You have presumably already heard about President-Elect Donald Trump’s phone call with the Taiwanese president, presently being met with some combination of dismay, consternation, and glee.
My only reaction is that either the president-elect or, possibly, the leaders of other countries ought to be reminded of the “one president at a time principle”. Barack Obama is still president and will be for nearly another two months. The president should be reminding all parties of that publicly.
Failing to do so would be a sign of his personal weakness.
At The National Interest Gordon Chang makes an interesting point:
Just about everyone assumed the Chinese would create a crisis for Trump in his first months in office, just as they created crises for both George W. Bush—in April 2001 with the detention of the crew of the U.S. Navy EP-3—and his successor—the harassment of the Navy’s unarmed reconnaissance vessels, the Impeccable and Victorious, in March and May 2009.
Instead, Trump took the initiative and created a crisis for China’s leaders, and he did that more than a month before taking the oath of office.
Is Donald Trump simply a loose cannon or is he engaging in the same sort of asymmetrical warfare with the Chinese that he did with the Republicans, Democrats, and major media outlets—getting inside their OODA cycles? How would you tell the difference?
Jesus Christ, really? Really? It’s Obama’s fault this bumbler decided to jump into the middle of foreign policy?
Of course it is. Maybe Obama should call Xi up and explain that his successor is a moron. Yeah, that would help. Or he could have the State Department send out a notice to all foreign governments that they should simply pretend Trump doesn’t exist. Short of that, Dave, just what magical power do you think Obama has to get between Orangina and his phone and Twitter?
Seen this? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/03/trumps-taiwan-phone-call-preceded-by-hotel-development-inquiry It seems someone identified as being from the Trump organization has been making inquiries into building Trump hotels at the new Taipei airport. And suddenly. . . phone call!
No doubt that’s Obama’s fault, too, almost everything is.
That’s almost exactly the opposite of the point I was trying to make. Trump put his foot in it. President Obama should speak out.
Since we live in a world were arranging elephant dung is high art who knows.
The 20th amendment tried to deal with this situation by cutting the lame duck period between an election and inauguration by half. In a parliamentary system, where there is better recourse in case of a disputed election (including a new election), the lame duck period is in a period of days, Trudeau was sworn in 2 weeks after an election. The American system requires at least the current length of lame duck in case of disputes, 1800, 1878, and 2000 required months to settle.
Lame ducks are never happy affairs, see 1861 and 1933. Human nature is once the future boss is named, they set the agenda even if the old boss has the actual authority, causing confusion and indecision.
Now as to the wisdom of trump talking to tsai… that’s worthy of multiple posts…
The Taiwanese President called him. In the past, President Elects generally did not make or take calls, but there are a number of exceptions. You also need to remember when Ted Kennedy actively tried to sabotage Reagan’s Russian policy by contacting the Russians.
Trump will be a very good President.
All for Trump applying tariff and other economic pressure on China,
but leave the South China Sea sphere of influence brouhaha alone.
@CuriousOnlooker, those are some good points.
OODA – how can you tell? If it’s done right you can’t.
That’s almost exactly the opposite of the point I was trying to make.
It’s pretty much the opposite of the point you did make.
Is Donald Trump simply a loose cannon or is he engaging in the same sort of asymmetrical warfare with the Chinese that he did with the Republicans, Democrats, and major media outlets—getting inside their OODA cycles? How would you tell the difference?
LMAO!
Ass for Obama being blamed for everything – tough shit. You guys are getting hoist by your own petard, and that includes Trump acting like President before he’s sworn in. Obama was dictating the terms of the bailouts, and insisted that the auto makers be bailed out as well, damned near on election night.
Elections have consequences, and you assholes lost. I seem to recall someone else making those points about eight years ago….
OODA – how can you tell? If it’s done right you can’t.
Yeah, but you might not be able to tell even if it’s done wrong!
Trump’s Presidency has already been worth it, as far as I’m concerned, just to watch all the usual suspects have one bout of hysterics after another.
FWIW I thought your post was clear Dave.
Michael is still crazed from the election, as are many libs. Irrationality is in the air. He needs to be given a wide birth for awhile.
I don’t believe it’s going to pass and I don’t think whether it passes or not depends on Trump’s conduct as president. He could be a great, exemplary president, an eventuality I consider unlikely, or he could be just as bad as you’d be led to thinking he will be by reading, say, the New York Times. The reactions will be exactly the same.