Pence on a mission to ease European fears
Making his debut on the world stage, United States Vice President Mike Pence is looking to reassure skeptical allies in Europe about US foreign policy under President Donald Trump, who has made his ‘‘America First’’ mantra a centrepiece of his new administration.
Pence arrived yesterday in Germany, his first overseas trip as vice president, on a mission to ease concerns about the US commitment to multinational institutions like Nato and the European Union.
The visit, which will include a stop in Brussels, comes amid The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!
Donald Trump quickly deleted, contained a number of extra spaces and listed the Times, CNN and NBC, ending with this conclusion: ‘‘SICK!’’ The second tweet added ABC and CBS worries in Europe about Russian aggression, and lingering questions about Trump’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and whether the new president may promote isolationist tendencies.
The dismissal of Trump’s national security adviser, retired general Michael Flynn, has also put Pence and his stature within the administration under new scrutiny.
Pence is scheduled to sit down with the leaders of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko – countries facing the threat of Russian aggression.
He is also expected to meet with the leaders of Iraq and Afghanistan, to the list, while removing ‘‘SICK!’’. Both tweets labelled the organisations as ‘‘the fake news media’’, with ‘‘fake news’’ in capital letters.
The tweet read: The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!
The media has been credited with breaking stories about Trump’s administration that have prompted action this week, including asking for the resignation of his national security adviser, and his nominee for labour secretary withdrawing from consideration.
Trump has berated the media for allegedly distorting facts and where the US is embroiled in two separate wars. In the earliest days of his presidency, Trump declared his intention to fight and defeat Islamic State. But he also remarked that the US may get a second chance to take Iraqi oil as compensation for its efforts in the war-torn country, a notion rebuffed by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who will be meeting with Pence.
Trump’s immigration and refugee ban has also ruffled feathers with a number of Muslim-majority countries affected by the order, which is currently tied up in court, including Iraq – a close ally in the fight against Isis.
America’s allies will be seeking not painting a rosy portrait of the country under his leadership. At a news conference at the White House on Friday, he uttered the words ‘‘fake news’’ seven times.
‘‘Much of the media in Washington, DC – along with New York, Los Angeles, in particular – speaks not for the people but for the special interests and for those profiting off a very, very obviously broken system,’’ Trump said. ‘‘The press has become so dishonest that if we don’t talk about [it], we are doing a tremendous disservice to the American people. Tremendous disservice.
‘‘We have to talk to find out what’s going on, because the press honestly is out of control.’’
That night, the Republican Party and Trump’s campaign websites posted a ‘‘Mainstream Media Accountability Survey’’ asking 25 questions that were worded in a way that would never be allowed in a scientific survey.
The survey formalises Trump’s attacks and his insinuation that media outlets are working against the American people. It is unclear what, if anything, the data will be used for, and participants are required to give their name, email address and postcode.
The first asks: ‘‘Do you believe that the mainstream media has reported unfairly on our movement?’’ It then asks whether the survey taker believes that MSNBC, CNN or Fox News clues from Pence as to how the Trump administration plans to deal with Russia in the aftermath of Flynn’s departure, US inquiries into Russia’s involvement in the presidential election, and Trump’s past praise for Putin.
The president referred to Nato as ‘‘obsolete’’ in an interview before his inauguration.
As part of his message, Pence is expected to press America’s allies in Europe to raise their defence budgets to Nato’s target of 2 per cent of GDP. Germany has been wary of the cost, and has pointed to its expenditures from supporting refugees and investing in international development. ‘‘report fairly on Trump’s presidency’’, allowing for answers of ‘‘yes’’, ‘‘no’’ or ‘‘no opinion’’.
Those surveyed are also asked their primary source of news, with options limited to those three cable networks, along with ‘‘local news’’.
There is no mention of specific newspapers, websites, magazines or non-cable networks.
Other questions ask whether the respondents think the media does ‘‘due diligence fact-checking before publishing stories on the Trump administration’’, if it fairly reported on the rollout of Trump’s travel ban, if ‘‘political correctness has created biased news coverage on both illegal immigration and radical Islamic terrorism’’, and if