Pence and Tillersons message to allies: Ignore the tweeter in chief
David Horsey
The toughest job facing America’s new foreign policy team is explaining away the impulsive and impolitic musings of our country’s tweeter in chief. Donald Trump appears unable to summon the self-discipline needed to keep himself from saying things that make other nations nervous.
Europeans, in particular, are alarmed by Trump’s recent characterization of the European Union as a mere “vehicle for Germany” and his unchecked enthusiasm for “Brexit” which he sees as a not-unwelcome sign of a disintegrating EU.
At the recent European security conference in Munich, Germany, Vice President Mike Pence assured U.S. allies that American support for Europe remains as strong as ever and that Trump was not about to abandon America’s commitment to NATO in favor of his bromance with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Nevertheless, one reporter asked the logical question: Who should be believed, Pence or Trump?
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had to give similar assurances at the Group of 20 foreign ministers’ gathering in Bonn, as did Defense Secretary James N. Mattis at a NATO meeting in Brussels and U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley at the United Nations. All of them are delivering the same awkward message: Foreign policy pronouncements made by the president of the United States should not be taken seriously.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-tweeter-chief-20170227-story.html