USA TODAY International Edition
TRUMP SAYS HE’D MEET WITH N. KOREAN DICTATOR
In his willingness to meet with notorious leaders, a doctrine of pragmatic engagement emerges
“He understands the type of diplomacy and the type of negotiating and the type of dealmaking that actually gets real results for our country.” White House spokesman Sean Spicer
WASHINGTON President Trump demonstrates a willingness to meet with some of the most notorious leaders on the world stage — a wheeling-and-dealing approach to diplomacy that is both an embrace and a rejection of President Obama’s policy of engaging with adversaries.
In the span of 48 hours, President Trump announced that he had invited Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte — whose war on drugs has led to the extrajudicial killing of thousands of Filipinos over the past year — to the White House. And he told Bloomberg news that he would be willing to meet with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un — which, if it happened, would be the first time a U. S. president met with a leader of the hermit nation since the Korean War. “I would be honored to do it,” Trump said, emphasizing that it would have to be “under the right circumstances.”
Last month, Trump made headlines for taking a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al- Sisi, whose human rights record includes the jailing of thousands of dissidents. Al- Sisi came to the White House as part of Trump’s effort to solidify an alliance against Islamic extremism.
Trump’s businesslike willingness to make deals on the world stage is becoming a central pillar of what could be seen as an emerging Trump Doctrine — that building personal relationships with rivals, adversaries and even enemies can advance American interests.
“The reason that the president is building an effective coalition and is getting results around the globe in reasserting America’s place is because he understands the type of diplomacy and the type of negotiating and the type of dealmaking that actually gets real results for our country,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.
If it sounds like we’ve had this debate before, we have.
In the 2008 presidential campaign, one of the defining differences between then- senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton was the degree to which Obama was willing to talk to adversaries.
Clinton was cool to the idea of talks with countries such as Iran, North Korea and Cuba. Obama said he would talk to them “without preconditions.”
“I do think that it’s important for the United States not just to talk to its friends but also to talk to its enemies. In fact, that’s where diplomacy makes the biggest difference,” Obama said in a debate in 2008.
During his presidency, Obama opened up a channel to Iran, forging a deal to allow nuclear inspections in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. He made a historic visit to Cuba, even attending a baseball game with Cuban President Raúl Castro despite concerns about Cuba’s human rights record. Although he often gave the silent treatment to allies in Turkey and Egypt, he continued to quietly provide them with military assistance.
Obama’s outreach to countries such as Cuba and Burma was part of a strategy of opening up those regimes to global economic and cultural forces that, he hoped, would lead to more democratic regimes.
Officials who worked under Obama take issue with the idea that Trump takes a page out of the former president’s book. Obama’s brand of principled engagement “is a far cry from what we’ve seen from this administration,” said Ned Price, a former Obama National Security Council official.
“President Trump’s feting of autocrats and dictators, including from the Oval Office, undermines the values for which America has always stood,” Price said. “That is not only a break from past Republican and Democratic administrations, it’s also an affront to America’s traditional role in the world.”
For Trump, the willingness to embrace strongmen represents a modern- day realpolitik aimed at containing what he sees as the two biggest threats to U. S. security: the Islamic State and North Korea.
Spicer said the outreach to Duterte was “an opportunity for us to work with countries in that region that can help play a role in diplomatically and economically isolating North Korea.” The meeting with North Korea, he said, would be conditional. “We’ve got to see their provocative behavior ratcheted down immediately,” Spicer said.
Rep. Eliot Engel, D- N. Y., the top Democrat on the House For-
“President Trump’s feting of autocrats and dictators, including from the Oval Office, undermines the values for which America has always stood.” Ned Price, former Obama National Security Council official
eign Affairs Committee, said Trump’s dialogue with Duterte validates his brutal anti- drug campaign. “I don’t know what the rush was to meet him,” Engel told MSNBC. “If you sleep with dogs, you get fleas.” But Engel conceded it would be hard to ignore the North Korean leader. “Kim Jong Un is another story. He’s a bad guy, too,” he said. But while North Korea is on the brink of building a missile that could deliver a nuclear warhead to the USA, “that may mean an exception.”