, huge mistakes he made, months and months of work that were upended by one impulsive tweet.
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Guy Whitey Corngood
(26,501 posts)will no doubt plaster this collection of assholes all over the airwaves, touting them as normal humans. Even experts, after this fucking nightmare finally comes to an end.
WinstonSmith4740
(3,056 posts)I have zero tolerance for all these hand wringers that are coming out of the shadows. They knew who this guy was when they signed on. There's no excuses.
PragmaticLiberal
(904 posts)struggle4progress
(118,295 posts)Zaphod42
(92 posts)what manner of verbal masturbation has emanated from the mouth of Agent Orange during such calls. I would love to have been a fly on the wall during all of them!!
Leghorn21
(13,524 posts)Ewwwww, and
fuck you all, the whole sorry lot of ya
ffr
(22,670 posts)Leak. Be outspoken. The times have found them.
What a time to be alive, to be a part of all those who would proudly choose to defend their republic over an autocracy or monarchy.
dalton99a
(81,516 posts)He was like, Oh my gosh, my people didnt tell me you wanted to talk to me, said one person with direct knowledge of the call.
We couldnt figure out early on why he was being so nice to Russia, one former senior administration official said. H.R. McMaster, the presidents then-national security adviser, launched an internal campaign to get Trump to be more skeptical of the Russians. Officials expressed surprise in both of his early Putin calls at why he was so friendly.
In another call, in April 2017, Trump told Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who had overseen a brutal campaign that has resulted in the extrajudicial killings of thousands of suspected drug dealers, that he was doing an unbelievable job on the drug problem.
Trumps personal goals seeped into calls. He pestered Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for help in recommending him for a Nobel Prize, according to an official familiar with the call.
In a summer 2018 call with Prime Minister Theresa May, Trump harangued the British leader about her countrys contribution to NATO. He then disputed her intelligence communitys conclusion that Putins government had orchestrated the attempted murder and poisoning of a former Russian spy on British soil.
Trump was totally bought into the idea there was credible doubt about the poisoning, said one person briefed on the call. A solid 10 minutes of the conversation is spent with May saying its highly likely and him saying hes not sure.
Trump would sometimes make commitments to foreign leaders that flew in the face of U.S. policy and international agreements, as when he told a Saudi royal that he would support their countrys entry into the G-7.
Marie Marie
(9,999 posts)iluvtennis
(19,863 posts)H2O Man
(73,559 posts)Collimator
(1,639 posts)"They worried that Trump would make promises he shouldnt keep, endorse policies the United States long opposed, commit a diplomatic blunder that jeopardized a critical alliance, or simply pressure a counterpart for a personal favor."
"[O]ne former White House official, [. .] spoke [about ] 'Phone calls that were embarrassing, huge mistakes he [Trump] made, months and months of work that were upended by one impulsive tweet. '
That all sounds about what anyone with half a brain and an ounce of deductive reasoning could have expected when the man was installed as president.
littlemissmartypants
(22,694 posts)is nauseating. It's been an colossal disappointment, but very educational. However, it's an education I would rather have avoided.
Kicked and recommended.
Thanks Dennis Donovan, for sharing this.