Bannonist messaging at work … post-fascist signaling. Losers in the shadows, hiding in the reeds.
The Trump administration pressured the government of Argentine President Mauricio Macri to rescind an award to former Democratic President Jimmy Carter.
Carter, a frequent critic of the authoritarian tendencies of the Trump administration, was set to be honored by Argentina with the Order of the Liberator General San Martín, the equivalent to America’s Medal of Freedom, however, the Trump administration moved to quash this.
The Mauricio Macri administration reverted a decision to award former US president Jimmy Carter the Order of the Liberator General San Martín — the maximum distinction that the country can give to a foreign personality —, under the pressure from US President Donald Trump’s administration, CNN web site reported this week.
The official tribute, which had already been approved by the foreign ministry and was published in the Official Gazette, was cancelled after receiving a specific request by the US government, which would have suggested it would be better to delay it.
Carter was to be given the award for his work in promoting human rights during Argentina’s last military dictatorship.
theintellectualist.co/...
So why bother doing this except to be a dick, or at least to gain a negotiating advantage (think forcing your dining guests to eat mom’s meatloaf at Maralago)
As Mauricio Macri prepares to travel to Washington to meet Donald Trump, he may be hoping the U.S. president won’t begrudge having been described by his Argentine counterpart as “crazy.”
Macri will steal a march on regional rivals Mexico and Brazil by paying an official visit to Trump this week as the two former businessmen seek to rekindle a relationship that goes back three decades, but which hit the rocks before the U.S. election when the Argentine leader openly backed Hillary Clinton. Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski met Trump in February after requesting a meeting as part of a previously planned trip to Washington…
In a television interview in 2015, Macri described Trump as a “show off” and “totally crazy.” Asked if he could imagine a scenario in which the two would meet as presidents of their countries, Macri dismissed Trump’s chances of winning the presidency, saying his views were too extreme…
www.bloomberg.com/…
Trump has insisted that he will not use the White House for personal profits, saying that after inauguration, he will let three of his children –Ivanka, Donald Jr and Eric – run his business interests while he attends to the duties of commander in chief.
But the Trump children are on his transition team and concerns have been raised that the president-elect is already mixing business interests and official duties.
The Economic Times reported that he met last week with business partners who are building Trump-branded apartments in India, while dozens of foreign diplomats reportedly attended a sales pitch last week at Trump’s new hotel in downtown Washington DC.
In his own memoirs, Francisco Macri also described his business relationship with Trump, recalling how the real estate tycoon broke his golf clubs in frustration after Mauricio beat him in a golf game during a complicated business negotiation in the 1980s in New York.
www.theguardian.com/...