Trump 101. Hitting The Wall
These first 100 days feel more like years! Being President is way tougher than I imagined - but that doesn't mean I retract anything I've said about Obama. Not at all.
It's just that being "the leader of the free world" isn't all it's cracked up to be. I've done my best to implement my election promises and been thwarted at almost every turn by Congress or the judiciary. Shameful! Even now, we're having to make concessions on Obamacare and The Wall just to prevent a government shutdown. Well that's it as far as I'm concerned. If there's a shutdown then so be it. It's happened before and no doubt will happen again in the future. It's not the end of the world.
That distinction seems to belong with N. Korea right now. China understand that Korea can't be allowed to threaten half the globe with a nuclear capability and they also understand that an escalation into physical conflict is in nobody's interests. So why doesn't Kim Jong-un get it? Maybe he does and maybe it's all brinkmanship - playing me at my own game? Very clever but the stakes couldn't be higher.
Effective negotiation is all about preparing the ground. It's all about carrot and stick. Sometimes - like with NATO, Canada and others it means making them expect a much worse scenario than you really need and that softens them up for negotiation. The alternative - such as China and Egypt - is to maintain a soft public stance and nibble away at the nitty-gritty in the background. THAT got Aya Hijazi released! And THAT is something Obama couldn't achieve with all his public criticism of al-Sisi's government.
Keep your friends close and your opponents closer?
Korea's serious business. Without a doubt. Rhetoric or not, their public statements about sinking the USS Carl Vinson amount to the most aggressive sabre-rattle short of actually declaring - or instiigating - war! American servicemen and women would be killed or injured in such an attack and that certainly could not be allowed to pass without a proportionate response and the expectation of disproportionate retaliation. China are actively brokering calm so we can only hope they prevail whilst we contemplate the unthinkable and brief the Senate accordingly.
THAAD can't come soon enough. But let's see how much S. Korea value the benefits of that protection for their burgeoning free-trade economy in practical terms of sharing the cost.
Economy first, environment later. The quickest way to boost our economy is to fully exploit our natural resources and give adequate incentive for businesses in general. Obama smothered vast resources of oil and gas with his expansion of National Monuments and that has to be reversed - not just because it was Obama's doing - but to give us a boost. The tax changes I'm putting forward will give business more incentive and opportunity for growth (and help with my own tax returns and - no you don't get to see them!)
Barely 100 days in and the mid-terms are already looming on the horizon.
This is soooooo tiring!
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