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Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Diplomacy, Trump Style

When there is a new president-elect, he always receives congratulatory phone calls from foreign leaders around the world. The president-elect is briefed on protocol by the State Department -- historically. Not this time.

Trump babbled away, saying God knows what, sometimes on unsecure phones, to a couple of dozen foreign supplicants, without ever meeting with State Department representatives to brief him on issues that might be discussed between national leaders. The first, or one of the first, conversations is one with the other half of the "Special Relationship" -- Great Britain.

The first British politician to see Trump was his buddy Nigel Farage, of Brexit fame. The first foreign leader to reach him was Egyptian military strongman President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. After a number of other calls -- including with the Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, who called Trump on his (unsecure) personal phone after getting the number from Trump golf buddy Greg Norman -- Trump spoke to U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, saying that if she should happen to travel to the U.S., she should look him up. (Hey, Theresa, if you're in the neighborhood, stop by and say hello!)

Diplomacy, Trump style.

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