Enough of Trump Endorsing Murderous Dictators in Exchange for Trump Towers

Enough of Trump Endorsing Murderous Dictators in Exchange for Trump Towers

As Bernie Sanders would say to Trump, “enough with endorsing dictators”, which Trump does to get their approval for local tower builders to host the Trump name, and for Trump to collect on the rights to his name endorsement.  This violates the well-considered policy of the present State Department, which is not accepting of the dictators and their violations of human rights, of freedoms that our bill of rights establishes, and of democracy.  As far as the public knows, there is no consultation, coordination, or even notes or recordings of the talks that Trump has with foreign leaders.  Maybe Trump does this because he does not want recordings of his conducting his company’s business with the same talks.

Just like Trump thinks that there are no limitations on his conflicts of interest in mixing his business affairs with US policies and actions, does he also think that he can accept favors from foreign governments to help his business?  In fact, such favors are ruled out by law, and he has already done several such.  Does the law technically apply before he is sworn in?  It certainly violates the intent of such laws.

Does Trump intend to go rogue on foreign policy and do it all personally without consulting with State after he becomes President?

In my younger days, there was a hostility to Americans abroad, to our foreign policies, and our Presidents.  It was called “The Ugly American”.  Presidential and Uncle Sam effigies, and American flags, were burned in protest.  There were also demonstrations, and Americans abroad were poorly treated.  Trump is rapidly going to bring this back.  As well as his embarrassing the British PM, our closest ally, and the country of China, one of our top trade partners.

Trump probably likes the idea of labeling Trump towers in countries with dictators, since they will not allow demonstrations against Trump, or outside his towers.  On the other hand, the dictators have no constraints about demanding favors from Trump to keep up the protection of his towers from protests. 

In democratic countries with freedoms to speak, associate, and demonstrate, there probably will be such demonstrations outside Trump Towers, and the owners who built the towers, as well as their condo owners, may want to give up their unfavorable labeling.

The US government and our state department have been that shining light on the hill to world negotiations for the benefit of mankind, for universal rights and freedoms, and for democratic governments.   Candidate and President-elect Trump has sworn to back out of the Paris agreement to slow climate change, and to renegotiate the international agreement to dismantle the Iranian nuclear weapons program.  Trump will drop or renegotiate our ice-breaking arrangements with Cuba.  Trump promises to monetize our defense agreements with NATO, with South Korea, and with Japan.

Our free trade agreements are now seen as a bad choice since they cost American jobs.  From the rest of the world, they include their workers and companies in producing goods that American companies profit from Big League.  They keep these products affordable to Americans and to others in the world.  Trump freely promises to drop, cancel, or renegotiate all of them, as well as imposing a complex pattern of tariffs and penalties.

By casually dealing with dictators without yet having a Secretary of State, or a Trump state department with hundreds of his political appointments and ambassadors, or a foreign policy, or Congressional advise and consent, or even contacting President Obama or our present State Department, or consulting with national institutes or experts on foreign affairs, or even attending National Security briefings, Trump has undermined US leadership and trust in the world democratic community.  Russia and China are ready to step into our leadership gap and free trade gap to increase their world leadership roles.

 

 

 

 

About Dennis SILVERMAN

I am a retired Professor of Physics and Astronomy at U C Irvine. For two decades I have been active in learning about energy and the environment, and in reporting on those topics for a decade. For the last four years I have added science policy. Lately, I have been reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic of our times.
This entry was posted in 2016 Election, Affairs of State, Donald Trump, Freedoms, Trump Administration. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply