Another morning, another tweet storm from Auriferous Leader.
So smoothly. Smooth as buttered silk. Just ask Chris Christie and all the folks who were smoothly sacked from the transition team. But there’s an issue with that second part of Trump’s tweet.
Uh, huh. Except that the Times piece didn’t say allies weren’t able to reach Trump. It said that Trump was reaching them at unexpected times and without any guidance on what to say.
At times, they have been patched through to him in his luxury office tower with little warning, according to a Western diplomat who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail private conversations.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt was the first to reach Mr. Trump for such a call last Wednesday, followed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel not long afterward. But that was about 24 hours before Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain got through — a striking break from diplomatic practice given the close alliance between the United States and Britain.
The Trump Transition Team has still not bothered to check in with the State Department or the Defense Department to pick up materials on what the hell is going on in the world. Protocol? Diplomatic procedures? Bah! Just fancy terms for politically correct.
"As of this moment, there's not been any contact from the president-elect's transition team," [Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff] Davis said. "We stand ready to assist the president-elect's transition team with a smooth and orderly transition in the interest of national security and for our country."
During the campaign Trump suggested torturing non-combatants, which is a war crime, and killing the families of enemies, which is a war crime, and stealing Iraq’s oil, which is not just a war crime but something only achievable by a James Bond villain. He said that Japan doesn’t pay for US forces there. They do. Ditto South Korea. He’s told the Russians they can keep Crimea, backed away from protecting the rest of the Ukraine, strong-armed the Balkans for more money, threatened to tear up treaties, violate trade agreements, and impose a tariff structure last seen around the time of the East India Company.
No one said you weren’t … never mind.
It’s not if Donald Trump is talking to world leaders that’s at issue. It’s what he’s saying. Without even bothering to check in with the State Department and Department of Defense, Trump is spewing away. Oh, and Trump has started receiving presidential level security briefings. (Hey, Vlad, did you know we have agents? The best agents! We have two of them right there in the Kremlin with you. Last guys you would ever expect.)
Those who thought Trump would start a war within a week of his inauguration might be underestimating the man. He may get a head start.
And about that smooth transition …
The Attorney General has definitely been narrowed down to Chris Christie, Rudy Giuliani, Kris Kobach, and now Ted Cruz—all of whom have been put forward over a period of 72 hours.
Please don’t tell me we’re going to solve this with a swimsuit competition.
Eliot A. Cohen, a former State Department official who had criticized Mr. Trump during the campaign but said after his election that he would keep an open mind about advising him, said Tuesday on Twitter that he had changed his opinion. After speaking to the transition team, he wrote, he had “changed my recommendation: stay away.”
It’s too bad we all can’t follow that advice.