re: #134 Jay C

SRSLY. But to me the *interesting* part isn’t Trump’s gibberings about The NY Times (which i’m sure will be around to print Dolt 45’s obit when he croaks) but the bit where the President of the US openly demands that a foreign country’s legislature pass an act dictated by, and mainly for the benefit of the US: under threat of official retaliation. And no one ( AFAICT) seems to think it remarkable….

I saw this opinion piece over the weekend about Trump and his ramblings, and I think there might be some truth to it:

This isn’t the case with Trump, whose words foreign leaders can no longer take at face value. Fortunately, President Trump’s incompetence in foreign relations, while not a cure-all, can moderate the damage that he might otherwise cause. The more exposure the world has to this President, the less he matters. After all, communication is a two-way street, and the audience plays a significant role in determining whether someone’s words are accurate, meaningful, and safe to rely on.

Trump has basically sidelined himself. Other world leaders aren’t taking him at face value anymore. So it’s become a situation where the President of the United States speaks, and the rest of the world just shrugs.