Mattis is Gone, More Treaties are Dying

 

Donald Trump is applying the principals in his The Art of the Deal book to international trade and arms limitation negotiations. The corporate bankruptcy king? “Trump has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy for his companies six times. Three of the casino bankruptcies came during the recession of the early 1990s and the Gulf War, both of which contributed to hard times in Atlantic City, New Jersey's gambling facilities. He also entered a Manhattan hotel and two casino holding companies into bankruptcy.” ThoughtCo.com, January 18^th. 

As charges of inappropriate conduct continue to be investigated, the New York Attorney General has just ordered that Trump Foundation is to be closed under judicial supervision. Rather dramatically beyond the experience of even the biggest billionaires, Donald Trump and his controlled companies have been involved in an unprecedented 3,500 of lawsuits. USA Today, 6/1/16. Resulting in settlements like a payment of $25 million against claims of fraud from real-estate-deal-directed, Trump University.

Donald Trump has particular disdain for multinational treaties, somehow believing that he can use his bullying Art of the Deal techniques more effectively in bilateral, one-on-one negotiations. His reconfiguration even of treaties he touts as spectacular – like the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement to replace NAFTA – tend to be nothing more than expected updates that would happen organically anyway. Germany refused to negotiate one-on-one with Trump on trade, because as a member of the European Union, they are not permitted to do so. Japan refused a bilateral negotiation as well. The negotiations with China are not going well at all either. 

Still Trump persists. His stubborn and “shoot from the hip” style – which political scientists call an adhocracy – remind me of a child holding his breath until he turns blue. Wall or no wall. The recent plummet of the U.S. stock markets are harsh reminders of the lack of confidence American business powers have in his waffling and often irrational policies.

With a fairly calm and stable Defense Secretary, James Mattis, resigned from the cabinet because of a material disagreement over Trump’s “out of the blue” decision to pull all U.S. troops out of Syria and begin that process in Afghanistan, a woefully underprepared and inexperienced remaining senior administrative body advising Donald Trump faces yet another critical challenge. In his yo-yo relationship with Russia, a government now conclusively proven to have officially interfered in the 2016 presidential campaign specifically to bolster Trump’s candidacy, as the “Trump administration [is] threatening to withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the U.S. is taking yet ‘another step’ toward destabilizing the situation, [Vladimir Putin] said. Moscow and Washington signed the treaty, which banned ground-launched nuclear missiles. The U.S. has said it would exit the agreement because Russia had violated its terms.” Los Angeles Times, December 21^st.

 
Even as Russia is beaming as the United States has unilaterally agreed to withdraw its troops from Syria, effectively allowing Russia to become the only major superpower with sway in the Islamic Middle East, Russia is still railing, albeit gently, at Trump’s threats to pull out of the nuclear accord.

“Putin softened his reproach of the U.S. in his comments on President Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria… Trump claimed Wednesday [12/19] that Islamic State had been defeated and said about 2,000 American troops would begin coming home… ‘Donald is right. I agree with him,’ Putin said in response to Trump’s statement that Islamic State had suffered ‘serious blows’ in Syria… However, Putin said that unlike Russian troops, the U.S. never had a legitimate reason to be in Syria because there was no United Nations resolution or an invitation from the Syrian government to enter the war.” LA Times. There are an estimated 30,000 remaining ISIS forces in Syria. Mission not accomplished!

“Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday [12/20] accused the United States of raising the risk of a catastrophic nuclear war, saying U.S. abandonment of key Cold War-era arms control treaties had undermined the ‘strategic balance’ of the world’s nuclear powers… ‘We are essentially witnessing the breakdown of the international arms control order and [the start of] an arms race,’ Putin said during his annual end-of-the-year news conference in Moscow.” LA Times. But the Trump-Putin connection is the gift that keeps on giving.

The President has repeatedly denied that there is any recent meaningful personal economic link between himself and Russia, any recently active economic interests for a Trump Tower in Moscow. Yet well after Trump declared he was running for president, he personally signed an October 28, 2015 letter of intent (see his signature above, televised on CNN on 12/18) precisely toward getting that hotel/apartment residence in the Russian capital.

“Donald Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani was forced Wednesday [12/19] into an embarrassing admission that he was wrong to say the president had not signed a letter of intent to build a Trump Tower Moscow during the presidential campaign… The ex-New York mayor admitted to Reuters that he had 'made a mistake' by denying on CNN on Sunday [12/16] that a signed letter of intent existed.

“CNN published the letter late Tuesday [12/18] and showed it was dated October 28, 2015, prompting the climbdown by Giuliani, the latest example of him saying he misspoke while defending the president on television… 'If I said it, I made a mistake,' Giuliani said of his previous denial about Trump having signed the letter… 'There's nothing wrong with his signing it. When he did it, he wasn't president yet.'

“The letter was also signed by Andrey Rozov, who owns Russia-based I.C. Expert Investment Co. The White House did not respond to a request for comment... Giuliani had said in a Sunday [12/16] interview on CNN that the letter existed but 'no one' had signed it.” DailyMail.co.uk, December 21^st. Kind of makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside as Donald continues to develop his “push-pull” relationship with Russian President and bromance partner, Vladimir Putin. Hey, we’re only talking about nuclear weapons here. It not as if we were producing the next edition of Shark Tank. At least The Donald knows he can also seek asylum in Russia if he is ever indicted in the United States.

              I’m Peter Dekom, and while Trump’s base might be cheering, the remainder of Trump constituency is beginning to distance itself from all things Trump.