# Trumps Calls With Foreign Leaders Embarrasing, Bullying, Uninformed and Disasterous **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 30, 2020, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-calls-with-foreign-leaders-embarrasing-bullying-uninformed-and-disasterous/913730 "2020-06-30T03:43:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-calls-with-foreign-leaders-embarrasing-bullying-uninformed-and-disasterous/913730/1 "2020-06-30T03:43:23Z")
> **[From pandering to Putin to abusing allies and ignoring his own advisers,...](https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/29/politics/trump-phone-calls-national-security-concerns/index.html)** > > In hundreds of highly classified phone calls with foreign heads of state, President Donald Trump was so consistently unprepared for discussion of serious issues, so often outplayed in his conversations with powerful leaders like Russian President... This is a long article and contains what we all feared: Trump is a bully, delusional in his self assessment of his abilities, easily outmaneuvered by Putin and Erdogan, and more influenced by Jared and Ivanka than the real experts. Its too bad that we cant talk about a certain cure for Trumpism because he is literally destroying the image of America abroad. At least for the short term. And, sadly, Im not sure that 77 year old Joe Biden will do much better with the worlds stronger leaders. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-calls-with-foreign-leaders-embarrasing-bullying-uninformed-and-disasterous/913730/2 "2020-06-30T04:20:28Z")
Good read, if you enjoy despair for your future. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-calls-with-foreign-leaders-embarrasing-bullying-uninformed-and-disasterous/913730/3 "2020-06-30T04:22:10Z")
Just look at that photo of him with Macron. His posture says it all. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-calls-with-foreign-leaders-embarrasing-bullying-uninformed-and-disasterous/913730/4 "2020-06-30T04:38:18Z")
I’m struggling to think of a suitable analogy for how badly a guy like Trump must be outmatched by the wits of a former KGB intelligence officer like Putin. Like a turtle racing a greyhound. Putin must be laughing uproariously at how he has turned Trump into his flunky, pretty sad at the thought of Biden bringing his party to an end. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-calls-with-foreign-leaders-embarrasing-bullying-uninformed-and-disasterous/913730/5 "2020-06-30T04:39:40Z")
It was written by Carl Bernstein. > … the calls helped convince some senior US officials – including his former secretaries of state and defense, two national security advisers and his longest-serving chief of staff – **that the President himself posed a danger to the national security of the United States** , according to White House and intelligence officials intimately familiar with the contents of the conversations. (bolding mine) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-calls-with-foreign-leaders-embarrasing-bullying-uninformed-and-disasterous/913730/6 "2020-06-30T04:40:40Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > And, sadly, Im not sure that 77 year old Joe Biden will do much better with the worlds stronger leaders. Why would you think that? Biden will have any easy time doing a better job than Trump. I’m certainly not qualified to be President but even so I could do a better job than Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-calls-with-foreign-leaders-embarrasing-bullying-uninformed-and-disasterous/913730/7 "2020-06-30T04:45:27Z")
Biden would have his dementia or pre-dementia showing but least his intentions would be good. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-calls-with-foreign-leaders-embarrasing-bullying-uninformed-and-disasterous/913730/8 "2020-06-30T05:10:56Z")
There’s no evidence that Biden has dementia, though of course the 78 year-old version of Biden (his age on inauguration day) would be slower than the 66 year-old Biden inaugurated as VP in 2009. But that’s not really the point. He’d surround himself with professional, capable advisors and listen to them, rather than Trump’s model of surrounding himself with morons and sycophants and then following his gut. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-calls-with-foreign-leaders-embarrasing-bullying-uninformed-and-disasterous/913730/9 "2020-06-30T11:17:29Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > [@madsircool](#): > > > > And, sadly, Im not sure that 77 year old Joe Biden will do much better with the worlds stronger leaders. > > Why would you think that? Biden will have any easy time doing a better job than Trump. I’m certainly not qualified to be President but even so I could do a better job than Trump. I joke about running for president if we won a lottery and had an insane amount of money to waste using the platform ‘I couldn’t do worse’ but seriously, I think anybody growing up and remembering the lyrics to all those after school Schoolhouse Rock songs could do better than he is. Hell, my cat could probably do a better job. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-calls-with-foreign-leaders-embarrasing-bullying-uninformed-and-disasterous/913730/10 "2020-06-30T12:18:24Z")
> [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](#): > > … > But that’s not really the point. He’d surround himself with professional, capable advisors and listen to them, rather than Trump’s model of surrounding himself with morons and sycophants and then following his gut. Yes, 100%. Biden would hire capable advisors and cabinet officials, listen to them and let them do their jobs. He would also listen to and believe what the intelligence agencies are telling him. He also would not compulsivley tweet out offensive, incendiary, stream -of-consciousness ramblings every few hours. He will misspeak himself, but I’d rather have a president who says ‘125 million’ instead of ‘125 thousand’ and immediately corrects himself than a president who suggests injecting household cleaners into our bodies to fight Covid. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-calls-with-foreign-leaders-embarrasing-bullying-uninformed-and-disasterous/913730/11 "2020-06-30T12:22:01Z")
This is something everyone should have foreseen way back in 2015, if not earlier. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-calls-with-foreign-leaders-embarrasing-bullying-uninformed-and-disasterous/913730/12 "2020-06-30T12:45:28Z")
I meant to say that at Bidens age he would have a hard time keeping up with the Putins of the world negotiating head to head unless he let his subordinates do the nuts and bolts negotiating while he could finalize deals. This is what I thought (stupidly) that Trump would do because he has no foreign policy experience. Any Doper could do a better job than Trump…even WV lawyers. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-calls-with-foreign-leaders-embarrasing-bullying-uninformed-and-disasterous/913730/13 "2020-06-30T13:34:43Z")
I hope President Biden will have the good sense to chuckle with foreign leaders about the last four years. “Can you believe that shit?” ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-calls-with-foreign-leaders-embarrasing-bullying-uninformed-and-disasterous/913730/14 "2020-06-30T14:32:19Z")
> [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](#): > > But that’s not really the point. He’d surround himself with professional, capable advisors and listen to them, rather than Trump’s model of surrounding himself with morons and sycophants and then following his gut. In CFSG’s defense, it initially surrounded itself with competent-but-ethically-challenged people, then refused to listen to them and fired them when they got fed up with it’s incompetence, stupidity, and venality. Then CFSG replaced them with morons and sycophants. Biden is no panacea, but I fully expect him, like every president before CFSG, to listen to (a) the briefings on world events given to him, and (b) his advisors. That alone will be a huge step in the right direction (as long as those advisors aren’t Karl Rove or Dick Cheney, but I digress). ETA: > [@madsircool](#): > > Any Doper could do a better job than Trump…even WV lawyers. 😉 I’m not ready to concede that point. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-calls-with-foreign-leaders-embarrasing-bullying-uninformed-and-disasterous/913730/15 "2020-06-30T15:22:13Z")
One of the very, very many things that confuses me about Trump supporters is that they don’t realize how much he’s damaged the “USA” brand around the world. World leaders don’t take him (or the US) seriously. Other countries have lost respect for us. Everything he does makes us look weaker and weaker and weaker and he’s shit negotiator. Eventually, of course, the US would stop being a superpower - countries’ statuses ebb and flow over time. But he’s accelerated that process like nobody’s business because the rest of the world thinks he’s a joke and acts accordingly. And they don’t seem to see it (despite the availability of newspapers, magazines, hell - even youtube videos worldwide saying it) ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-calls-with-foreign-leaders-embarrasing-bullying-uninformed-and-disasterous/913730/16 "2020-06-30T15:44:51Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > One of the very, very many things that confuses me about Trump supporters is that they don’t realize how much he’s damaged the “USA” brand around the world. World leaders don’t take him (or the US) seriously. Other countries have lost respect for us. Everything he does makes us look weaker and weaker and weaker and he’s shit negotiator. They still believe he’s a ‘straight shooter’ and is making America great. Again! I have several Trump supporters as neighbors. I don’t talk to them much. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-calls-with-foreign-leaders-embarrasing-bullying-uninformed-and-disasterous/913730/17 "2020-06-30T15:45:42Z")
Trump to Merkel: “Oh, you just think you’re so smart with your degree in quantum chemistry.” (Trump supporters nod furiously in agreement) ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-calls-with-foreign-leaders-embarrasing-bullying-uninformed-and-disasterous/913730/18 "2020-06-30T15:46:02Z")
This is because, to his supporters, it’s all part of his “America First!” isolationist strategy. They don’t see damage to the “USA” brand throughout the world, they see other counties offended that tough-talking trump is telling them like it is. “NATO countries should pay more!”. “Angela Merkel and Theresa May are stupid and weak!” They don’t see trump’s faux-tough talk as the blustering man-behind-the-curtain phony con-man shit shtick it really is. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-calls-with-foreign-leaders-embarrasing-bullying-uninformed-and-disasterous/913730/19 "2020-06-30T15:52:32Z")
Remember that conservative pundits spent 8 years building a narrative that Obama had made the US a laughingstock on the global stage, by not being “tough.” It all started with the “apology tour” narrative and probably culminated in the Iran deal. Trump, see, came in and was tough again – threatening people with our military, pulling us out of global agreements, making NATO pay their “fair share,” etc. Trump supporters will never see how awful Trump’s take on foreign policy is because they don’t understand anything about the way interpersonal relations work. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-calls-with-foreign-leaders-embarrasing-bullying-uninformed-and-disasterous/913730/20 "2020-06-30T16:02:09Z")
Yes, it’s amazing how a conservative alternate universe take on reality narrative has taken root to explain, support and defend trump’s behavior. Media criticism? Fake news! Criticism from public figures? Liberal elites! Criticism from within his own government? Deep state! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-calls-with-foreign-leaders-embarrasing-bullying-uninformed-and-disasterous/913730.md?page=2)