I like how he tried to do some kind of dumb power play with handshakes to "intimidate" other world stage politicians, like, he tried to shake too hard or pull the other person towards himself
One time Emmanuel Macron anticipated it and Trump got his ass handed to him
When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. [] Theyre sending people that have lots of problems, and theyre bringing those problems with us. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists. And some, I assume, are good people
First sign of how much of a raging racist he was.
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"Well, it's not a bad game. It's made by Capcom, so how could it?" ~ AVGN
During his initial campaign he had Sarah Palin speak on his behalf. Complete fucking disgrace. The woman made him look like a Mensa candidate and he was visibly embarrassed the entire time she was talking. I think SNL did some skits based on it due to how embarrassing it was for all involved.
When he had a Republican congress on his side, along with a court that was still slanted conservative at the time, and failed again and again to make any real progress on creating a healthcare plan that the Republicans said they were going to implement since the day Obamacare became a thing.
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Number of legendary 500 post topics: 33, 500th posts: 29; PiO ATTN: 5 RotM wins 1, LETTEN MY ARROW FLYEN TRUE
Immediately, a call with Trump was set up for 9am Sunday, Sydney time. Wed been assured the refugee deal was agreed, so we worked on the other topics to discuss. Then the sky fell in. Just as I got to the office, Mike Flynn called Justin Bassi and Pence called Julie Bishop both with the message that the president had changed his mind. He wouldnt, under any circumstances, honour the deal and would I please not even mention it. We were in the prime ministers office in Sydney, looking down over the harbour with all of its benign tranquillity. I feared the call was going to be a rough ride. And it was. Trump sounded tired. He was friendly enough at the outset but his mood quickly changed. As soon as I raised the refugee deal he became angry, repeating again and again that honouring the Obama deal would kill him and embarrass him. He said, I will be seen as a weak and ineffective leader in my first week by these people. This is a killer.
I described how the deal was fair, benefiting the US too. And the people on Manus and Nauru were not a security risk. But if you come by boat, you cant get into Australia. Even if you were a Nobel prize winner, I said. So youre a new CEO: you inherit some deals you dont like; you honour them, take a writedown and blame your predecessor. Trump argued that, as a businessman, I must have torn up deals. I told him I hadnt. I believed promises should be kept, whether by companies or countries. I didnt make commitments lightly, and kept them when I did. As his anger rose, Trump kept talking over the top of me, with more intensity; it was as though at times he was talking to himself or perhaps the people in the room, which of course included Steve Bannon, one of the deals fiercest opponents.
At one point, I looked up from the phone across my desk at [media adviser] David Bold his face was white with horror so I turned to look out the window instead. I had to get Trump to commit to the deal. Not only was it vital for our whole plan to resettle the refugees without getting the people smugglers back in business, an early rejection by Trump would be a political catastrophe in Australia. So, I reasoned with Trump and finally won him over. At the end of it all, I still wasnt sure that Trump would stick to the deal.
The tone and the content of the call had been dynamite. Wed had nobody from my department or from the Department of Foreign Affairs present. We kept the transcript of the call secure and didnt release it to the bureaucracy in the usual way. Not that we didnt trust them, but at times you cant be too careful. Our plan had been to keep the whole thing very low-key. The deal was going ahead; Trump didnt like it but he was a man of his word and he was sticking with it.
As the media interest grew, it appeared Trump was having cold feet as on 2 February he tweeted: Do you believe it? The Obama administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!
Later that day someone, presumably in the White House, briefed the Washington Post about the call; it described Trump blasting me, quoted him telling me this was his worst call so far and that the deal Id struck with Obama was the worst deal ever; it described his accusing me of planning to send him the next Boston bombers although it omitted to mention my riposte that the refugees on Nauru and Manus, unlike the Boston bombers, werent from Chechnya.
The Post noted that the US embassy in Canberra had stated the White House had confirmed the refugee deal was going ahead one hour and forty minutes before Trump suggested in a tweet that it might not go ahead. We assumed the leak had come from Bannon; his motive would have been either to produce enough heat to force Trump to renege on his commitment to me or, at the very least, to demonstrate to Trumps base that hed agreed to the deal only through the most gritted of teeth.
Back in Australia, I declined to comment on media reports about the call, simply restating that Trump had agreed to honour the deal and that the conversation had been frank and courteous. I expressly rejected the claim that hed hung up on me as the transcript shows he did not.
The leaking of the details and later the transcript of the call had the opposite of its intended effect. The refugee deal had never been a big news story in the US, despite the Australian medias attempts to make it so. However, berating one of Americas closest allies was a big story and both fans of Australia and critics of Trump lined up to express their solidarity with us.
For our part, it was working out well. Trump and/or Bannon had over-reached and now we had the upper hand. More importantly, unlike my counterparts leading other countries, Id got off on the right foot with Trump. Wed had a row, thats true, but Id stood my ground on a point of principle and hed conceded.
Interesting article from another leaders perspective.
Oh god I googled that article for that phone call that was one week into his Presidency but it has so much gold.
For a first meeting, we covered a lot of ground. He talked about Kerry Packer a lot; he knew Id been Kerrys lawyer and kept him out of jail, something Donald mentioned every time we met. Most billionaires keep an eye out for a good lawyer in a tight corner. He is a big fan of Greg Norman and described in detail several tournaments he felt Greg had unfairly lost.
Trump is a natural isolationist. Whether it was east Asia or the Middle East, Trumps perspective was thoroughly dystopian. Everyone hated each other, had done for centuries and wasnt going to change. So the less the US had to do with them the better.
After wed had our one-on-one discussion and the media had left us, Donald suggested we ask Lucy and Melania to join us. Melania was found first and Donald described the refugee deal. By now he knew, just as I had told him, there were no security risks among the refugees.
Melania, do you know, Malcolm has 2,000 of the worst terrorists in the world locked up on a desert island and that fool Obama agreed to take them. Can you believe that? And now Malcolm has talked me into taking them too! He got me to do something I promised never to do! He is a tough negotiator! Melania smiled, faintly and mischievously. Just like you, Donald, she said.
The subject of an incandescent row a few months before was now something to make light of. It was just another deal.
Donald, Emmanuel and I were down one end of the Scif and, while I wanted to talk about steel, the president of France wanted to talk about the wording of the communiqu.
Donald wanted to talk about neither. Emmanuel, he said, do you know Malcolm is the best lawyer in the world? The best. He kept my friend Kerry Packer out of jail. Nobody else could have done that.
I was thinking, is this going to be a routine? So, on cue, I said: Oh, Donald, it wasnt that hard. He was innocent. Quick as a flash, Donald says with a big grin: No, he was so guilty, so guilty. Deserved to go to jail forever! To say that Macron was astonished by this is an understatement, but the routine continued.
Emmanuel, Donald continued, Malcolm has 2,000 of the worst terrorists in the world the worst in the world locked up on a desert island. They arent terrorists, Donald, I wearily replied.
Oh, yes they are. They are the worst, and that fool Obama the worst president EVER agreed to take them to America. Can you believe that? Would you take them, Emmanuel?
Macron opened his mouth but didnt say anything; his eyes just got wider. But you know whats worse? Now I have to take them! Malcolm, why do I have to take them? Donald, I said, theyre yours. And they are very nice people. You will get on fine. This was definitely becoming a routine.
To get to steel, I had to help resolve the wording issue with Macron. Trump quite sensibly didnt really care what was in the communiqu as not only was he never going to read it, neither was anyone else.
So in hands-on chief executive style, he started dictating a tweet, with me commenting on it as he went. How many years had we been an ally? Two hundred? No, just one hundred to 4 July this year, I said. And at one point we nearly had the great state of Australia in the message Perhaps nation, I suggested. It was a practical and good-humoured collaboration. We even compared our Twitter followers (he had 158 million, I had only 1 million), and finally settled on a very plain announcement saying that because of our fair and reciprocal military and trading relationship, the US would not impose steel or aluminium tariffs on the great nation of Australia. And aluminium only just made it. I was so fixated on steel, it was only at the last moment I reminded him to include aluminium. No problems, steel and aluminium it was.
Trumps tweet, when it came out, was slightly different: Spoke to PM @TurnbullMalcolm of Australia. He is committed to having a very fair and reciprocal military and trade relationship. Working very quickly on a security agreement so we dont have to impose steel or aluminum tariffs on our ally, the great nation of Australia!
We were taken aback by the reference to a security agreement it hadnt been mentioned in the call with Trump but we were assured both directly and via our embassy that this had been inserted by the White House lawyers, and that it didnt detract from the presidents unequivocal commitment.