Skip to main content

Reply to "The games are on !!"

Now Trump's White House chaos is rocking the world

Washington (CNN)The chaos and bombast that have driven President Donald Trump's White House into its deepest crisis yet just burst America's borders.

Trump's sudden announcement Thursday of punishing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, after a typically disorganized and opaque rollout, left much of the world feeling the whiplash that has rocked Washington all week.
GOP senators blast Trump's tariffs announcement
 
"What's been allowed to go on for decades is disgraceful. It's disgraceful," Trump told reporters, delivering a sudden shock to the global economy by saying he would unveil tariffs next week of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum. He further stoked fears of world turmoil Friday morning, tweeting that "trade wars are good" when the US is losing billions in overseas deals.
World powers now know what it's been like for Trump's fellow Republicans and staff in a week of turmoil and neck-jerking policy pivots that have left them groping for clarity and trying to work out exactly where the President stands.
 
 
At home, stocks crashed on the President's offhanded announcement, while GOP leaders, stung by a second straight day of Trump trampling party orthodoxy after his surreal meeting Wednesday on guns, registered dissent and frustration.
close dialog
<form action="https://api.bounceexchange.com/capture/submit" id="bx-form-622357-step-1" method="post">
Receive Fareed Zakaria's Global Analysis
including insights and must-reads of world news
<input class="bx-el bx-input" id="bx-element-622357-sqLogHZ-input" name="email" placeholder="Email address" type="email" />
<button class="bx-button" data-click="submit" data-submit-force="0" data-submit-jump="0" type="submit">Activate Fareed's Briefing</button>
By subscribing you agree to our
privacy policy.
<input autocomplete="carb-trap" class="bx-input bx-carb-trap" name="carb-trap" tabindex="-1" type="input" /></form>
"We were told at the beginning of all this that Donald Trump was comfortable with chaos -- that's how he is accustomed to operate," David Axelrod, a former Obama administration top strategist, said on CNN's "The Situation Room."
"That may be OK if you are running a small family branding business, but when you are in the most important office on the planet it can have grave consequences," Axelrod said.
Given the on-again-off-again nature of Thursday's announcement and subsequent lack of details, there was more than a suspicion that the trade move had been fast-tracked to distract from a disastrous week.
A feud between Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the resignation of his confidante Hope Hicks, successive political blows to his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and signs of multiple lines of inquiry by special counsel Robert Mueller leading deep into the President's inner circle mean Trump has plenty of incentive to try to change the subject.
In another blow to a West Wing under siege, CNN reported Thursday that FBI counterintelligence was probing a deal sealed by the President's daughter Ivanka in Canada to see whether it left her vulnerable to foreign agents.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders denied the President was trying to divert attention from all that with his trade announcement, saying it was hardly news that Trump thinks global commerce, particularly as practiced by nations like China, cheats American workers.
"The President is concerned about the men and women of this country who have been forgotten about, the industries that our country was founded and built on. And this shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody," she said.
Even so, Thursday's move, which is likely to spark follow-on turmoil in Asian and European markets, offered a glimpse of how an erratic President looking for diversions amid deepening crises could act in ways that jolt global stability.
Given that the turmoil surrounding Trump seems to spin more out of control by the day, the world could be in for a rough ride in the coming months.
Still, while much of the Washington and global establishment will be bracing for more, Trump supporters are unlikely to be fazed, since his unpredictability and disdain for long-held conventions and behavioral codes are exactly why they voted for him as they looked for someone willing to shake things up.
But anyone who is not in his famously loyal voting base may beg to differ.
white house chaotic week kushner tariff brown dnt _00020720
 
 

 

 
 
 
<button class="theo-primary-color vjs-big-play-button" title="Play Video" type="button">Play Video</button>
 
WH struggles with one crisis after another 02:18

The downside of instinctive leadership

Thursday was not the first time that Trump's determination to honor his populist, nationalist campaign rhetoric had sent shock waves around the globe. It helped drive his decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord and repeated efforts to sink the Iran nuclear deal brokered by President Barack Obama, both of which caused panic and consternation abroad.
The drama was also typical of the unpredictable, often unspecific style of leadership that appears often to skirt over the possible consequences of Trump's tendency to trust 

Attachments

Images (1)
  • blobid0
Chief
×
×
×
×
×
×