Ethical Lapses Among Friends

Tariff Posse:  In an effort to justify his China trade strategy and calm the stock markets Trump sent his tariff posse out in force this weekend.  The overriding theme of their group message was that Trump is using the threat of tariffs to try to coerce the Chinese to be better trading partners and that the tariffs are just that, a heavy handed but very serious threat. Of particular concern is the way that China gains access to US intellectual property by requiring that U.S. businesses transfer technology to Chinese companies as a precondition of entering the Chinese market. China requires U.S. companies to comply with these “localization requirements” by storing sensitive data in the Chinese mainland, increasing the risk of “intellectual property theft through means such as cyberattacks.”  Although the intellectual property concern is real, it’s not all that clear that the threat of tariffs or even their imposition, and all of Trump’s surrogates were clear that he’ll move forward to imposition if he doesn’t get what he wants, will do a whole lot more than cause an escalating trade war.  Even new economic advisor Larry Kudlow, who up until two weeks ago was an anti-tariff, free market advocate defended Trump’s actions by saying "Look, we have had to go in and fire a shot across the bow. China's behavior, it's 20 years now, it's more than unfair trade practices. It's illegal trading practices."  It’s worth noting that Kudlow didn’t know about Trump’s most recent tariff announcement ahead of time and that he says he’s  “gotta beat” communication director for a minute, Anthony Scaramucci’s eleven day tenure.  If Kudlow is still around in another week or so, we’ll know for sure that he’s sold his soul to the Trump shrine.  Tweeting from Arizona, Senator John McCain called for Trump to rejoin the Trans Pacific Partnership saying “It’s easy to punish China. It’s a lot harder to hold it truly accountable and change its behavior. That requires a real strategy and positive trade agenda, which is why the US should rejoin the #TPP11.”  McCain’s point is that despite Trump’s preference for one off trade agreements, unilateral action by the US is likely to be far less effective in influencing China policy than a coordinated effort with a large group of likeminded trading partners.  McCain’s probably right, but Trump is president and isn’t known for forward thinking.

The Rogues Gallery:   Senator McCain also had a lot to say about Syria.  He condemned the recent chemical attack  but was also critical of Trump,  “President Trump last week signaled to the world that the United States would prematurely withdraw from Syria. Bashar Assad and his Russian and Iranian backers have heard him, and emboldened by American inaction, Assad has reportedly launched another chemical attack against innocent men, women and children, this time in Douma."  For his part, Trump issued a series of tweets condemning the chemical strikes "Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria Area….President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price..." His Putin slam was notable, Trump is usually reticent to explicitly name Putin. Notably Trump also blamed Obama for failing to attack Syria back during his administration when Syria crossed his infamous not so “red line in the sand.” Instead of taking military action Obama worked with the Russians to remove Syria’s chemical weapon stocks, a strategy that obviously fell short.  Nevertheless Trump’s criticism is somewhat ironic since he is on “tweet” record calling for Obama to avoid taking military action.  Anyway, at this point Trump is considering a bombing raid or two, maybe ones that do more than take out an infrequently used airfield.  For their part, the Israelis just took action, though they haven’t confirmed it, it’s reported that Israel is responsible for last night’s bombing of a military base in Syria.  Although most eyes were focused on Syria this weekend, a little news was made on the North Korean front as well.  Apparently, CIA Director, soon to be Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been undertaking back channel negotiations with North Korean representatives, the kind of back channel discussions that are kosher because he is representing a sitting president.  Reportedly the North Koreans have communicated their willingness to discuss denuclearization, whatever that really means in Korean, and though no date or location is set yet, that moves the anticipated meeting between Trump and Kim Jong Un one step closer to reality.  Getting back to Putin, Trump didn’t just criticize him for the Syria chemical attacks, he also finally let his administration impose sanctions on a list of really nefarious and very rich Russian oligarchs including Oleg Deripaska, the billionaire who had close ties to Paul Manafort (the guy that Manafort promised to make whole with inside Trump scoop) Kirill Shamalov, an energy executive who married Putin's daughter; and Suleiman Kerimov, who allegedly brought millions of euros into France in suitcases.  In all the sanctions penalize seven Russian oligarchs with ties to President Vladimir Putin along with 12 companies they own or control and also go after 17 senior Russian government officials and the state-owned Russian weapons trading company, Rosoboronexport, which has long-standing ties to Syria and its subsidiary, Russian Financial Corporation Bank.  A senior administration official told reporters that the sanctions had been under review for some time but were not imposed solely in response to a single event. Rather they were "in response to the totality of the Russian government's ongoing and increasingly brazen pattern of malign activity around the world." Though Trump had little to say about the new sanctions in part because he doesn’t like to acknowledge election meddling, it’s fair to say that his bromance with Putin has hit the skids for now.     

Cabinet Shuffle:  Despite his multiple ethical lapses Scott Pruitt is still the head of the EPA.  Twisting facts Trump tweeted  “While Security spending was somewhat more than his predecessor, Scott Pruitt has received death threats because of his bold actions at EPA.  Record clean Air & Water while saving USA Billions of Dollars. Rent was about market rate, travel expenses OK. Scott is doing a great job!”  There is no record that Pruitt has been subjected to death threats, though he’s justified his expensive airplane habits by claiming that someone said mean things to him once in coach causing him to feel compelled to travel charter or, at least, in first class and no, $50 per night isn’t the going rate for luxury housing in Washington DC.  Of course, Pruitt has been doing his best to dismantle environmental protections and from Trump’s perspective that’s what really counts.  Ironically even those efforts have been somewhat half assed.  Politico reports that Pruitt and his team have done a less than thorough job completing the documentation necessary to legally justify the unwinding of most of the environment protection provisions that he wants to dismantle and that it’s likely that as a result of his sloppiness and incompetence they will stay in place for years pending review and the outcome of multiple lawsuits.  As to Pruitt, though he has Trump’s support and the support of many anti-regulatory conservatives, one more infraction and he is likely to be shown the door and given his history of ethical lapses and the number of people trying to rat him out, it’s only a matter of time before another one of his “mistakes” in Washington or from his days in Oklahoma comes to light.  As the plain spoken Louisiana Republican Senator Kennedy said on Face the Nation this weekend it’s time for Pruitt to “stop acting like a chucklehead, stop the unforced errors, stop leading with your chin.  If you don’t need to fly first class, don’t. Don’t turn on the siren on your SUV just to watch people move over…All of this behavior is juvenile…”  And probably the norm for a Trumpkin, my words, not Kennedy’s.