Rude or Right, or Both?

Imagine you and your partner invite new neighbors to dinner. The woman, most beautiful, charms you. The man, however, is something different.

“You should lose some weight,” he says to one of you. “I think your house needs a new coat of paint,” he snarks to your partner. “The whole neighborhood notices.”

During dinner, he insists your wallpaper clashes with your carpet. “You should change one or the other.” As they are leaving, he asks, “When in hell are you going to fix the potholes in your driveway?”

Once inside again, you scream “What a monster, what a rude guy! He criticizes everything.”

But your partner says, “You are right. He is offensive. But, he is right too. I should lose a few pounds. And we both know the house needs painting. And you have said yourself that we need to change the carpet. And we certainly are the king and queen of potholes.” 

“Maybe he is right,” you admit. “But does he have to be so damned rude about it?”

To millions of people in a growing number of countries, this is President Donald Trump. To many, he is delivering the truth. But to them and others his delivery is by left hook. He has no more delicacy or finesse than the former boxer Mike Tyson.

Trump tells NATO nations they are “delinquent” in their payments for defense. He is absolutely right. They have been leaches on America’s generosity. But surely there are polite ways of saying this?

He proclaims that Russia has the Germans by the short hairs. Because the Germans have made themselves totally dependent upon Russian natural gas. He is 100 percent correct. If Russia turns off the spigot in January, Germany collapses.

Trump wonders why the U.S. should keep shelling out for the defense of Europe when European nations won’t pay up to defend themselves, shut out American products and business, and run a $150 billion trade surplus with us. 

Trump asks if NATO is obsolete. It may well be. He says the Poles spend to defend themselves. But all-powerful Germany barely has an army. And the U.S. maintains more than 20 military bases there. “Is this fair?” he asks, rudely. 

These are all good questions. Questions we should have asked years ago. But Trump is so merciless when he raises them. Undiplomatic, crude, and nasty.

This offends the New York Times. It runs an editorial that claims “Trump does not believe in allies.” But this begs the questions: Don’t true allies share the burden? Don’t allies support instead of leach?

Trump’s bluster offends former Secretary of State John Kerry. He was one of the long line of U.S. diplomats who tried gentle diplomacy to get the Europeans to pony up. And failed. 

Anyway, he decried Trump’s remarks. What’s interesting is that he refers to our reputation. He praises former President Barack Obama’s “constructive and congenial way.” He says Obama secured “pledges” from Europeans. He did not undermine “the cohesion of the alliance in the process.” He suggests various thorny discussions should be behind closed doors and involve lots of diplomacy.

He may be right. But Trump and his supporters do have a few embarrassing questions, such as: Why didn’t the diplomacy work? Was it merely talk, talk, talk? We have tried it for many years, but the Europeans continued to leach.

And the cohesion of the alliance? Let us face the truth. Without the U.S. there is no cohesion. None. Find a diplomatic term for zip.

So, will Trump’s insults jolt the allies into action? Will the house get painted and the potholes filled?

People have debated for years about which tactics work better in international affairs. We are in the process of finding out. This president has no time for diplomacy. Don’t invite him for dinner. Although I hear his wife is sweet.

 From Tom…as in Morgan.         

Tom Morgan writes about political, financial, and other subjects from his home in upstate New York. You can write to Tom at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com. Read more of his writing at tomasinmorgan.com