Great musicians will tell you that the difference between just playing an instrument and playing an instrument brilliantly lies not in knowing what to play.
Rather, it's all about knowing what not to play. And when not to play it.
Whatever else Trump is, or isn't, or turns out to be by the time this Twilight Zone episode of a "presidency" is over, one thing is sure fire certain.
Trump is not a great musician.
Jen Psaki, is a political commentator and spring
fellow at the Georgetown
University Institute of Politics and Public Service, was the White House
communications director and State Department spokeswoman during the Obama
administration. She offers an insider's point of view on the summit showdown.
The Russians just played the President. It was
predictable. And he let it happen.
On paper, Vladimir Putin should not have had the
upper hand going into the meeting.
To start with, Russia has been living with sanctions
put in place more than three years ago because of their annexation of Crimea.
And most Americans, save a few people including the
President of the United States, are confident that Putin led the Russian
intervention into the American election and into many other elections around
the world.
President Obama booted out nearly three dozen spies
in December and closed two compounds, and there are many, from both parties,
calling for an additional round of sanctions on Russia
We should have had some leverage. So what happened?
To start with, the Russians are skilled public
manipulators.
When I was at the State Department, the country that
was easiest for our team to work with on logistics -- whether it was access to
the press, or when to do statements or take questions -- were the Russians.
They understand, better than most, the importance of the public side of
diplomacy. It made planning easy, but it also required on-the-fly adjustments
to make sure that the Russians didn't read out meetings or characterize
conversations without the perspective of the United States. And they still got
the best of us from time to time.
They know how to stage-manage and how to set the
expectations for global events. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is a smooth
operator who knows how to charm cameras and international audiences. He is
visible at international events and followed by a gaggle of adoring state-run
media. He also rarely shies away from answering questions, holding press
conferences, or reading out meetings. He has been on the international scene as
foreign minister for 13 years, and as the UN ambassador for 10 years before
that, and it shows.
Putin
may have less of a warm diplomatic bedside manner, but he understands the art
of presentation and how to set a trap.
And set a trap is exactly what he just did.
The Russians telegraphed in advance of the meeting
that their agenda was to 1) publicly mend the relationship, 2) gain a better
understanding of US policy, and 3) discuss joint concerns over terrorism. They
scored on all three.
Their previewing kept expectations low and made clear
that there simply would not be enough time to talk about Ukraine.
And how did the United States preview the meeting and
set the table for the most important diplomatic engagement this summer?
Just yesterday, Donald Trump questioned
the validity of American intelligence on foreign soil and then questioned
whether other countries or actors were involved in the hacking.
But before that, H.R. McMaster, the President's
national security adviser, previewed the meeting with President Putin by saying there was "no specific agenda -- it's really
going to be whatever the President wants to talk about."
The problem is that the expectation-setting and
previewing of important diplomatic meetings does more than just fill wire
reports and cable air time. It sends the message about what the United States
expects to accomplish, how prepared we are for the engagement and also puts the
difficult topics on the table that are the core purpose of these meetings.
We did a background briefing with policy experts in
advance of nearly every trip Secretary John Kerry did when I was at the State
Department. These briefings were often on the plane late at night or early in
the morning, sometimes at Andrews Air Force Base and even on the ground. They
were demanded by the press corps, but also benefited the United States because
they allowed us to set the table for our engagements.
Immediately following the meeting, Secretary of
State Rex Tillerson appeared on television making clear that
President Trump had repeatedly raised Russian meddling in the meeting. That
sounded like a positive development until he said President Trump has decided
to focus on "how do we move forward from something that may be an
intractable disagreement at this point."
This statement was quickly followed by Foreign
Minister Lavrov appearing on television to say that President Putin had denied involvement, Trump said
reports of meddling were exaggerated and he accepted Putin's denials.
Leading American intelligence agencies, Republicans and
Democrats in Congress and many members of his own administration are confident
that the Russians intervened in the American election last year. But a simple
assurance from President Putin overrides that.
You don't get a lot of shots at pressure in
diplomacy. And after you've let your adversary off the hook, you certainly don't
get to apply that pressure again. As far as the Russians are concerned, the
public case is closed.
The problem is that the free public pass doesn't make
it harder for Russians to proceed with their ongoing efforts to intervene in
American democracy, to create confusion and disarray in our system.
And there are ample opportunities.
There are two governor's elections this November, and an additional
36 in 2018. There are
34 Senate seats up in 2018 and every single seat in the
House of Representatives. Not to mention that just last year, the Russians
potentially hacked into 21 states' electoral systems
And instead of presenting evidence during his
meeting with President Putin and making clear that he would stand with
Democrats and Republicans and the leading intelligence agencies, Trump accepted
the assurances of Putin all while smiling in front of the cameras. And the
Russians have photos -- that they are already expertly spreading around the
Internet -- to prove it.
In keeping with the already deeply entrenched tradition of "you is either fer us or agin us" that the days of Trump has set loose in the American way of doing things, fine point discussion and/or dissertation on Trump's "performance" in the Putin meeting is a waste of time.
Those whose tantalized taste buds remain hopelessly addicted to the Kool Aid, the folks to whom Trump was referring when he said he could shoot somebody in Times Square and still be able to count on their votes, are applauding and cheering their boy wonder, confident that he didn't take any shit from that Commmie bastard and that, oh, you can bet the farm, Mabel, it's all part of the grand and master plan that their hero has to not only make America great again, but get those foreign fuckers back in line, too.
That brings us around to today's "Reasons Why Those Of Us Who Are Annoyed With How Stupid Trump Supporters Can Be Are Annoyed With How Stupid Trump Supporters Can Be # 73...."
The people who bluster and blow about how great it is to have a president who "shoots from the hip", "tells it like it is", "doesn't bother with trivial things like prepping for meetings" etc are the very same people who would go BAT SHIT CRAZY if their favorite team got its ass kicked in the Super Bowl because the head coach didn't bother prepping his team for the game because "he was smart, real smart, some people say terrifically smart" and didn't need to be bothered with trivial things like having his shit together before walking on to the field....
Authentically smart people know what they don't know...morons know everything...and not a damn thing.....
Great musicians will also tell you that morons don't know a damn thing about when to play...or not to play.
Oh...and that they are cock sure they don't need to be bothered wasting a single minute practicing.
The end result, sadly, and inevitably, is a piss poor musician.
And a very sad song.
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