Trump barrels into 2018 with fresh foreign fights on Twitter
WASHINGTON (AP) — You thought President Donald Trump might mellow out in 2018? Refrain from taunting world leaders tweet by tweet? Think again.
Trump is storming into the new year in exceptionally aggressive fashion, picking fresh fights on Twitter with such speed that his aides, international partners and the public are struggling to catch up. If he was brash on the global stage in Year 1, the first days of Year 2 suggest he was just warming up.
Pakistan? Liars and swindlers who enable terrorists, the president tweeted just hours after the world celebrated the arrival of a new year.
The Palestinians? No more US aid until they get their act together and agree to peace talks with Israel.
Iran? “Failing at every level,” Trump tweeted as he declared fullthroated US support for protesters there opposing the government.
And North Korea? Leader Kim Jong Un may have a figurative “nuclear button” on his desk, but Trump’s is “much bigger,” the president quipped, flippantly tossing off a threat to launch the world’s first nuclear strike in more than 70 years
To Trump’s supporters, and even to his critics, it may seem business as usual. After all, in his inaugural year Trump relentlessly pushed presidential boundaries with provocative declarations that often weren’t fulfilled.
Yet for foreign nations trying anxiously to interpret the US leader, such statements can have real-world consequences. Pakistan is livid at Trump’s remarks, summoning the US ambassador in Islamabad to explain the disparagement of a key US security partner. North Korea experts worry Trump’s taunting of Pyongyang could lead the two countries to stumble into war.
“I think he should stop. It’s dangerous. It’s dangerous bravado,” former Vice President Joe Biden told The Associated Press on Tuesday. During a visit to the US Capitol, Biden also said Trump needed to learn that it’s not a game and that “words matter” when uttered by the commander in chief.
The White House played down the furor.