First, Donald Trump invited Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, to Mar-a-Lago to urge him to rein in the North Korean nuclear program.
That didn’t work out very well, so he threatened Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, with “fire and fury” if North Korea continued to threaten the United States.
That threat wasn’t effective either, as North Korea called Mr. Trump’s bluff and conducted the sixth and most explosive test of its nuclear weapons while continuing to test ICBMs.
So a clearly frustrated Mr. Trump turned to threatening South Korea, accusing Seoul of appeasement and demanding an overhaul of South Korean trade practices.
Memo to Donald Trump: South Korea is an ally, not an enemy.
In yet another display of his lack of understanding of the consequences of his threats, Mr. Trump has threatened to stop all trade with countries doing business in North Korea.
Although this could spell catastrophe for North Korea, it would also mean economic disaster for the United States.
North Korea is dependent on China for about 80 percent of its trade and China helps with the North’s critical fuel, food and other needs.
But, at the same time, China is also the largest trading partner of the United States.
Cutting off all of our trade with China is simply a non-starter.
Just another empty bluff from the tweeter-in-chief.
As for North Korea, a famine that killed around 10 percent of its population did not bring about the country’s collapse, so cutting off trade with the North won’t stop Kim Jong-un.
If a nuclear standoff with North Korea is not enough, Mr. Trump is also threatening the Iranian nuclear agreement which has halted Iran’s nuclear weapons program and without which we and the rest of the world would be facing yet another nuclear armed nation.
What’s clear from all of this is that Mr. Trump, who was so critical of prior administrations for failing to stop the North Koreans, hasn’t the slightest idea of how to manage the situation either.
But, it seems equally clear that attacking one of our allies is not the answer.
Not only does that raise questions in the mind of South Korea as to our willingness to honor our promise to defend them, but it raises the specter among our other allies, including Japan and the NATO countries, that our promises to defend them are nothing but empty pieces of paper.
In short, by undermining the philosophy of collective defense that has sustained us since the end of World War II, Mr. Trump endangers our national security.
Who knew the North Korean situation could be so complicated.
On the other hand, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is not complicated.
All Mr. Trump, who wiped away crocodile tears while professing his “love” for the Dreamers, had to do was say that he was leaving the existing program in place.
But, on an issue crying out for leadership, Mr. Trump punted.
No profile in courage in the Oval Office. After all, he had election promises to his anti-immigrant base to keep.
Rather than stand up for the Dreamers, around 800,000 people brought to the United States as minors, Mr. Trump’s answer was to kick the can down the road to Congress, leaving their fate in doubt.
Unwilling to do the right thing, he asked Congress to “do something and do it right.”
“Not my problem,” he said to the Dreamers he was abandoning.
Memo to Mr. Trump: Congress hasn’t acted on immigration for years. Do you really expect them to act now?
I guess not. Mr. Trump now says he’ll act if Congress doesn’t act.
Why wait? Why toy with the Dreamers, leaving the lives of 800,000 law-abiding and tax paying people pursuing their education and job opportunities in a state of suspension?
Mr. Trump professed concern for “the millions of [native-born] Americans victimized by this unfair system.”
Despite the absence of any evidence to support his claim, Mr. Trump said that DACA denies jobs “to hundreds of thousands of Americans by allowing those same illegal aliens to take those jobs.”
More than 400 American business leaders had urged Mr. Trump to permit the program to continue.
To end the program is, in the words of one executive, “self-defeating.”
“Why would you take people out of the work force, who are part of the system and paying taxes?” he asked.
Mr. Trump didn’t even have the courage to make the announcement himself, leaving it to the immigrant-despising Attorney General Jeff Sessions to do the dirty work.
And just in case you haven’t noticed, the next once-in-500-year storm, Hurricane Irma, arrived just two weeks after the last one.
As I write, Hurricane Jose is moving closer and the hurricane season is far from over.
Still don’t believe in climate change? Still think that there’s nothing we can do except contribute to relief efforts for Harvey’s and Irma’s victims while waiting for the next storm?
Still think we shouldn’t be doing anything to address global warming?
Jay N. Feldman
Port Washington
