The Associated Press had an interesting report
over the weekend on Donald Trump’s infamous July phone meeting with
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the contents of which are now
the basis for an impeachment inquiry. But in the same article, the AP
offered some notable behind-the-scenes details on the ways in which the
White House prepares – or least
tries to prepare – for these calls.
For example, there’s apparently a problem with Trump’s complete disinterest in preparing for important discussions.
One individual with firsthand knowledge of how the Trump calls with
foreign leaders are handled said the president “hates” such “pre-briefs”
and frequently has refused to do them. Trump doesn’t like written
background materials either. […]
The person said a six-page pre-brief with attachments was once
prepared for Trump before a call to a foreign leader. But that turned
out to be too long, as did a single-page version. Preparing pre-brief
note cards that offered about three talking points for Trump to make on a
call was the norm.
This is, of course, unsettling, though it’s also consistent with everything we’ve learned about the president’s process. Trump can’t even be bothered
to read his daily presidential intelligence briefing. Some aides have
routinely found that “even a single page of bullet points” is too taxing for the president’s limited attention span. A Trump confidant said a couple of years ago, “I call the president the two-minute man. The president has patience for a half-page.”
The AP article
went on to note that Trump has a habit of taking his note cards and
ripping them up after his conversations. Since the Presidential Records
Act still exists, White House aides have to “put the papers out on a
table and tape them back together to preserve them as official
presidential records.” This, too, is consistent with what we’ve heard before.
This tidbit from the AP report,
however, was new to me: “Occasionally, while on the phone with foreign
heads of state, Trump has handed the receiver to his daughter, Ivanka
Trump, so she can talk with the leader.”
Really?
It’s hardly a secret that the American president holds his adult
daughter in high regard. Earlier this year, Trump even offered Ivanka
the opportunity to lead the World Bank – “she’s very good with numbers,” the president said – and possibly serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
But the fact remains that Ivanka Trump, before getting a powerful
White House job, previously created a consumer fashion brand and made
frequent appearances on her father’s reality show. As the
New York Times noted
over the weekend, “Mr. Trump’s daughter Ivanka has also retained a
stake in the family business even as she serves as a White House
adviser, and last year she received trademarks in China related to her
separate fashion ventures. Her husband, Jared Kushner, a senior adviser
to the president, maintains a stake in his own family’s real estate
business, which has received and sought funding from international
sources as well.”
So why is it, exactly, that the Republican president “occasionally” has his daughter speak to world leaders?
Is it unreasonable to wonder how Republicans might react if President
Hillary Clinton, after refusing to thoroughly prepare for meetings with
international officials, occasionally handed the phone to Chelsea
Clinton?
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