United States President Donald Trump's travels across Northern Europe in recent weeks further exposed his disconnect with the art of diplomacy.
UNITED States President Donald Trump’s travels across Northern Europe in recent weeks further exposed his disconnect with the art of diplomacy. It also underlined his dangerous duplicitous nature, insulting British Prime Minister Theresa May one day in a newspaper interview and then cosying up to her at Chequers the following day, while dismissing the piece in The Sun as fake news!
That he said what was reported in the newspaper is verified by a recording of it and it certainly looked as if he was deliberately setting out to insult Ms May over her handling of Brexit, implying that there may be no trade deal with the United States if she did one with Europe. Whether it’s the thick-skinned nature he developed as a wheeler-dealer businessman, or that he just does not get diplomacy, President Trump never seems embarrassed by having to regularly row back on things he shoots from the lip about.
He also insulted German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her people on a visit to Brussels for a Nato summit meeting with his ‘America First’ rhetoric. This must be very embarrassing for his staff and diplomats throughout the world who are left to clear up the mess.
His subsequent meeting in Helsinki with Russian president Vladamir Putin perpetuated his love affair with dictators. It seems like Vlad has some hold over him despite Trump’s subsequent protestations.
However, when visiting countries that have been valued allies of the United States for many years, the one thing that Donald Trump should not be doing is insulting his hosts. That, unfortunately, seems to be his speciality and it is little wonder so many people took to the streets across Britain to protest against his recent visit.
