When Babel-on-the-Bay put out a morning line on Donald Trump’s run for the Roses of the American Presidency, 25 to 1 odds was the best we could predict. Nothing has changed to improve his position.
Donald Trump is still an out-of-control egoist. As any farmer can tell you, you can paint a pig any color you wish but, he is still a pig.
It was like the other day when Trump introduced his foreign affairs program in a Washington hotel. It probably would have been smart not to invite the news media to what was obviously a trial run. They made every effort for him. They got him a teleprompter just like the big kids use to keep them on subject. The audience was subdued and they listened.
But what they listened to was a waste of time. You can hardly call a long series of platitudes a foreign policy. And sure, he wants to do something about the brigands from the so-called Islamic State, but so do many other countries. He just forgot to tell us how. And then he implies that he wants to surprise them. He might also surprise us.
Trump’s next problem in this presidential race is to get a speech writer that he can live with for the next six months. And, be advised, a speech writer is not just someone who can put the words together for you. The best speech writers listen very carefully to how their subject speaks, what words they use, when they take a breath and when a break for applause is natural.
And Trump has to learn that foreign policy is not a pool everyone can wade in. Foreign affairs have more depth, they deal with other cultures, different morals and unfamiliar customs. Trump’s approach throughout his speech was naïve, childish and nothing more than braggadocio. It made little sense. Most of what he said could be catastrophic in implementation and could even end in armed conflict. And that is just with the Mexicans. You can imagine how his policies would go down with countries that do not like Americans?
Take Vladimir Putin and the situation with Russia. Mr. Putin achieves his objectives by pushing the envelope. He takes neighbouring countries over one piece at a time. He sells arms to tyrants so that they can use them to kill their own people. Donald Trump says he will negotiate with Mr. Putin. What is he going to offer him, a Trump hotel in Moscow?
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Copyright 2016 © Peter Lowry
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