Donald Trump Is Finding It Hard To Field A Foreign Policy Team Without A Foreign Policy

[babylonsister]

Donald Trump Is Finding It Hard To Field A Foreign Policy Team Without A Foreign Policy
The president-elect is shuffling through names, seemingly with no ideological aim. His fellow Republicans are confused, too.
11/16/2016 10:52 pm ET
3k

Sam Stein Senior Politics Editor, The Huffington Post
Ryan Grim Washington bureau chief for The Huffington Post


Donald Trump’s transition team remains vexed about how to structure key foreign policy positions with just months to go before inauguration. Causing the logjam is a mix of bureaucratic friction, internal staff disputes and a lack of direction from the top of the ticket.

Occasionally, the disorder has spilled out publicly, with the floating of a variety of names with no apparent ideological consistency for top posts. On Wednesday, news broke that South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (R-S.C.) was under consideration for secretary of state, while several transition sources told The Huffington Post that the previous front-runner, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, was losing favor among transition staff.

The Trump transition team attempted to alleviate concerns over the state of operations during a conference call on Wednesday night, announcing that “landing teams” would begin meeting with officials at four separate federal agencies and revealing that Trump would meet with an “unbelievable” group of people on Thursday. The list included Haley in addition to several Republican foreign policy officials, from Henry Kissinger to Gen. Jack Keane.

That Trump is still feeling out who to trust for this critical portfolio is, in part, a function of the way that he operated as a candidate. During the campaign, he skewered neoconservatives who have long dominated Republican foreign policy, charging that President George W. Bush lied to get the country into the Iraq War. And Trump cozied up to Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who is regarded by many in the GOP establishment as an arch enemy of the United States. Having run against the Republican foreign policy platform, Trump has found it hard to find Republicans to carry out his foreign policy agenda.

“It’s the creepy Russia stuff that really has foreign policy people creeped out,” said one GOP official who was contacted by the transition office about his interest in working in the administration. He declined. “A lot of the foreign policy people saw the intel on what Putin was doing and none of it looked good.”

Inside the Trump transition team, there is disagreement over how much they should try to repair bridges to the rest of the GOP foreign policy community. Eliot Cohen, a prominent neoconservative who criticized Trump during the campaign, said he was berated during his meeting with transition staff. He subsequently advised Republican foreign policy officials to stay away.

more...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-foreign-policy_us_582d1c98e4b030997bbd8d49?

[hatrack]

1. But he's got time for a victory tour!

Donald Trump is planning a victory tour through states he won in the presidential election after Thanksgiving, according to a Trump staff member.

"We’re working on a victory tour now, it will happen in the next couple of weeks," George Gigicos, the director of Trump's advance team, said on Thursday, adding that it would occur following Thanksgiving, according to a President-elect pool report.

He said that on his tour Trump will "obviously" visit "the states that we won and the swing states we flipped over."


EDIT

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/donald-trump-to-take-victory-tour

[LisaM]

2. Good, then he won't come to Washington.

Ugh. Is there anything outside the bounds of taste this guy won't do? He won some of those states by the narrowest of margins.

[hatrack]

3. Works for me - if he's out trolling the morons, that much less time for the "transition" . . .

Which is already a snarled clusterfuck ten days in.

[Roland99]

4. Bet it ends up not happening. Like many of his campaign promises.

[wordpix]

16. leaving responsibilies at inappropriate moments is something repugs do

like doing a Victory Tour instead of hiring 4000 fed workers including your cabinet.

[Roland99]

29. So many analogies to make re: his behaviour

it's beyond cliched and tens of millions fell for it.

[redwitch]

5. I pity his Secret Service detail.

I really do.

He won't be coming to NY because sadly he already lives here but many of my upstate neighbors would no doubt be thrilled to cheer him on.

I am 100% positive he will be the worst president of all time. He is already the most unprepared.

Victory tour? Jeezus.

[CrispyQ]

10. Trump will play king from his NY penthouse, while Pence/McConnell/Ryan shred the safety net

& open our Commons & Treasury to their corporate friends, who will strip everything left of value in this country. I'm having a real hard time not seeing this future.

And we thought W was bad.

[wordpix]

18. we can't let that happen, and it could

but after W, Dems are onto these liars and frauds. No matter that they "won" ---it was not a plurality, and we fight on to prevent them from all you say, which is their dream of wealth and dominance.

[phylny]

28. I agree. A friend of ours was VERY high up in the Secret Service by the Bush II

administration. Before that, he worked for Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton. The SS hated when Bill wanted to do something normal, like go to a store or go out for a sandwich. Imagine how difficult it will be if there are now scheduled tours with thousands of people.

I wish no harm to the blOTUS elect. I don't want President Pence, either.

[babylonsister]

6. Wow. He's got brass ones; maybe he doesn't know

how reviled he is by so many people, but more likely he doesn't care.

[wordpix]

15. he's doing a victory tour? What about his Transition-in-Disarray?

Oh, I forgot. He's leaving that to Ivanka and Kushner.

[Skittles]

24. I'm sure that is encourged by the folk who will really be in charge

Donald fulfills his endless narcissistic need for attention and they get him out of the way

[alittlelark]

7. How is Kissinger still alive?......

....'only the good die young' isn't working for me anymore. Why is Cheney still breathing?!!!?

[wordpix]

12. I shouldn't but

[Sunlei]

21. I think cheney got his kid into one of the low population state elections. Not sure, afraid to check

You check please and then we'll know darth vader is back in control of the WH.

[muriel_volestrangler]

26. Yeah, I'm afraid Liz (the bad one) is now the House rep for Wyoming

Luke Skywalker she ain't.

[lastlib]

25. More importantly to me, why....

...isn't he in prison for war crimes??!? Ditto Cheney.

[uponit7771]

8. Most Americans did NOT vote for this child and 7th grade bully school mates

[wordpix]

13. we need to get rid of the Electoral College - great for horse and ox cart days

we don't need it anymore and it's killed us twice in 16 years.

[Sunlei]

22. They still have to vote 12/8, and they don't -have to- vote for him.

anything could happen between now & January, anything.

[Mc Mike]

9. "Shoot first, ask questions later" is sort of like a policy.

[Xipe Totec]

14. But shoot first and don't ask is the Trump Doctrine. nt

[Mc Mike]

27. Close enough for government work. nt

[wordpix]

11. I'm telling you, the anti-Trump wing is so far up in arms

When one GOP official is saying "creepy Russia stuff" and the "transition team" consists of Trump children, you KNOW a repug coup is being hatched.

[Sunlei]

17. A lot of the foreign policy people saw the intel on what Putin was doing and none of it looked good

“A lot of the foreign policy people saw the intel on what Putin was doing and none of it looked good.”

So there's the first leak on what was supposed to be secret briefings? Just how bad was the Russian connection to the republican campaign?

[wordpix]

19. "Russian connection to the republican campaign" ---bad enough for Pelosi

to now publicly talk about it and "suggest" an FBI investigation.

[Sunlei]

20. key word is intel. Some refused to work in trump Admin because of government briefing.

We all know what the 17 agencies released about the fact Russia hacked the DNC. And like magic the files ended up in republican hands.

[hay rick]

23. Gary Johnson is still available. nt