Tag: Trump love of dictators

Trump to host Turkey’s Erdogan same day public impeachment hearings start

Bipartisan calls to cancel visit ignored, as experts say Washington still needs Ankara

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be feted Wednesday at the White House despite his attacks on a longtime U.S. ally, his purchase of military equipment from Russia and calls from lawmakers in both parties to punish him.

President Donald Trump and top aides have ignored bipartisan calls to cancel Erdogan’s visit, which is expected to include a joint press conference on the same day public hearings in the House impeachment inquiry begin.

Though largely united against the Democratic impeachment effort, Trump and many congressional Republicans are at odds over what to do after Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria to attack Kurdish forces.

View the complete November 12 article by John T. Bennett on The Roll Call website here.

Trump’s enormous gift to Erdogan

Washington Post logoIt’s a startling turn of events. For years, Turkey watched with frustration as more distant powers — from the United States to Russia to Iran — imposed their will on the bloody Syrian conflict to its south. For years, to no avail, Turkey demanded that the United States end its support of a controversial Syrian Kurdish faction with alleged links to an outlawed separatist group within its borders. For years, Turkey fumed at a hostile Washington, a putative ally whose politicians, for a host of reasons, often cast Ankara as an adversary.

All of that has suddenly changed, largely thanks to President Trump.

It was Trump who, less than two weeks ago, acquiesced to a Turkish invasion of northeastern Syria, abandoning those in the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. It was Trump who, despite a vociferous backlash in Washington, started to echo Turkish talking points about the SDF being “communists” and “terrorists.” And it was Trump who on Thursday hailed a “deal” clinched with Turkey that effectively satisfied most of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s demands while also relieving him of the looming threat of U.S. sanctions on his country’s vulnerable economy.

View the complete October 17 article by Ishaan Tharoor on The Washington Post website here.

Jamal Khashoggi’s death made the Saudi crown prince a pariah. Trump has helped rehabilitate him on the world stage.

Washington Post logoAt the annual Group of 20 gathering of world leaders in Osaka, Japan, in June, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, beamed before cameras as he stood center stage between President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a carefully choreographed group photo. He grinned as he sat with Russian President Vladimir Putin. And he shook hands joyously with South Korean President Moon Jae-in after the two countries struck agreements and contracts worth $8.3 billion.

The world leaders’ embrace of Mohammed was a clear signal that the young prince, who the CIA, U.S. allies and a United Nations investigator say is responsible for the savage killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, was being welcomed back, if reluctantly, into the community of nations. And it wouldn’t have been possible without the support of Trump and his secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.

Wednesday will mark one year since Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributing columnist, was killed and dismembered by Saudi agents in that country’s consulate in Istanbul. Mohammed, who rose to power promising transformational social and economic change in one of the world’s most strategically important countries, and who was praised by prominent writers and American executives as heralding a bright future for Saudi Arabia, quickly became a pariah.

View the complete September 28 article by Shane Harris and John Hudson on The Washington Post website here.

Trump praises North Korea after missile tests rattle region

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump bestowed praise Friday on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un following a flurry of short-range missile tests that rattled the region and lowered expectations for the resumption of nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang.

Trump issued a three-part tweet reflecting an approach to North Korea that emphasizes personal diplomacy. Despite widespread skepticism that Kim will give up his nuclear weapons program, Trump is attempting to coax Kim back into negotiations with flattery and by offering to help him achieve a better economic future for his country.

Trump tweeted that North Korea’s recent tests of short-range missiles weren’t part of the commitments he and Kim made at their historic June 2018 summit in Singapore, although he conceded they might be in violation of a U.N. resolution.

View the complete August 2 article by Matthew Lee and Deb Riechmann from the Associated Press on the PBS website here.

Trump Opens Tokyo Visit With a Tweet Sure to Unnerve the Japanese

TOKYO — President Trump kicked off the first full day of a state visit to Japan on Sunday by playing down North Korea’s recent tests of short-range ballistic missiles, undercutting declarations by both Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the president’s own national security adviser that the launches violated United Nations resolutions.

“North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter from his hotel in Tokyo before a round of golf with Mr. Abe in nearby Chiba. “I have confidence that Chairman Kim will keep his promise to me.”

As it has pursued on-again, off-again denuclearization talks with North Korea, the United States has been focused on the North’s attempt to build nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles that could reach the United States mainland.

View the complete May 25 article by Annie Karni and Katie Rogers on The New York Times website here.

Trump and the march of ballot box autocrats

To President Trump’s critics, the creeping authoritarianism is in plain view.

Take this week: Democrats on the Hill declared that the United States was in constitutional crisis, a consequence of the Trump administration’s refusal to comply with House subpoenas pertaining to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe and thereby disregard congressional powers of oversight. Separately, my colleague Dana Milbank pointed to the administration’s provocative new steps to revoke the media credentials for White House journalists (including his).

And then, at a rally on Wednesday, Trump laughed along with thousands of cheering supporters about shooting migrants who arrive at the U.S. border. That it fostered only muted outrage and discussion on cable news networks the following day pointed to how inured the American public has become to Trump’s routine demagoguery.

stephanie kotuby@stephaniekotuby

.@RepJerryNadler tells @JudyWoodruff on @NewsHour tonight @realdonaldtrump is trying to establish the presidency as a “dictatorship” by defying all House subpoenas.

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In part for that reason, the White House visit next week of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is worth watching. Shunned during the Obama presidency, Orban, an illiberal nationalist, has appeared to find common cause with Trump. While numerous E.U. officials and European statesmen have decried Orban’s majoritarian rule — which they say is actively eroding Hungary’s democracy — the Trump administration has cultivated Hungary and other nationalist governments in Central Europe as like-minded partners.

View the complete May 10 article by Ishaan Tharoor on The Washington Post website here.