Obnoxious Bully

The 29th NATO summit ended yesterday and, in a nutshell, Donald Trump shat all over America's closest allies (details here). He seems to think that because the United States is the most powerful NATO member, he can just shout and bully the twenty-eight other nations into doing whatever he wants.

Thuggery is not diplomacy, although Trump is too ignorant and single-minded to realize this. He mistakenly thinks that nasty tactics from the New York real estate world will apply to all other situations.

As well, he's incapable of realizing the damage this does to America's position abroad. Both the New York Times (link here) and the Washington Post (link here) published some excellent and withering editorials that touched, in part, on this, but of course Trump won't read those.

For their part, Republicans on Capitol Hill were largely feckless. The mouthed some "concerns" to the media and passed some toothless resolutions but will not confront Trump.

The world will not respect America when it acts like a bully and that has real economic costs, something Trump and his cadre seem incapable of understanding. When you treat your allies like trash, you help to push them in your adversary's arms. You also drive business away from your shores.

This year's midterms will not come soon enough. If you're not already volunteering for a campaign in your locale, now is the time to do something about it.