Pleasing the world …

Someone visiting from Canada recently told me Trump needs to be nicer to other world leaders.  They said he comes across as arrogant and a bully when dealing with other nations, and that’s not good for America’s reputation.

It’s not the first time I’ve heard this. Nor will it be the last. 

I suppose much of the world longs for the days of Obama. He made a practice of diminishing the importance of his own country at every opportunity. He publicly apologized for what he claimed was America’s arrogance and bad behavior in the past. Things would be different going forward. America would be a better, and more respectful, partner in the global community.      

No wonder so many other world leaders liked him.    

Why wouldn’t they?  He was happy to put our money where his mouth was. He made one-sided deals that helped them and hurt us economically. He made clear there was no reason to fear the military might of America anymore. Under Obama, we went from being military superpower that kept would-be aggressors in check to a paper tiger easily ignored.   

Take Syria, for example. He said there was a “red line” in Syria that couldn’t be crossed by Assad. But did nothing when Assad’s forces used poison gas against their own people. 

Or Libya. There he did nothing when militants sacked our embassy in Benghazi, raped and killed our ambassador, and killed other American security personnel. Obama’s response? An apology for an obscure video no one ever saw he and his State Department blamed for the attack. 

Through his indecision he allowed tyrants in Syria, Iran, and North Korea to thrive and emboldened Russia to annex Crimea. He also created power vacuums that enabled the return of the Taliban and Al Qaeda to Afghanistan, the growth of ISIS, and set off the mass migration of refugees to Europe. 

Obama was everything European leaders wanted. Someone just like them.

Too politically correct to acknowledge the terrorists were Muslims. Too gutless to pull out all the stops to defeat ISIS. Too timid to do anything about Russian aggression in the Ukraine.  Too willing to do a deal with Iran in the false hope that would make the mullahs less hostile.  Always eager to throw Israel under the bus to appease the Palestinians and their supporters.   

He pushed for the Paris Climate Change Accord, the Iran nuke deal and anything else European leaders wanted, including turning his back on Israel.  In return they loved him. He was their man in Washington; finally they had the American President they always wanted. 

He was a fan of big government, the UN, ruling by regulation, cutting military spending, increasing funding for socialist utopian programs, and open borders. In short, just like most European leaders. It was if America was suddenly no more than just another country among others, and now desperate for the approval of others. 

They really liked this new, humble America.

And they took advantage of us whenever possible. They were confident that when Hillary was elected President, business as usual would continue. 

Then shock of shock, Trump was elected. Suddenly all their plans of manipulating American policy from abroad came crashing down. 

Instead of a like-minded globalist running America, a barbarian took over. Someone who had no interest in hobnobbing with intellectuals and cultural elites in Davos; someone more inclined to hold rallies with the blue-collar types in grimy factory towns. Someone who openly praised Brexit. Someone who planned to wage war on bureaucrats domestically and at the UN. Someone who cared less about what other world leaders thought and more about taking care of American interests first.

Someone quite willing to tear down their carefully constructed world order and make them pay their fair share to have America defend them.  And someone quite willing to use American military and economic power as leverage to get what was best for America. 

It was if the progress they’d made in the past eight years under Obama had never happened.

America pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord. Trump threatened to crack down on illegal immigrants and refuse to accept Syrian refugees. He stepped up military actions against ISIS, with a promise to “bomb the shit out of them.” He told NATO members to start paying up or America might leave the alliance.  He said he was no longer interested in big multi-country trade pacts and would go for deals with individual countries. 

He also called the terrorists what they actually were: radical Islamic terrorists. 

He put military types instead of career diplomats in his administration wherever possible. Rather than a European wannabe like John Kerry running the State Department, he put in a seasoned business executive – Rex Tillerson.  Rather than weaselly political hacks like Samantha Powers and Susan Rice as our voice in the UN, he appointed Nicki Haley to kick ass and take names.  And instead of naming yet another political opportunist as Secretary of Defense, he appointed James “Mad Dog” Mattis, a widely admired Marine general who had actually led troops.    

He put the world – and especially the UN – on notice there would be no more blank checks from us. If they didn’t treat us fairly, and provide value commensurate with our contributions, they might get cut off or at least see our funding reduced. 

The world shuddered. And it wasn’t just those overseas. 

He told our closest neighbors – Mexico and Canada – he would take a cold, hard look at NAFTA. He said they should prepare for renegotiation of key provisions that currently favored them and cost American jobs.  He let American firms know there would be serious consequences, such as new hefty tariffs on their products, if they closed their plants here and moved those jobs to other countries. He hinted there would be penalties on corporate inversions, done to escape U.S. taxes, as well.    

Now Mexico and Canada shuddered. Especially Mexico.   

He planned to complete a wall on our southern border, and beef up border security there to keep out illegal immigrants and drugs. Oh, and he said Mexico would ultimately pay for his “big, beautiful wall,” one way or another. His plan to step up enforcement of our immigration laws would include deporting perhaps millions of immigrants here illegally, and to seek to stop chain migration. All of that could dramatically cut the volume of remittances from illegals here back to Mexico and potentially flood Mexico with an influx of additional people with no jobs.        

So let’s see: he alienated European elites, he threatened our traditional European allies, he sent an economic shot across the bow to Mexico and Canada, and criticized the UN. 

Obama would have never done this. That’s how we got here after his eight years. And, sadly, after pretty much every administration since Reagan.    

Recently, a lot has been made about how Trump has cost us allies.  And how much we can ill afford losing our allies in Europe and the Middle East. 

But has he really? And is there a case that many of our “allies” are actually “frenemies,” in practice? Could we ever count on them to support us as we’ve always supported them?

For example, have all the NATO members lived up to their financial obligations, or have many used our military presence for protection instead? Have they been perfectly content to have us spend our money for decades to defend them, so they could spend their money on other things? 

More to the point, are our so-called allies ever willing to forgo their own national interests when there’s money and jobs involved?

Does anyone honestly believe there aren’t European companies and others from our “allies” like Pakistan doing business with Iran and North Korea, and selling technology and weapons to other “rogue” states and sponsors of terrorism around the world?

Does anyone think Mexico tries to keep illegal immigrants and drugs from crossing its borders into our country? Can anyone say Mexico and Canada haven’t successfully pulled jobs from the U.S. through NAFTA, albeit with help from naïve American politicians?

Does anyone really believe the UN today is anything more than a forum for haters of America and Israel? And that it’s not a bloated bureaucracy staffed by overpaid paper pushers, all only looking out for the interests of their own countries?

Look, it’s only natural for the leader of any country to put the interests of their own nation first. I don’t blame them. Nor does Trump, for that matter. 

However, when Trump does it and puts our interests first, the same world leaders recoil. 

Screw ‘em.  Trump was elected President of the United States, not the world. 

Obama saw the job differently. 

I prefer Trump’s approach.