President Trump still has adult supervision
Konrad Yakabuski of the Toronto Globe and Mail herein offers us some comfort in the face of President Trump's erratic, bizarre, embarrassing and often frightening actions and tweets about foreign policy.
Yakabuski points out that the Paris climate agreement is, in fact, largely symbolic, probably will have little impact on climate change, and is in many ways a fig-leaf for attitudes among its remaining signatories every bit as ungreen as Mr. Trump's. He reminds us that grownups like James Mattis and Rex Tillerson (the latter turning out to be a far better Secretary of State than I had expected) seem to be able to keep Mr. Trump from doing too much damage other than the purely diplomatic.
The guy is still a national humiliation any way you look at it, and our safety and that of the world continue to rest upon his not throwing a violent enough tantrum to actually overrule those in his administration who know what they're doing. But it's worth being reminded that even in the unlikely event that 45 serves out his term, it's not impossible that not only the world but the world order might just survive until America can elect and inaugurate his successor.
One of the problems with living in an age of such radical political and cultural polarization is that even the worst and most irresponsible of leaders sometimes scare us more than they should. We owe Mr. Yakabuski a debt of gratitude for reminding us that the Trump administration, like colon cancer, is more survivable than we might fear.
Hey. Mattis and Tillerson finally got POTUS to reaffirm the mutual defense provision of the NATO charter the other day. Wonders never cease.
Yakabuski points out that the Paris climate agreement is, in fact, largely symbolic, probably will have little impact on climate change, and is in many ways a fig-leaf for attitudes among its remaining signatories every bit as ungreen as Mr. Trump's. He reminds us that grownups like James Mattis and Rex Tillerson (the latter turning out to be a far better Secretary of State than I had expected) seem to be able to keep Mr. Trump from doing too much damage other than the purely diplomatic.
The guy is still a national humiliation any way you look at it, and our safety and that of the world continue to rest upon his not throwing a violent enough tantrum to actually overrule those in his administration who know what they're doing. But it's worth being reminded that even in the unlikely event that 45 serves out his term, it's not impossible that not only the world but the world order might just survive until America can elect and inaugurate his successor.
One of the problems with living in an age of such radical political and cultural polarization is that even the worst and most irresponsible of leaders sometimes scare us more than they should. We owe Mr. Yakabuski a debt of gratitude for reminding us that the Trump administration, like colon cancer, is more survivable than we might fear.
Hey. Mattis and Tillerson finally got POTUS to reaffirm the mutual defense provision of the NATO charter the other day. Wonders never cease.
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