ICYMI #6

Just a few recent quotes from the man American voters decided to let control the most powerful military in the world:

Asked in a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times if there were any limits on his global powers, Mr. Trump said: “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”

“I don’t need international law,” he added. “I’m not looking to hurt people.”

When pressed further about whether his administration needed to abide by international law, Mr. Trump said, “I do.” But he made clear he would be the arbiter when such constraints applied to the United States.

“It depends what your definition of international law is,” he said.

[source]

This is pretty much the whole ballgame. A leader who recognizes no limits on their authority except that which is self-imposed is an authoritarian. And when those limits are acknowledged to be “their own morality and mind,” their morality and rationality become incredibly important.

This is the perfect encapsulation of everything those of us who have been so outspoken about Trump are talking about. His moral and intellectual failings cannot be downplayed when they are the only limits he recognizes on his power.

In a written message to Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere that was seen by Reuters, Trump said: "Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America."

[source]

The country of Norway does not decide who receives Nobel prizes. Also, this “I ended 8 wars” is a pretty optimistic count - yes, the U.S. helped broker some fragile peace deals and ceasefires in a number of conflicts (though not all 8 that they count - for example they include Kosovo and Serbia, but it’s not clear why). But if this is what it means to “end a war,” then past presidents could come up with their own highly optimistic count as well.

But what’s alarming about this quote is that Trump is openly saying what many of us suspected - his motivation for trying to quickly end these global conflicts was driven more by a desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize, than any sense of moral obligation or commitment to peace itself. It is a deeply insecure and irresponsible person who would respond to a perceived personal slight like not winning a prize they believe they deserve by threatening the future security of Europe and America’s relationship with its closest allies.

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I am pleased to announce that the Interim Authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America. This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!

[source]

The situation in Venezuela is a complicated one. Maduro was a terrible dictator who deserved to be removed. I’m willing to believe that Marco Rubio ultimately does want to see democracy re-emerge in Venezuela and realizes that getting there will be a lengthy process. I also suspect that immediately giving control to democratically elected leaders would have led to a collapse of the government due to how entrenched corruption and loyalty to the Chavista government is, and that this approach of coercing the existing government to reform over time is worth trying. But if you listen to Trump, democratic reform is furthest from his mind - his focus is on getting the oil and personally deciding how the proceeds are spent.

We have to take his word that this will benefit the Venezuelans. It might, marginally - after all, it wouldn’t take much to improve on the previous situation. But I’m highly skeptical that Trump has the patience, commitment or interest in the hard work that will be required to successfully restore Venezuela to prosperity and freedom. The idea that significant oil investment will come rushing in while the socialists remain in power, kept in check only by threats from the current U.S. president (with no guarantee that future ones will continue this project), seems highly naive. Nor does the administration appear to have a viable plan for how the country will be reformed into a place where multinationals would happily do business, let alone where the Venezuelan diaspora voluntarily returns home.

I would love to see this outcome, but I find it highly unlikely that it will occur without a sustained and more significant U.S. involvement on the ground (including in the form of security forces). I doubt Trump has the appetite for that, so I worry the country will just continue to languish in dysfunction, only now we’ll be partially responsible for that dysfunction while we cynically take a cut of their oil proceeds as protection money.