Fire, fury and fumbling
The new Wolff book also explicates Trump’s mistakes in international relations
The Michael Wolff book on life in the Trump White House, “Fire and Fury,” amid the sordid bits about the president’s behavior and relations among courtiers and his family, also includes parts that are interesting to a consumer of information about America’s foreign relations. I read these carefully as I prepared a review of the book for this paper.
Donald Trump led off his term by messing up U.S. relations with Mexico. He had delegated the preparations for a visit to Washington by Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Mr. Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, had already divided the post-Trump presidency into Ms. Trump’s becoming the first female president and Mr. Kushner perhaps becoming secretary of state.
Mr. Pena Nieto ended up canceling his visit when Mr. Trump continued to insist that Mexico would pay for the wall that Mr. Trump wants to build along the U.S.-Mexican border to keep Mexicans out of the United States. In the process, Mr. Trump blew up U.S.-Mexican relations, probably for as long as he remains in office. If the Mexico-paying-for-the-wall thing doesn’t do it, his approach to renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement among the United States, Canada and Mexico, a basic ingredient in U.S. trade relations, probably will.
It is important to remember that the long-standing, peaceful relations the United States has enjoyed with Canada and Mexico, on its northern and southern borders, is one reason our nation has prospered and been able to play a significant role in the world over the past 120 years. Unlike, for example, Germany, France, China and Russia, the United States has not had to contend with difficult countries on its borders.
Thus, Mr. Trump’s and Mr. Kushner’s flawed handling of the Mexican president was not good for America.
Another fiasco has been Mr. Trump’s handling of North Korea. He is now trying to claim credit for the fact that the North and South Koreans are talking to each other. It is hard to see how his referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as fat, in a case of the pot calling the kettle black, and as “rocket man” has moved anyone closer to resolving problems on the Korean Peninsula. Instead, his reference to an Elton John song prompted comedian Stephen Colbert’s writers to coin a parody of one of the musician’s other songs in reference to Mr. Trump: “Goodbye, YellowHaired Toad.”
The North and South Koreans usefully are conversing in the Demilitarized Zone between the two countries about, first, the North’s participation in the upcoming Winter Olympics in South Korea, including, possibly, a march-in together. Other topics include reunions of Korean families separated by the border and the restoration of dangeravoiding military communications. It is difficult to see how Mr. Trump’s insults have contributed to these discussions, the first between the two countries since 2015.
Mr. Trump’s long trip to the Middle East in May also was of questionable utility. TheSaudi Arabians were the biggest winner. Mr. Wolff says they spent $75 million on Mr. Trump’s reception. The overthrow of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef by now-Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was probably facilitated by Mr. Trump’s visit. And who will forget the television coverage of Mr. Trump performing a line dance with swords withSaudi leaders?
Mr. Trump also approved huge arms sales to the Saudis, cementing in place the U.S. alliance with them in bombing Yemen into a state of human tragedy as part of the Saudi-Iranian, Sunni-Shiite struggle in the Middle East. In addition, Mr. Trump apparently conspired with the Saudis to sell the Palestinians down the river by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and giving a green light to extremist Israelis who want to throw away the two-state solution to the PalestinianIsraeli conflict in favor of the single state of Israel.
Americans should note that Mr. Trump has hosted no state dinners in the White House and has, instead, hosted important leaders such as Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his resort hotel Mar-a-Lago in Florida. On the one hand, this may seem to the visitor to be more personal. On the other hand, the White House has not been considered by previous presidents to be too shabby, and Mr. Trump undoubtedly makes money by hosting important visitors and their hangers-on at a facility he owns.
Mr. Trump and his shifting associates have also done their best to undercut Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. It is unclear whether this has been done to clear the way for Mr. Kushner to replace Mr. Tillerson, whether there will be some other beneficiary of the defenestration of Mr. Tillerson, say, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley or right-wing extremist John Bolton, but the end result has been virtually to remove Mr. Tillerson as a credible representative of the United States in conducting foreign relations.
Relations with Russia are still a moving target, although Mr. Wolff’s book underlines how critical are the inquiries into the role that Russia played in the 2016 election. It isn’t Abraham Lincoln or the smell of Mr. Trump’s cheeseburgers that haunts the White House at night. It’s how special counsel Robert Mueller is doing in digging up the still-fresh bones of possible Trump team and family and Kushner family financial and other collusion with the Russians over the years.