HANOI – For Donald Trump, it often seems like the personal really is the political – and the diplomatic. As he did in his previous…
HANOI – For Donald Trump, it often seems like the personal really is the political – and the diplomatic.
As he did in his previous lives in business and reality television, the former star of „The Apprentice“ applies a personal style to his dealings with foreign leaders – badgering some, buttering up others, sometimes using both honey and vinegar on the same person at different times.
It’s a transactional approach often devoted to short-term goals, analysts said.
„He doesn’t know the history“ between nations, said Harry J. Kazianis, director of Korean Studies at the Center for the National Interest, a nonpartisan think tank. „All he knows is what he has done in reality television and in business.“
Trump’s personal approach will be on display to a global audience again this week in Vietnam as he conducts a second summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un – a prime example of Trump’s sometimes hot-and-cold approach to foreign leaders.
After months of attacking „Little Rocket Man,“ Trump now has little but praise for Kim as he tries to persuade the North Korean leader to abandon his nuclear weapons.
Of course, that could change back if Kim proves intransigent in Vietnam or beyond.
More: Trump on North Korea talks: No pressing timetable
Dealings with Kim underscore another aspect of Trump’s approach to foreign leaders, critics said: He has a tendency to say nicer things about authoritarians – Kim, Xi Jinping of China, Vladimir Putin of Russia – than about western allies like Emmanuel Macron of France, Angela Merkel of Germany, and Theresa May of Great Britain.
„Trump shouldn’t be allowed to be around foreign autocrats without adult supervision,“ said Van Jackson, a former Pentagon official during the Barack Obama administration and author of „On The Brink: Trump, Kim, and the Threat of Nuclear War.“ „The conflicts of interest and opportunities to be manipulated are too numerous and too serious to leave him alone.“
Trump said he likes leaders who respect the United States (and him). He likes less the leaders of countries that he believes are „screwing“ the U. S. in terms of trade and military commitments for NATO.
„To those few Senators who think I don’t like or appreciate being allied with other countries, they are wrong, I DO,“ Trump tweeted in December. „What I don’t like, however, is when many of these same countries take advantage of their friendship with the United States, both in Military Protection and Trade.
