Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.
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Notes -
Talking to Trump is not a problem per se. He's a dealmaker, he is used to negotiations and bridging disagreements. A lot of people talked shit about him and then made peace with him (Vance himself is one of the many examples) and Trump has no problem forgiving such things. All his latest boasting and grandstanding is just establishing a position for negotiation, he clearly wasn't hung up on any details or specific numbers. His ego, while indeed massive, can be dealt with, behind closed doors, and he is known to go back on things he promised many times, if he's convinced later it's for his advantage. But challenging him in the Oval Office, publicly, right in front of the cameras and essentially saying that all his efforts are worthless and he doesn't know what he's talking about, right at his seat of power - that's some otherworldly arrogance right there. I mean what did he think would happen - Trump would say "oh sorry, thank you for educating me, I was totally wrong and stupid, please teach me your ways?" Of course he'd blow up when challenged like that. Vance actually told Zelensky a couple of times to take it offline but he just kept pushing. Mind-boggling failure of awareness. Or, alternatively, a calculated play to blow up the whole thing - betting on Congress to go around Trump and keeping Ukraine financing despite his wishes. Which looks like an extremely dangerous and stupid gamble, IMHO.
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