We begin today’s roundup with The New York Times and its editorial on Donald Trump’s admiration of despots around the world:
What is not in any doubt is Mr. Trump’s own authoritarian tendencies and his fondness for other strongman leaders who, like him, chafe at governmental checks and balances, including the courts. Mr. Trump reportedly admires Mr. Duterte’s aggressive rhetoric about fighting the Islamic State and cracking down on drugs. He has praised President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey for winning a disputed referendum that will give him vastly more power and invited him to the White House on May 16. He has already given a friendly reception to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, who was barred from the White House after staging a coup four years ago and arresting thousands of political opponents. He has replaced harsh criticism of China with praise for President Xi Jinping, and in the past displayed a bizarre affection for Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
American presidents must work with foreign leaders of all kinds to advance the national interest. But Mr. Trump erodes America’s reputation when he uncritically embraces those who show the least regard for human rights, rule of law and democracy.
The Chicago Sun-Times:
In the world of diplomacy, an invitation to the White House is more than a friendly gesture. By welcoming Duterte, Trump implicitly endorsed the Philippines president’s campaign of unlawful extrajudicial killing of thousands of his nation’s citizens. That is unconscionable. [...]
In the Philippines, blood and tears flow on the streets day after day as masked killers do their work. Police storm into homes, shooting unarmed people. No one is safe. Trump should condemn that, not invite Duterte to break bread at the White House.
Philip Rucker at The Washington Post:
In an undeniable shift in American foreign policy, Trump is cultivating authoritarian leaders, one after another, in an effort to reset relations following an era of ostracism and public shaming by Obama and his predecessors. [...] Every American president since at least the 1970s has used his office at least occasionally to champion human rights and democratic values around the world. Yet, so far at least, Trump has willingly turned a blind eye to dictators’ records of brutality and oppression in hopes that those leaders might become his partners in isolating North Korea or fighting terrorism.
Dana Milbank:
Certainly, Trump has attempted nothing so horrifying as has Duterte, who has boasted of personally killing people and whose government has killed thousands of alleged drug dealers. Trump boasted that “I could . . . shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters,” but he hasn’t tested the hypothesis.
Duterte is only the latest autocrat to earn Trump’s admiration, following his earlier praise for the skills of Vladimir Putin, Saddam Hussein, Bashar al-Assad, Moammar Gaddafi and “smart cookie” Kim Jong Un. But the similarities between Trump’s language and Duterte’s are striking. Is it a case of imitation? Or are they both using the same authoritarian handbook?
Heather Timmons at Quartz:
Duterte’s invitation comes as the Trump Organization is on the brink of opening a new $150 million, 57-story skyscraper in Manila, where one-bedroom apartments start at $450,000, as Quartz has previously reported. The Trump Organization has partnered with Century Properties on the project, a local firm run by developer Jose E.B. Antonio. Antonio was named a special government trade representative to the US just days before the US election in November. [...]
This means the Trump Organization could still be receiving payments from Antonio, a Filipino government official, even as Trump and Duterte craft a new US-Philippines relationship. This matters because while Trump has handed over management of his business to his sons, he has not sold it entirely. Ethics experts say the only way to avoid conflicts of interest is to do the latter.
Here is Jake Tapper’s take:
Turning to domestic policy, here’s Carl Hulse on the new budget deal:
By cutting a bipartisan spending compromise among themselves, Republicans and Democrats in Congress not only prevented the White House from delivering on President Trump’s priorities in his very first budget, they also drafted a handy blueprint for circumventing the Trump administration in the future.
It was an outcome that should worry the new president even though Mr. Trump will be spared the humiliation of a government shutdown early in his tenure if he signs the legislation.
Eugene Robinson points out Trump’s first 100 days have been a failure:
President Trump’s first 100 days in office were mostly about empty noise. The next 100 likely will be the same.
There is no principle at the heart of Trump’s policies. In many cases, there are no policies at all, just improvised attempts to bridge the gap between Trump’s rhetoric and inconvenient reality. This is no way to run a corner bodega, let alone the greatest nation on Earth. [...] This nation isn’t being led, it’s being buffeted this way and that by the president’s bluster. What British politician Gordon Brown once said about a rival is true, in spades, about Trump: “The more he talks, the less he actually says.”
Paul Waldman at The Week agrees, citing Trump’s tendency to talk big but do little in terms of action:
President Trump is a man who likes to look at things. Beautiful women, beautiful buildings, beautiful vistas — you put something nice in front of him, and he'll give it a good, long look.
It's not just natural and human-made wonders that attract Trump's penetrating gaze. It's also policy proposals, i.e. thoughts about changing existing laws and enacting new ones. But when you hear Trump say he's "looking at" something, don't worry. He almost never means it.
And on a final note, David Graham at The Atlantic points out that Trump reverts to the campaign trail when his agenda stalls, but that campaign act is wearing thin:
It’s unsurprising that Trump would wish to return to the campaign—not yet constrained by office, he was free to say and do more or less as he chose, and it culminated in the great moment of his life: his election as president of the United States. Things haven’t gotten quite so well since. His approval rating has tanked, he has spoken frankly in interviews about how unexpectedly hard the job turns out to be, and how little has has to show for it.
Trump’s problem is that he faces a vicious cycle: The more his presidency feels stalled, the more he reverts to his campaign mode. And the more he reverts to campaign mode, the less influence and attention he seems able to garner.