From Iran to the Pope to Greenland to tariffs, President Donald Trump and his administration have yet to realize that bullying as a tactic does not appear to be reliably working with either friends or foes — and if the White House has noticed, they may not care, according to Politico Magazine.
“To date, there’s little evidence that Trump or his deputies understand the chain reactions they set off when issuing diktats or that they have learned lessons from past instances of blowback,” writes Politico’s Nahal Toosi. “They believe, with few exceptions, that America can use threats, economic muscle and military action to bend other capitals to its will.”
Richard Haass, a former president of the Council on Foreign Relations, told Politico that if “there were an appreciation that bullying was no longer a likely to succeed tactic you’d see a move away from it,” and yet, they have not.
Even when Trump backs down, after the damage has been done, sometimes he goes back for more.
Just last week, while fuming over Europe’s refusal to team up with the U.S. against Iran, Trump wrote on social media: “REMEMBER GREENLAND, THAT BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE!!!”
Diplomats have long been distressed that Trump and his team approach foreign relations as if they were real estate deals, that everything is a transaction.
“But treating Russia’s war in Ukraine or the Palestinians’ claims on Gaza as being merely about land misses out on how identity, politics and the desire to simply survive as a people is what fuels many conflicts,” Politico noted. Trump and his team often “fail to realize that people tend to fight for what gives their life meaning beyond the purely rational or material cost-benefit analysis,” a former Latin American official told Politico.
Haass told Politico that Trump could be helping lead the U.S. into a “post-American world,” one in which the U.S. is no longer at the center — which would be playing into China’s hands.
In that world, roles would switch, and the U.S. would be forced to “regularly plead for help instead of knowing it can count on friends who instinctively trust and support it.”
Former Biden administration official Dan Shapiro told Politico, “Look, the U.S. is powerful and we have a lot of influence, but we don’t have infinite influence.”
“Even the best,” he said, “need allies, friends, partners.”
