Letter: A contrarian view of President-elect Trump’s actions on foreign affairs
To the editor,
–The conventional wisdom in the media and the establishment is that Trump is out of control on foreign policy actions as president-elect.
Witness:
1. He recently met at the Trump Tower with Nigel Farage, one of the key architects of the Brexit, to the outrage of the European Union.
2. He took a congratulatory phone call from the President of Taiwan that was arranged three days in advance, which has caused China to erupt in negative commentary and threats.
3. He called the President of Pakistan and promised to visit there, igniting outrage in India.
As a result, Trump has been called naive, ignorant, inexperienced, unbriefed, oblivious, etc.
Really?
Doesn’t anyone in the commentariat see a well designed pattern here?
Three geopolitical entities, the European Union, China and India, have intentionally been provoked into a new reality: their relationships with the U.S. that they have taken for granted for many years may not be continued when Donald Trump becomes president, in fact, they may be reversed.
Rather than characterizing Trump as an idiot, perhaps the media/establishment might consider the possibility of very creative pre-negotiation moves that put the European Union, China and India on the defensive in their future dealings with the U.S. under a Trump administration.
Of course, it could not be possible that Trump has changed the equilibrium before deliberations even begin.
But perhaps I am too isolated in Central California wine country to understand the media and establishment elites’ monopoly on political acumen. Or perhaps those sagacious mandarins should stoop low and actually read The Art of the Deal.
Randolph L. Kohn
Paso Robles
