Vanity Thy Name is Trump

Trump in His Element:  Yesterday in an impromptu Mar a Lago interview with the New York Times, with no aides present to filter his remarks, Trump called out the Russia investigation as an international embarrassment, asserted several times that “everyone” knows that there was no collusion but covered his bets by adding that even if there was it was no biggie, because collusion isn’t a crime. He stuck with his theme of blaming the whole investigation into his campaign’s Russian activities on the Democrats, who know their accusations are a hoax but are just trying to justify Hillary’s loss. He also suggested that the real Russia collusion problem was the one between the Russians and the Democrats, a snide reference to the Uranium One conspiracy theory, and he wondered why the story about Hillary’s campaign manager John Podesta’s brother Tony, and his problematic foreign lobbying activities hadn’t been given more attention by the partisan press.  Tony Podesta, who has been forced to disband his once lucrative consulting firm and is facing legal difficulties probably sees that differently.  As to that troublesome Paul Manafort, Trump pointed out that Manafort served as his campaign manager for a very short time and that he had worked with other prominent Republicans such as Reagan, Dole and McCain for far longer periods.  He tried to further distance himself from Manafort by saying that he didn’t really know him very well, having just met him last year, a Trumpian prevarication since they go back much further and have several close mutual friends, including Roger Stone and Tom Barrack. He made it clear that he has an absolute right to do what he wants with “his” Justice Department and for now, but maybe only for now, he’s chosen to let Mueller do his job because he feels that Mueller is treating him fairly. He did manage to get a dig in at his not so good buddy Attorney General Jeff Sessions, comparing him to Eric Holder, Obama’s first Attorney General who he said he respected very much for totally protecting Obama at all costs, a misunderstanding of both Holder and the role of the attorney general.  Before sending the NY Times writers home with their scoop, Trump added that he knows that deep in their hearts the liberal press secretly hopes that he sticks around for another term, because of how much he contributes to their ratings and profit, pointing out that without him the NY Times really would be “failing.”  Though covering Trump has been profitable, he may be misreading those hearts and minds just a wee bit.

Trump’s World View:  Trump’s approach to international affairs is unsettling to say the least.  According to the NY Times, it even leaves his National Security Advisor HR McMaster outside of his comfort zone.  McMaster charitably calls Trump’s American First philosophy “pragmatic realism” in order to avoid referring to the Trump vision by the more derisive term of isolationism.  Whatever you call it, the reality is that Trump is overturning the post-World War II world order, an order that his predecessors carefully crafted and then nurtured in the hopes of avoiding another international catastrophe, one with bigger and deadlier weapons.  The Times cites his approach to dealing with Iran, the Middle East, North Korea, NATO and his preference for autocrats over democratically elected long term allies. They also point out his frightening naivete and lack of historical perspective and the problem that his ignorance presents our allies when he fails to understand issues.  Angela Merkel’s efforts to explain Ukraine’s history of abuse at the hands of Russia left Trump feeling like she had treated him disdainfully and when she later tried to gently  sidestep his request for a bilateral trade agreement he grew further annoyed with her, possibly because she’s a woman, one far more intelligent, knowledgeable and respected than him.  Some world leaders have figured out that pandering to his vanity is a better approach to dealing with him which is why he’s been greeted with such huge banquets and military exercises by leaders as diverse as France’s Macron and China’s Xi, while others are just seeking to keep their distance to avoid confrontation. Britain’s Theresa May still hasn’t figured out how to deal with Trump and now faces the added indignity of having to deal with Prince Harry and Megan Markle’s wedding invite list, the lovey, dovey couple would like to invite the Obamas, leaving the Trumps off their list.  May has to figure out how to avoid offending Trump, who won’t be all that happy if the president who just beat him out on the most admired man in America list also gets invited to the event of the year while he has to stay home. Overall, our former best friends have been left trying to manage a future with minimum US participation at least until the pendulum swings back.  As to China despite his bromance with President Xi, things aren’t working out as well as Trump hoped.  Yesterday, after learning that China had transferred oil to North Korea despite the current ramped up sanctions Trump resorted to some China critical tweet diplomacy:  “Caught RED HANDED - very disappointed that China is allowing oil to go into North Korea. There will never be a friendly solution to the North Korea problem if this continues to happen!”  Trump who had put his promised trade fight with China on the back burner is now expected to go after China’s trade practices when he returns to Washington DC.

Culture Wars:  Trump is so efficient at upturning the world order that he still has plenty of time on his hands to play countless rounds of golf and participate in the culture wars.  When Vanity Fair magazine apologized for a satirical and particularly cutting take down of Hillary Clinton, Trump had plenty of time to tweet attack the magazine:  “Vanity Fair, which looks like it is on its last legs, is bending over backwards in apologizing for the minor hit they took at Crooked H. Anna Wintour, who was all set to be Amb to Court of St James’s & a big fundraiser for CH, is beside herself in grief & begging for forgiveness!” Just another one of those tweets that proves that Chief of Staff Kelly has no interest in getting in the way of Trump’s twitter finger.  Trump also took on climate change, from his perch in balmy Palm Beach, by tweeting:  "In the East, it could be the COLDEST New Year's Eve on record. Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against, Bundle up!"  Apparently Trump doesn’t know or care to know that climate change is all about extremes in weather not just heat waves.  Trump’s good friend Judge Roy Moore is also likely to have a lot of time on his hands going forward.  Yesterday, despite his efforts, Alabama’s Secretary of State certified the Alabama special election results.  Doug Jones is now officially the Senator-elect and will be sworn in by Mike Pence on January 2.  Though its not clear that it made much of a difference it is notable that Moore, the former head judge of Alabama, filed his voter fraud lawsuit in the wrong court.