I NEVER thought that one day would come when the leader of the Free World, the bastion of democracy, the defender of human rights would attack the allies of the United States, only to sing praises and advocate for the cause of the very countries that attack the United States’ democratic values, institutions and processes.
Well, it just happened. The 45th president of the United States made it happen. Donald J. Trump made it happened, and his loyal fans and political allies are cheering him on.
Since the campaign and especially after becoming president, Trump escalated his attack against the allies of the United States who have stood with us even during the darkest times of our nation’s history during 9/11. They sent their own troops to offer their ultimate sacrifice when they joined the U.S. lead wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Trump accused our allies of being unfair in their trade dealings with America, betrayed them by not honoring America’s commitment in the Paris accord to protect the environment and fight against global warming, would not work with our allies during the G-7 summit just before heading to Singapore, vowed to break away from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). He spoke ill of the leaders of our allies, attacking them personally.
But as Trump alienates the U.S. from the allies of the United States, he has become cozy with our adversaries and dictators who do not value democratic principles, human rights, and basic decency.
Trump wouldn’t call out Russian President Vladimir Putin even after Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Elections and continued meddling in the 2018 and 2020 elections. It took him forever to impose new sanctions for Russia’s meddling not only in our elections but also in our power grids. He would hail Putin for being a strong leader and would want to nurture a relationship with our number one political foe. And, he even advocated to include Putin back in the G-7 group despite the sanctions!
During the campaign, Trump would lambast China for bad business practices, currency manipulation, etc., but when elected, he invited President Xi JinPing to Maralago and bonded with him, and even expressed that maybe America should emulate China’s ending term limits for president. Then, he lifted sanctions against Chinese company ZTE to “help save jobs for China”.
And just last June 12, six months after his kindergarten playground fire and fury war of words against North Korean President Kim Jong-un, Trump legitimized the young dictator by meeting with him in Singapore for the historic summit, the first time a sitting U.S. president met and shook hands with the North Korean dictator. He sung praises for Kim and honored him without getting much in return for the U.S. other than to talk about the promised denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, without details about time frame and measure of compliance and fulfillment of such promise.
Don’t get me wrong. I am very much for peace talks. BUT what is really troubling here is the kind of diplomacy and international relations Trump has been breaking and forging, and the true spirit behind these actions.
Could Trump supporters please make sense of this? How would this help the United States of America? How would these help American workers, farmers and manufacturers? How would these actions help our economy? How would these actions earn the respect of the world for America?
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
