Let me preface my assessment of President Trump’s performance by pointing out that we never really know for sure how summits like these have gone, because we have to wait and see if/how what they discussed works out.
With that said, however, President Trump seem to have acquitted himself quite well.
He met with Russian President Vladimir Putin for more than double the amount of time expected. During their meeting, Mr. Trump specifically broached the issue of Russian interference in last year’s presidential election (which, no doubt, astounded some members of the media who, by what they have written over the past half year, probably expected the two to high-five each other and say “Hey, we did it!”). Mr. Putin, of course, denied any such thing happened (what did you expect? A formal apology?), but the point is that Russian interference in our elections is now out on the table.
Trump and Putin also worked out some kind of “cease fire” in Syria. This, in my opinion, is not meaningful as an actual cessation of hostilities, because no one in his/her right mind should expect a cease fire in Syria to hold for any length of time. What is important, though, is that the agreement itself defuses the potential for what looked like a potentially dangerous military confrontation between the two countries over air space. Additionally, it is being reported that Israel and Jordan were involved in creating the cease-fire — and the more these two countries can find common ground, the better for both of them.
Finally, Mr. Trump came away assuring us that we are on the cusp of a major trade deal with the United Kingdom. If that happens, it further cements the close ties between our countries – ties that some of our media have suggested are strained.
Barack Obama used to be very well liked at summits like this – in no small part because he apologized for us and made concessions to the rest of the world.
President Trump did neither, and walked away with his, thus our collective, head held high. If you’re a proud US citizen, it is hard not to like that outcome.
In all, it looks like President Trump, thus we, had a very successful trip – the second one since he became President.
May the streak continue.
1. Are we to believe that Mr. Trump is skillful and commanding in foreign affairs, but an absolute jerk on domestic matters ?
Or is it possible that the Media and the Dems are flat out lying to us all, to the detriment of the country ?
2. Middle East cease fires are negotiated by diplomats of vast experience. The cease fires last as long as ice cubes in the Sahara Desert.