A former speechwriter for George W. Bush, David Frum, said Donald Trump is the weakest president in American history, and the rest of the world is beginning to catch on.
According to Frum, all of Trump’s policies – to the extent that he has any – are built on bluster and nothing else.
The thing about bluster, Frum points out, is that it may work in the short term, but it is a disastrous long-term strategy to policymaking.
“Weakness is provocative. Weakness tempts people to push the United States in ways in which the United States will ultimately not go,” Frum said. “And Donald Trump is the most provocative and the most weak of all presidents.”
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Video:
Former Bush speechwriter explains why Donald Trump’s bluster is so dangerous. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/ToYV0IHq5t
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) June 25, 2019
Frum said:
Donald Trump wasted his year blustering about a wall that would be completely irrelevant to the problem even if you could build it in something less than a decade, even if you had the money. He failed in the time when he had majorities of Republicans in both houses of Congress to act on the measures that would have tightened up the asylum system so as to cut off the temptation to people to undertake these incredibly hazardous journeys with children with the results that we now see. The United States lured people in with weak enforcement, put them at risk and now is holding some of them — most of them are being released into the interior of the United States. That is the result of Donald Trump’s bluster. The Iranians are reacting the same way. The North Koreans. I come from the political right. Our core message for a generation has been weakness is provocative. Weakness tempts people to push the United States in ways in which the United States will ultimately not go. And Donald Trump is the most provocative and the most weak of all presidents.
The world sees through Trump’s tough talk
During the campaign and early in his presidency, the rest of the world seemingly took Donald Trump at his word that he would follow through on his blustering tough talk – whether it’s his policy toward Iran and North Korea or his crackdown on immigration.
But the longer he is president, the more the world sees that Trump the president is no different than Trump the businessman and Trump the reality TV star – he’s a con artist who says whatever crosses his mind at any given moment for ratings or money or attention.
As David Frum said on Monday, that’s partly why Iran is showing increased aggression. It’s why the North Koreans are eager to jerk the United States around. It’s why American allies don’t trust us anymore.
For all of Donald Trump’s tough talk, he has repeatedly shown himself to be the weakest president this country has ever seen.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
