Trump undermines our relationship with our closest ally
- On This Day In The Trump Administration
- May 22, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: May 24, 2024
May 23: On This Day In 2017
We have seen in multiple OTDIs that Donald Trump, personally, is a security threat to both the U.S. and the Western alliance. (Just in the past two months we've seen it this time, this time, don't forget this time, and of course this time.)
Here’s yet another example. OTDI 2017, after British intelligence privately shared with the U.S. the identity of a terrorist, Trump went ahead and leaked it. As Britain’s National Police Chiefs’ Council complained oh-so-delicately, his disclosure “undermines our investigations.”
This was not just another TIL (Trump Intelligence Leak); it was also yet another in his series of statements which damaged our relationship with the United Kingdom.
AP’s David Bauder called the “ongoing leaks of sensitive information … a hallmark of the Trump administration,” which are “antagonizing one of America’s closest allies.”
The Atlantic’s Thomas Wright ticked off several incidents, including Trump’s tweeting fake news about a London terrorist attack, an inflammatory Trump retweet of a fake video disparaging Muslims, and the president’s claims that “United Kingdom Intelligence [had helped the] Obama Administration Spy on the 2016 Trump Presidential Campaign.”
Consequences of Trump’s indiscretions: Bauder reported that “the lamentable state of the relationship under Trump will have lasting consequences.” And, as The Atlantic put it, “The special relationship is arguably at its lowest point” in sixty years.
Ah, but not all was lost in the campaign to make friends for the U.S., because Trump continued to praise authoritarian dictators like a star-struck teenage fanboy.
Dive Deeper
@dbauder at the AP reported on the leakiness of the Trump Administration
@thomaswright08 notes that Trump's leaks and falsehoods undermine Prime Minister Theresa May
CNN details Trump’s passion for dictators
Summary: Trump undermines US-UK relationship; sucks up to dictators