What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[Syt]

And you know he probably had sex in every piece of furniture seen in the picture.

[DGuller]

I know it was an inofficial meeting, but should a person designated to run the "blind" trust participate in these kinds of meetings?`

Oh, for the love of God, it looks like they are holding meetings in the Kremlin.

In a way they are.

[11B4V]

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38037187

[Syt]

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/18/politics/donald-trump-world-leaders-calls/index.html

What's different about Donald Trump's phone calls with world leaders?

(CNN)President-elect Donald Trump's transition is being viewed at home as chaotic, and his move from candidate to statesman is being closely scrutinized by the global media as well, particularly his communications with world leaders.

Once again, Trump has bucked past practices for a more unorthodox approach, leaving many wondering if this signals an overhaul in US political procedure and a taste of things to come.
What protocol has Trump not followed?

Traditionally, the President-elect turns to the State Department for briefings prior to taking or returning calls from heads of state or government. This was how the transition team coordinated its international outreach strategy for then President-elect Barack Obama in 2008. The State Department said it wasn't contacted until Thursday, after Trump had already spoken with several leaders.

Why has this been problematic?

This appears to have contributed to confusion from several foreign governments wishing to offer the incoming President their congratulations on his victory. A diplomatic source has told CNN that one US partner had to make multiple attempts in contacting the Trump camp to successfully arrange a phone call between their head of state and the President-elect.

When calls were finally arranged, they were connected without any appearance of vetting or confirmation of the individual calling, according to several diplomats who spoke to CNN.

Illustrating some of the unconventional approaches international leaders have taken, the Australian prime minister was supplied with Trump's cell phone number by golfing legend Greg Norman after Joe Hockey, Australia's ambassador to the US, contacted him seeking the information.

How does it differ to Obama?

Back in 2008, Obama returned 22 calls from foreign leaders in what was described at the time as a considered strategy prioritizing leaders from countries with strategic importance and the time they called, according to Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization.

Trump's transition team have released a list of 29 foreign leaders that it said have spoken to the President-elect and vice president-elect. It did not specify if all leaders spoke to both men, or if some only spoke to Trump or Pence.

CNN has made several attempts to independently verify which leaders spoke to the President-elect and confirmed that he has spoken with the prime ministers of Ireland, Australia, Canada, Japan, Italy, Israel, Denmark and the UK in addition to the presidents of Egypt, Russia, Turkey, France, China, Mexico, Argentina, South Korea and Ukraine. Trump has also spoken to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Saudi King Salman bin Abdelaziz Al-Saud.

Calls and emails to the remaining nine heads of government to find out if they spoke with Trump went unanswered. CNN has not verified which world leaders also spoke to Pence.

The President-elect responded to media reports querying what appears to be a random call sheet for foreign leaders.

"I have received and taken calls from many foreign leaders despite what the failing @nytimes said. Russia, U.K., China, Saudi Arabia, Japan," he said in a tweet Wednesday.

Before adding in a second post: "Australia, New Zealand, and more. I am always available to them. @nytimes is just upset that they looked like fools in their coverage of me."

What does it tell us about Trump as a world leader?

The unusual nature of Trump's campaign has followed him into the transition phase and his apparently unsystematic technique for speaking to world leaders has raised eyebrows.

"It's all a bit haphazard as far as I can see. It doesn't seem to follow any logical order," former British ambassador to US Christopher Meyer told CNN.

"I wouldn't attach much importance to it except that it's all part of the learning process for him as well ... It's all part of getting used to being President-elect and then President."

However, Leslie Vinjamuri, an associate professor in international relations at SOAS, University of London, told CNN that Trump's preference in communications with Russia has "caused anxiety among America's European allies."

"It is short-sighted not to turn first to the United Kingdom," said Vinjamuri, who also serves on the council of Chatham House. "Inevitably, any president of the United States will eventually recognize the absolutely essential role of the UK-US relationship.

"If we accept that first impressions matter, it is obvious that Trump's path to diplomatic success is going to be longer than it needs to be."

Meanwhile, Meyer said that the reports of international leaders bypassing traditional protocols -- as in the case of the Australian prime minster -- is "unusual," but also to be expected somewhat considering Trump's political credentials.

"I haven't the faintest idea how this happened," the erstwhile UK envoy said. "I would say this is all part of the process of the President-elect learning the rules of the game as he goes along. What else would you expect -- he's never been in government."

What are the potential repercussions?

Considering how unprecedented the President-elect's campaign turned out to be, so too are his early moves in his presidency. For Meyer, spectators across the globe shouldn't be surprised by the fact Trump is conducting himself differently.

"The whole campaign that he has fought -- both in the primaries and the presidential has been totally different -- smashing all the conventions.

"The big question for outsiders, and I guess also for Americans, is which Trump is going to turn up in the Oval Office," he added.

But this visible shift in US presidential communication strategy has been a warning flare, said Vinjamuri.

"Donald Trump's campaign has certainly alerted us to the fact that he will not be a leader who plays by a well-recognized rule book," she explained. "This could be very damaging especially in the realm of international diplomacy, where many of America's partners are accustomed to the deliberative and carefully considered approach of President Obama."

Vinjamuri continued: "But even more so, Trump has demonstrated a failure of imagination when it comes to evaluating the consequences of his words and actions on third parties. This will be potentially devastating for America's ability to forge strong relationships with key allies."

[Syt]

Btw, I can't wait for Trump and Philippines's Duterte to get into a name calling Twitter war.

[jimmy olsen]

The officials quoted in here seem naively optimistic.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/14/china-threatens-to-cut-sales-of-iphones-and-us-cars-if-naive-trump-pursues-trade-war

China threatens to cut sales of iPhones and US cars if 'naive' Trump pursues trade war

President-elect 'will be condemned for his recklessness, ignorance and incompetence' if he imposes tariffs, says Communist party-controlled paper

US president-elect Donald Trump would be a "naive" fool to launch an all-out trade war against China, a Communist party-controlled newspaper has claimed.

During the acrimonious race for the White House Trump repeatedly lashed out at China, vowing to punish Beijing with "defensive" 45% tariffs on Chinese imports and to officially declare it a currency manipulator.

"When they see that they will stop the cheating," the billionaire Republican, who has accused Beijing of "the greatest theft in the history of the world", told a rally in August.

On Monday the state-run Global Times warned that such measures would be a grave mistake.

"If Trump wrecks Sino-US trade, a number of US industries will be impaired. Finally the new president will be condemned for his recklessness, ignorance and incompetence," the newspaper said in an editorial.

The Global Times claimed any new tariffs would trigger immediate "countermeasures" and "tit-for-tat approach" from Beijing.

"A batch of Boeing orders will be replaced by Airbus. US auto and iPhone sales in China will suffer a setback, and US soybean and maize imports will be halted. China can also limit the number of Chinese students studying in the US."

"Making things difficult for China politically will do him no good," the newspaper warned.

China's foreign ministry has used more diplomatic language to caution Trump not to square up to Beijing.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang told reporters last week: "I believe that any US politician, if he takes the interests of his own people first, will adopt a policy that is conducive to the economic and trade cooperation between China and the US."

The excoriating editorial was printed hours after Trump spoke to China's president, Xi Jinping. The president-elect's staff said Trump thanked Xi for his well wishes and congratulations on his election victory.

The statement read: "During the call, the leaders established a clear sense of mutual respect for one another, and President-elect Trump stated that he believes the two leaders will have one of the strongest relationships for both countries moving forward."

However, experts say officials in Beijing are still battling to untangle what a Trump presidency means for relations between the world's two largest economies but wager he is unlikely to follow through on his most radical campaign pledges such as imposing 45% tariffs on "cheating China".

Paul Haenle, a veteran US diplomat who is director of the Carnegie-Tsinghua centre at Beijing's Tsinghua University, said: "The biggest lesson that they draw from watching our presidential campaigns over the years is that he will become more realistic and more pragmatic once he is in the position where he has to govern. That is what they are hoping for when it comes to Trump."

Haenle warned the introduction of protectionist measures would immediately "inject friction" into already fraught US-China ties as well as harming America's own economy.

"If he follows through on a 45% trade tariff then I think it will be damaging to our own interests and we will have fallout that will affect our own companies and our own economy and it won't be effective. It will not achieve what he is setting out to achieve. So from that standpoint he is going to have to moderate some of that rhetoric as he puts together actual concrete policies."

Jorge Guajardo, Mexico's former ambassador to China, said he too expected Trump to moderate many of his audacious campaign pledges when he took office.

"He's in the hot seat now. He has got to deliver. It's not the same as campaigning," he said.

Guajardo said Trump's bluster would be quickly replaced with more realistic talk as he understood that serious engagement with Beijing was now needed on a range of key issues including the Paris climate deal, North Korea and trade ties.

Attempts to strike a deal would soon be set in motion with Trump and the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, likely to come together early in his presidency, Guajardo predicted. "He's a deal-maker and nobody is more of a deal-maker than China."

[mongers]

The officials quoted in here seem naively optimistic.

....

Relatives of yours?

[mongers]

Priorities?

Donald J. Trump 
@realDonaldTrump    
The cast and producers of Hamilton, which I hear is highly overrated, should immediately apologize to Mike Pence for their terrible behavior
3:22 AM - 20 Nov 2016

[Syt]

4 years of 3am Twitter tantrums

[mongers]

4 years of 3am Twitter tantrums

Yeah.

Though the 3.22am time-stamp in my local setting, so what 10.22pm EST.

[celedhring]

Priorities?

Donald J. Trump 
@realDonaldTrump    
The cast and producers of Hamilton, which I hear is highly overrated, should immediately apologize to Mike Pence for their terrible behavior
3:22 AM - 20 Nov 2016

He's gonna build a fourth wall, and he will make Lin Manuel-Miranda pay for it.

[garbon]

Somehow I missed Trump's earlier tweet stating that the theater should always be a safe place.

[katmai]

Somehow I missed Trump's earlier tweet stating that the theater should always be a safe place.

that was what made it even funnier in a crying on the inside kinda way.

[garbon]

Somehow I missed Trump's earlier tweet stating that the theater should always be a safe place.

that was what made it even funnier in a crying on the inside kinda way.

I get it now. The right didn't have an issue with the concept, they just wanted different terminology.

[Syt]

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-pence-idUSKBN13F0Q2

Pence not offended by comments to him at 'Hamilton' show

U.S. Vice President-elect Mike Pence said on Sunday he was not offended by pointed comments made to him by a cast member of "Hamilton" after he attended the hit Broadway show.

"I wasn't offended," Pence said on "Fox New Sunday," declining to ask for an apology as President Donald Trump had demanded. Pence acknowledged that many Americans were disappointed and anxious after Trump's Nov. 8 election victory, but he sought to reassure Americans that Trump would be a president "for all Americans."

After the show on Friday evening, Brandon Victor Dixon, who plays America's third vice president, Aaron Burr, read a statement directed at Pence while standing in front of the cast in full costume.

"We, sir - we - are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights," Dixon said.

Pence sought to address Dixon's concerns. "They are going to see President-elect Trump be a president for all of the people and we embrace that principle," Pence said.

Trump criticized the cast in a series of tweets on Saturday and again on Sunday.

"The Theater must always be a safe and special place. The cast of Hamilton was very rude last night to a very good man, Mike Pence. Apologize!" Trump wrote on Twitter on Saturday, taking time out from his search for appointees to his incoming administration.

"Our wonderful future V.P. Mike Pence was harassed last night at the theater by the cast of Hamilton, cameras blazing. This should not happen!"

Pence praised the hit show and urged people to see it. Trump called the sold-out show "highly overrated" Sunday.

Pence noted that there were some boos and cheers when he arrived at the theater. He recalled telling his kids of the response: "That's what freedom sounds like."

"Hamilton" is a hip-hop-infused musical that tells the story of Alexander Hamilton, a penniless immigrant who rose to become the right-hand man of General George Washington, as well as a key figure in the creation of the U.S. financial system and the creator of the U.S. Coast Guard. He was killed in an 1804 duel with Burr.