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PRIMITIVE DIPLOMACY
https://claytoonz.com/2018/04/25/primitive-diplomacy/
Yesterday, pundits in the news were asking, how can Donald Trump say nice things about Kim Jong Un? Trump said the guy, who had his uncle shot and his brother murdered, was behaving honorably. But, saying nice things about someone is Trump’s way of coaxing. He believes it works on other people because it works on him. Because, at that moment sitting next to him was the President of France saying nice things about him. I’m sure in France a lot of people are asking Emmanuel Macron how can he say nice things about Trump.
You’d think the leader buddying up with Trump, hugging, holding hands, cheek-kissing, and being all sorts of awkward would be from Russia, Turkey, the Philippines, China, or Texas. Right? Not France, where Trump’s likability rating is probably lower than it is in Boston.
But, Macron is willing to be nice to Trump in order to get what he wants, which is American troops staying in Syria, the U.S. back in the Paris Climate Agreement, and to retain the treaty with Iran that prevents them from acquiring nukes. Macron must be better than most people because he even allowed Trump to pretend to brush dandruff off his shoulder. Most people would have slapped his tiny orange fingers. Even Melania, who sleeps in a separate bedroom and an entirely different state when she can, won’t let him hold her hand.
And what was up with that dandruff thing? Trump brushed Macron’s shoulder and said “we have to make him perfect.” It wasn’t just awkward but another internationally embarrassing moment where they keep accumulating.
The Washington Post’s Ashley Parker interviewed body language expert Patti Wood on that moment. Wood said, “The interactions throughout the visit largely fall under a category known as gamesmanship.” According to Wood, Trump did something called “primate grooming.” Yeah, that sounds about right.
Wood added “It said, ‘We have an intimate relationship, but I’m dominant, I’m the alpha gorilla, I’m going to groom you. But I’m going to criticize you by saying you have dandruff, and I’m going to do that on the world stage and see how you handle that.”
Well, Shit. I didn’t need a body language expert to tell you that Trump was acting like an ape. Quite frankly, would it astonish anyone at this point if he started flinging poo?
I am concerned about the embarrassment Trump brought to our nation, France, and gorillas.
https://claytoonz.com/2018/04/25/primitive-diplomacy/
Yesterday, pundits in the news were asking, how can Donald Trump say nice things about Kim Jong Un? Trump said the guy, who had his uncle shot and his brother murdered, was behaving honorably. But, saying nice things about someone is Trump’s way of coaxing. He believes it works on other people because it works on him. Because, at that moment sitting next to him was the President of France saying nice things about him. I’m sure in France a lot of people are asking Emmanuel Macron how can he say nice things about Trump.
You’d think the leader buddying up with Trump, hugging, holding hands, cheek-kissing, and being all sorts of awkward would be from Russia, Turkey, the Philippines, China, or Texas. Right? Not France, where Trump’s likability rating is probably lower than it is in Boston.
But, Macron is willing to be nice to Trump in order to get what he wants, which is American troops staying in Syria, the U.S. back in the Paris Climate Agreement, and to retain the treaty with Iran that prevents them from acquiring nukes. Macron must be better than most people because he even allowed Trump to pretend to brush dandruff off his shoulder. Most people would have slapped his tiny orange fingers. Even Melania, who sleeps in a separate bedroom and an entirely different state when she can, won’t let him hold her hand.
And what was up with that dandruff thing? Trump brushed Macron’s shoulder and said “we have to make him perfect.” It wasn’t just awkward but another internationally embarrassing moment where they keep accumulating.
The Washington Post’s Ashley Parker interviewed body language expert Patti Wood on that moment. Wood said, “The interactions throughout the visit largely fall under a category known as gamesmanship.” According to Wood, Trump did something called “primate grooming.” Yeah, that sounds about right.
Wood added “It said, ‘We have an intimate relationship, but I’m dominant, I’m the alpha gorilla, I’m going to groom you. But I’m going to criticize you by saying you have dandruff, and I’m going to do that on the world stage and see how you handle that.”
Well, Shit. I didn’t need a body language expert to tell you that Trump was acting like an ape. Quite frankly, would it astonish anyone at this point if he started flinging poo?
I am concerned about the embarrassment Trump brought to our nation, France, and gorillas.
When President Donald Trump was asked this week about the much discussed possibility of a pardon for his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, Trump snapped back “Stupid question.” While insulting for the White House press corps, it must have been a welcomed response for the White House counsel.
Despite indications that Trump has been looking into the use of his pardon authority (and may have laid a foundation with his recent pardoning of former Bush administration official Scooter Libby), a pardon for Cohen would not deliver either Trump or Cohen entirely out of harm’s way. And it could make things far, far worse.
A pardon would certainly fit the profile of “fixer” Cohen, who rarely relied on the legal process to achieve his goals. Cohen often threatened people with lawsuits but rarely actually filed them. Indeed, the one defamation lawsuit he filed against Fusion GPS and BuzzFeed was dropped last week. What Cohen offered Donald Trump was not legal ability but absolute loyalty. However, much like Cohen’s other “fixes,” this move would be both short-sighted and self-defeating.
For a year, some of us have cautioned Trump that Cohen represents a growing threat to his presidency and that he should sever contact with him. Instead, Trump brought Cohen even closer with a recent dinner at Mar-a-Lago, glowing tweets and a public statement that he remains his attorney and speaks for him. In the meantime, Cohen has made wrong move after wrong move – maximizing the risk to Trump and himself. This includes the colossally stupid move to take the bait of Michael Avenatti, Stormy Daniels’ attorney, and entering the California case to enforce Cohen’s flawed non-disclosure agreement. Cohen simply could have defaulted or waived. Instead, he put himself and his client into litigation (and possible discovery) with a former porn star and a veteran litigator.
Trump may have followed his instinct that, by keeping Cohen close, he could reaffirm that anything Cohen knew would be covered by attorney-client privilege. If so, he did not consult with a competent lawyer. Cohen undermined Trump’s confidentiality defenses in every possible way. The key to using attorney-client privilege is to secure the services of an attorney who can maintain clear lines of representation and confidentiality. Instead, Trump picked Cohen. With privilege arguments waning, pardon arguments have surged.
The problem with the pardon strategy is that it may succeed in the impossible of being both too early and too late. In pardons, timing is everything, and the timing could not be worse for Trump and Cohen. If Trump is looking for a Goldilocks pardon that’s “just right,” he will not find it here.
