The John Hopkins University senior fellow David Rothkopf made a compelling case as to why Trump's Asia trip has been a disaster for America in the Pacific Rim.
MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle led a panel discussion on Trump's latest adventures in the Philippines with the murderous President Duterte.
She wanted to know why there was a media blackout during their meeting. since different accounts of it are being peddled by the White House and Duterte.
Ruhle said. "We wonder when the president hears "strongman," if he knows that's not a compliment."
"The White House says human rights briefly came up in President Trump's meeting with Duterte while the president of the Philippines said it wasn't mentioned at all. Shouldn't we know what was said in that conversation? I mean, this is a U.S. adversary. Human rights violations are a big deal?"
David Rothkopf said it was probably Sarah Huckabee Sanders not being forthcoming.
"If human rights came up at all it was because Trump said yeah, okay, I'm cool with that."
He continued, "When you look at this entire trip, it's actually been a great trip. It was great for Xi Jinping. It was great for Vladimir Putin. It was good for Kim Jong-un because the president went after him. It's been good for Duterte. It was good for the TPP countries that went on to do a deal without the United States of America."
"It was good for people who like to see the United States weak and embroiled in political infighting even on a foreign trip. The only party that was not benefited by this trip was the United States of America and I think that was consistent, from the beginning of the trip, to the end," Rothkopf said.
"Ruhle replied, "Ring-a-ding-ding. You just wrapped that up with a bow."
Rothkopf finished by saying, "President Trump, America first could turn out to be America left out in the cold."
Even if you're against the TPP, Trump has done nothing during this trip of any substance except to attack previous administrations, politicians, NOKO, U.S. intelligence services while defending Putin and sucking up to Duterte and President Xi.
Let's face it, the world leaders played him like a drum. His humongous ego and vanity were on display and he was certainly enamored with spectacles like he received in China.
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