By Denny Gulino
THE WHITE HOUSE (MaceNews) – It was a sort of typical Monday in the Executive Mansion, a few tweets, a surprise pullout of U.S. troops from Syria, an impromptu news conference after the signing of a $55 billion trade deal and an accompanying “digital” commerce agreement with Japan and on many levels, confusion approaching disbelief and a chief executive confident in his “great and unmatched wisdom.”
The president’s words, whether in the tweets or in person in the Roosevelt Room, weren’t in themselves as disconcerting to many as the extreme discrepancy of tone. Beginning with the key tweets of the day, President Donald Trump went from defending his policy choice to first, extract U.S. troops from Syria.
That was a proposition, apparently opposed by his own military advisers, that is certainly no joke to the thousands of Kurdish fighters who have to choose between fighting Turkish troops, siding with Syria’s Assad or running for their lives with wives and children in tow.
Trump at one point in an early tweet seemed to dismiss their contribution as U.S. allies in defeating ISIS by saying they “were paid massive amounts of money and equipment to do so.”
Second, Trump seemed to attempt a bit of wry humor, with that phrase “great and unmatched wisdom,” which could not have been intended to be serious, could it?
Third, Trump then wielded what seemed to be a solemn threat to “totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!)” if they kill the Kurds, whom they have considered arch enemies for decades. The “done before” reference may have been to how Trump later in the day also repeated his claim to have crippled China’s economy.
Finally, Trump made it clear this was not an offhand tweet by repeating it, almost word for word, hours later and rephrasing it several different ways in what began as a signing ceremony with Japanese officials that turned into a news conference on Syria, China and the impeachment inquiry among several other subjects.
The signing was not an insignificant achievement, although far short of the comprehensive trade pact still promised with Japan. It certified a $55 billion trade agreement covering pork, beef and many other U.S. agricultural products, some of which see Japan as the largest buyer. There was also a digital commerce agreement covering software and services.
It raised the question whether the same kind of limited agreement could be in store with China.
The presidential monologue and Q&A that followed had little to do with the signing and more to do with the impeachment inquiry – see previous stories on the subject and the @MaceNewsMacro twitter account – and China. The several Japanese officials present watched and listened stonefaced as what would usually be a 15-minute signing ceremony stretched on for nearly an hour.
That’s not unusual. It was only last Wednesday that the President of Finland found himself as a bystander to a Trump news conference. On Sept. 20 Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison the same. Ten days later it was disclosed Morrison was asked, as was the prime minister of Ukraine, to help investigate Trump’s political adversary.
That’s all so yesterday, and at the White House, yesterday can seem so long ago. Because on this day Turkey was in the cross hairs. To return to that presidential tweet, which of course spawned a twitterverse full of uncomplimentary reactions with the handle, “greatandunmatchedwisdom,” it deserves to be appreciated in full for the way its spanned spanning military policy and foreign policy to a strategic threat of economic annihilation, with a leavening of tongue-in-cheek self-referencing:
“As I have stated strongly before, and just to reiterate,” Trump wrote in two tweets after the announcement that U.S. troops whose presence protected the Kurds, were being pulled out, “if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!). They must, with Europe and others, watch over the captured ISIS fighters and families. The U.S. has done far more than anyone could have ever expected, including the capture of 100% of the ISIS Caliphate. It is time now for others in the region, some of great wealth, to protect their own territory. THE USA IS GREAT!.”
In his subsequent news conference, Trump added that after refusing to repatriate ISIS fighters and their families, 60,000 to 70,000 he said are under Kurdish guard in Syria, “maybe now” European states from where the ISIS fighters came will consider taking them back after all.
Despite the many objections to his Syria policy from otherwise allied Senate Republicans during the day – objections tinged with alarm, disbelief and confusion – Trump indicated he is steadfast in getting the U.S. disengaged from “endless wars” and would leave it to Turkey, Russia, Iran, Iraq and Syria to sort out.
Trump reminded that he said many times on the campaign trail and after, that “”We want to bring our troops back home.”
Again, it will remain for history to decide whether fealty to campaign promises and the disregard of advice on weighty topics will be the ingredients of greatness or miscalculation.
On China there was a grain of news in that, while Trump repeated his claims that China has been predatory in its trade practices and in insisting that China is paying the billions in tariffs levied against U.S, importers, he declared that on Oct. 15 the tariffs on $250 billion of China products will go up substantially, to 30%. That seemed to put to rest any notion that the tariff upgrade will be delayed because trade negotiations would still be fresh.
Lower level Chinese officials are in Washington preparing the way for the talks Thursday and Friday among USTR Lighthizer, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and other senior officials.
It is also worth noting that White House economic coordinator Larry Kudlow has confirmed that capital restrictions are still currently being discussed as a possible additional lever of pressure against China. It is already reported China is ready to offer significant liberalization of its treatment of U.S. ownership of operations located there and with it, additional protection against intellectual property appropriation.
Trump said again of the China talks, “We’ll see what happens.” And on China, another reference to an additional sensitive issue in his afternoon news conference. He is looking, he said, for a “humane solution” to the Hong Kong turmoil.
All in a Monday at the White House.
But wait. The day was not over. As the sun went down, dozens of mostly black – there was one light gray – eight and nine passenger SUVs were parking on Pennsylvania Plaza outside the White House. It was a gathering of the nation’s top military leaders.
Inside the “lid” that signals all is done was unexpectedly lifted and White House staff told the handful of photographers left in the building to hurry up. Someone had decided to allow cameras in to do a “pool spray” of the dinner with the military leaders and their wives.
It was a chance coincidence that on a day when none other than Fox News reported military advisers were “blindsided” by Trump’s decision not to leave the few dozen U.S. troops in Turkey’s way as they advanced toward the Kurds that Trump would face them all at dinner.
However, a senior administration official, briefing reporters, said the Fox News report was “surprising,” that senior military officials were in fact consulted, except for those who didn’t need to know. The senior official did not say whether the military officials agreed with the president’s decision.
The official briefer also said that in no way did Trump, when he talked to Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, endorse a Turkish incursion into Syria. The official said the withdrawal of a few dozen U.S troops did not mean the U.S. is withdrawing from Syria, at least at this point, only moving them to a different location in the country. Trump, he said, could not let U.S. light infantry troops be caught in a cross fire between heavily armed Turkish and Kurdish troops.
Finally all the black SUVs were driven away with their high ranking passengers. The White House grew quiet.
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Contact this reporter at: denny@macenews.com