During Margaret Thatcher’s reign of terror in the UK, she and her allies condescendingly referred to those who opposed her hardline polices as ‘wets’. One of the features that so endears Donald Trump to his most ardent supporters is that he sticks to his guns and appears to them to never back down, i.e., that he is not a ‘wet’. This is because he simply denies that he has ever changed his mind or reversed himself on anything, whatever the facts are.
But recent events may have belied that image. One is that he has not forcefully dismissed the allegations against Roy Moore outright as fake news manufactured by the liberal media, instead adopting the mealy-mouthed language of the wets in the Republican leadership that ‘if Moore is guilty, he should withdraw’. This seems to me to be a false step on his part, going against his base’s expectations that he will reject any charge against the GOP.
His Asia trip also saw him praising China for being able to negotiate trade deals to their benefit against the US. This was completely contrary to his campaign rhetoric that China was being unfair in its trading practices and that on his first day in office he would brand them as currency manipulators and reverse that trend. China may have successfully fed his ego by giving him a lavish welcome, knowing how susceptible Trump is to flattery. Trump’s deference to China took observers by surprise.
President Donald Trump heaped praise on President Xi Jinping of China on Thursday, blaming past U.S. administrations for China’s yawning trade surplus with the United States and saying he was confident that Xi could defuse the threat from North Korea.
…In public, Trump projected an air of deference to China that was almost unheard-of for a visiting U.S. president. Far from attacking Xi on trade, Trumpsaluted him for leading a country that he said had left the United States ”so far behind.” He said he could not blame the Chinese for taking advantage of weak U.S. trade policy.
…It was a remarkable moment in the story of China’s rise and the United States’ response to it, with Trump’s performance suggesting a tipping point in great-power politics. By concluding that the United States can better achieve its goals by flattering a Chinese leader than by challenging him, Trump seemed to signal a reversal of roles: the United States may now need China’s help more than the other way around.
…”You’re a very special man,” he told Xi in an appearance before reporters, at which they did not take questions.
Xi, for his part, did not return Trump’s personal praise, seeming to treat him like any other U.S. leader.
…Trump’s conciliatory words on trade were particularly striking, given his protectionist threats during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump waited until he left China to revert to his old tough rhetoric on trade, hardly the profile in courage that his supporters expect.
But maybe these two examples of wetness by Trump are too subtle to be noticed by his supporters and that it will take a fairly heavy downpour to disillusion them.
I’m not from the USA so I may not appreciate the more subtle points but “He [Trump] said he could not blame the Chinese for taking advantage of weak American trade policy” is something I would take as a direct insult.
@ 1 jrkrideau
Not to Trump. Trump prides himself (in his imagination) on being the master of “the art of the deal” where you make a “deal” to your advantage, and to the disadvantage of your opponent. So to Trump, saying China “out-dealt” the US is a compliment.
Even that brief description of him is pretty illustrative of an ugly mentality: take advantage of anything to get all the money, con and steal your way to weath. And anyoen that differs in their approach is a loser.
Didn’t stuff like this already happen, when President Xi came to visit, and when Trump went to Saudi Arabia, and so on? Trump is perfectly capable of sounding conciliatory or fawning, and then doing a 180° turn to being a blustering blowhard again.
I think it’s a yuge mistake to think that most of Trump’s base cares about consistency.
A wet tweet: How can you blame China for taking advantage of people that had no clue? I would’ve done same!
@2 Silentbob
Oh, of course, stupid me. I still suspect most of the world is insulted. But then, Trump is oblivious to this sort of thing.
This, by the way, is probably why a lot of business people count their fingers after shaking hands on a deal with an American.
To answer that question: The Donald Always has been wet. As the Dutch say: empty barrels make a lot of noise.