No 'G'day, mate': On call with Australian prime minister, Trump badgers and brags

[highplainsdem]

Source: WaPo

It should have been one of the most congenial calls for the new commander in chief — a conversation with the leader of Australia, one of America’s staunchest allies, at the end of a triumphant week.

Instead, President Trump blasted Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over a refu­gee agreement and boasted about the magnitude of his electoral college win, according to senior U.S. officials briefed on the Saturday exchange. Then, 25 minutes into what was expected to be an hour-long call, Trump abruptly ended it.

At one point Trump informed Turnbull that he had spoken with four other world leaders that day — including Russian President Vladi­mir Putin — and that, “This was the worst call by far.”

-snip-

“This is the worst deal ever,” Trump fumed as Turnbull attempted to confirm that the United States would honor its pledge to take in 1,250 refugees from an Australian detention center. Trump, who one day earlier had signed an executive order temporarily barring the admissions of refugees, complained that he was “going to get killed” politically and accused Australia of seeking to export the “next Boston bombers.”

-snip-

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/no-gday-mate-on-call-with-australian-pm-trump-badgers-and-brags/2017/02/01/88a3bfb0-e8bf-11e6-80c2-30e57e57e05d_story.html

[George II]

1. Thankfully all of these world leaders that he's berating and cajoling and insulting.....

....won't hold it personally against millions of Americans, just him, his cronies, and the racist bullies that elected him.

I can't see even republicans putting up with this crap for long.

[yuiyoshida]

41. Give the man some time, the world will be Hating him and his only friend

will be Putin.

[madaboutharry]

2. Fucking madman.

Can you imagine what these foreign leaders are all saying to one another about this loon?

Not to change the subject, but why would anyone say it "was the end of a triumphant week?"
I thought last week was a clusterfuck.

[Lithos]

15. Hey

Remember, delusional narcissist

W-

[groundloop]

20. Yeah, and bragging about his YUUUUUGE electoral college win!!!

[LisaM]

3. An hour-long call? With his ADD?

[Quiet_Dem_Mom]

28. Just said that to my husband

After reading that article word for word to my husband, my first thought was "oh my gawd" and the second thought: attention deficit.

No wonder every "conversation" he has veers back to his favorite topic: Trump. He can't maintain the bead of a conversation.

And the "sanitized" White House accounts??? not buying anything from these snake-oil salesmen

[weissmam]

4. what can ypu say

he can't treat anyone as an equal , you either kiss his ass or he steps on you . The Australian prime minister was probably laughing his ass off

[Amaryllis]

33. Doubt he was laughing. Any intelligent person would be distressed at the implications of

Trump's actions on global stability. I imagine a lot of the world leaders of countries who have been our allies are talking with each other and trying to figure out how to handle dealing with a clearly highly unstable person.

[old guy]

5. tRump being tRump. He is going to bully all the countries that defy him.

The ball is in Turnbulls court. Interested to see what he does with it.

[groundloop]

21. Probably nothing. Ignoring tRump will really get under his skin

[CanonRay]

34. Now are we invading Australia?

[griloco]

59. Or a seawall...

[PatrickforO]

6. Trump, an embarrassment to us all

Ick.

[sheshe2]

7. He is a petulant two year old.

He needs to be sent to the naughty mat.

[barbtries]

8. i actually did say this would happen

long before he was even the nominee. now he's the president. we are so screwed, and the republicans in congress are too stupid or too greedy to give a fuck.

[perdita9]

10. Where have all the statesmen gone?

They clearly don't have anymore in the Republican party

[raccoon]

49. The Republican party had totally screwed us over with this one. I can only hope

that this turns many people against the Republican party.

[perdita9]

9. This clown is going to get us all killed.

They're not getting my kid in a draft. I know exactly which of my neighbors voted for Trump thanks to the signs they posted in their yards. Let them send their kids off to fight in King Baby's wars. Mines staying where it's safe.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

13. I hear Canada is open to {strike}draft dodgers{/strike} political refugees again. Hmmm. . . nt

[groundloop]

23. I was thinking about that option in the early 70s, then thankfully we got out of that mess.

I'm not sure what I'd have done had I faced the draft, I was just a couple of years too young for that show. If tRump gets us into WW III I'll not hesitate to recommend to my kids that they find a new place to live in one of many friendly, peaceful countries throughout the world who understand what kind of lune we have running things now.

[PatSeg]

11. I'm getting numb

Can't feel my toes anymore!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

12. Another stalwart ally of the USA that tRump is sabotaging the relationship. . . nt

[dalton99a]

14. Best Show Ever: Idiot U.S. president brings laughter to millions.

[left-of-center2012]

16. The toddler President

From the linked article:

“Even in conversations marred by hostile exchanges, Trump manages to work in references to his election accomplishments.
U.S. officials said that he used his calls with both Turnbull and Peña Nieto to mention his election win or the size of the crowd at his inauguration ...
to depict his victory as an achievement of historic proportions”

[muriel_volestrangler]

48. Yeah, that shows it's not just propaganda for his supporters - he really thinks it was a big win

because he's saying that to politicians who know very well he squeaked in due to the weird design of the electoral college system.

Ask a political professional how close it was, and they'll say "what swing would be needed to change the result?" The answer is that he won Wisconsin by 0.76%: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2016#Close_races . Move 0.39% from Trump to Clinton in each state, and Hillary would have won. That's closer than Bush's win over Kerry in 2004 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2004#Close_states - when he won Ohio by 2.11%, and that was the state Kerry would have needed to flip.

So if Trump wastes his time, and theirs, banging on about it, he really does think he's something special, and doesn't understand that politicians in other countries don't give a toss about his crowd sizes (and won't be fooled by Trump crap on the subject). "He repeatedly misstated the number of refugees called for in the agreement as 2,000 rather than 1,250 ..." - so he lies to the leaders of other countries as well as to Americans.

[47of74]

17. I would have hung up on the Orange Fornicate two minutes in.

And to hell with diplomatic fallout.

[llmart]

18. Man, we are the laughing stock of the world...

right now. He won't need his ban. No one will want to come here anyway with that dumbfuck in power. Hell, I don't even want to live here any longer. I can be in Canada in one hour. Please, Canadians, can I flee to your country?

[teezy]

52. I have a feeling Trudeau will be opening the borders to you very soon.

Because this shit is getting scary, fast.

[Zorro]

19. Insulting allies and alienating neighbors

Just what Putin wants.

[groundloop]

25. My theory is that Putin is giving marching orders to Bannon... who then pulls the right strings.

[bhikkhu]

22. How long before all of our allies block his number?

Having read earlier how he spoke to Nieto, he's just offensive, pointlessly offensive, beyond how offensive I imagined he might be.

[Invidious15]

24. Doesn't he ever take a day off?

I don't mean that as in taking a break from "work". What if were to try not to be a dick for an entire day? I'm thinking he suffers some kind of severe physical reaction like anaphylactic shock within the first hour. Dickishness is part of his so-called brand but also part of keeping him in stasis as an asshole supreme.

[Skittles]

30. there is no taking a day off from malignant narcissism

it's WHAT HE IS and WHO HE IS

[Grammy23]

40. Completely predictable.

And in fact, we were warned. Just never dreamed it would reveal itself so clearly a few days into his Presidency. He cannot help this. It is who he is. Might as well tell him to stop breathing. We really have NO CHOICE. He must be removed, one way or other. 25th amendment. Impeachment. Whatever is the quickest way to stop this madness.

The very next thing we as citizens MUST do is demand his removal by those authorized to do it. Must be done before he gets us into a war or all of us killed.

[Skittles]

44. ???

HE HAS BEEN REVEALING IT FOR DECADES

[triron]

42. diagnosis

[calimary]

37. Welcome to DU, Invidious15!

Obviously among the MANY things The Donald hasn't ever bothered to read would be that golden oldie "How to Win Friends and Influence People." All he's doing is making enemies. And people in other countries don't have any reason to bow and scrape to him like the CONS do here.

[dae]

26. America's very own blithering idiot.

[calimary]

38. Useful idiot - as far as ol' Vlad is concerned.

trump is Vlad's Vassal.

[jpak]

27. Turnbull should make reference to Trump's mother

Then tell him to go fuck all.

yup

[Skittles]

29. FUCK YOU IDIOTS WHO VOTED FOR THAT ASSHOLE

WTF WERE YOU THINKING? WERE YOU EVEN THINKING *AT ALL*? TRUMP IS AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE TO AMERICA.

[Fast Walker 52]

35. seriously, what a freaking insane maniac

[raccoon]

50. I think it's called cutting off your nose to spite your face. nt

[triron]

31. Hillary warned us

[Watalapan]

32. Once bitten twice shy

I wonder which world leader this MF going to Insult next

[Fast Walker 52]

36. welcome to DU!!!!

[Watalapan]

60. Thanks

Greetings from Toronto

[calimary]

39. Welcome to DU, Watalapan!

It's anybody's guess what the answer to that one is.

Who thought we'd alienate Mexico? Who thought we'd be playing footsie with the Russians? Who'd have thought we'd be picking a fight with China?

Wonder who'll be next?

[teezy]

53. I'm guessing mine.

Given our proximity to the US and our love of refugees and imigrants, we will most certainly be the next target. I hope Trudeau has the guts for it.

[IronLionZion]

56. Vladimir Putin I hope

Welcome to DU!

[PA Democrat]

43. He is unfit and dangerous. His malignant narcissism renders him COMPLETELY incapable

of performing the duties of the presidency.

Unbelievable that a grown man cannot control his addiction to constant and revolting braggadocio.

[NastyRiffraff]

45. He's an embarrassment

I remember shuddering every time Dubya talked to a foreign leader, thinking he'd embarrass us again. Now it seems like those were the good old days.

Dump is not only unfit, he's damn dangerous. Somebody is going to push back at him and with his paranoia and narcissism who knows what he'll do?

[Cha]

46. First of all.. What fucking triumphant week " at the end of a triumphant week."

All I see is FAILURE, gd!!

Secondly.. blotus is a fucking idiot.

[TomCADem]

47. The Master of the Deal Strikes Out Again

I guess if he can't swindle the little guy, he is pretty ineffective.

[raccoon]

51. Wish Turnbull had said, "Sod off, mate," and hung up. nt

[llmart]

54. How do we know he didn't?

The idiot would have just tweeted "great conversation" afterwards.

[workinclasszero]

55. We are well on the way to being international pariahs

Thanks to the man-baby in charge.

[IronLionZion]

57. If Bannon wants war with China, we're going to need Australia

way to burn bridges with our allies, dipshit.

[HurricaneWarning]

58. No kidding.

My son is living in China and I tell him to pack a get away bag. I want him out the minute trouble starts.