Peace Through Threat

"My way or the highway" is no way to make friends

   Last month, we noted the new administration's practice of "negotiating" with business through a practice we called "government through threat."
   Now, only two weeks into the job, Donald Trump and his minions have expanded that practice to the international level, treating leaders of major nations as if they were merely business sub-contractors or labor union chiefs who must be bullied into doing what Trump wants.
   He has "offered" to send U.S. troops into Mexico to "help" that nation deal with drug traffickers.
   He cut short a telephone talk with the prime minister of Australia when the leader of that key ally would not agree to modify what Trump called "a dumb deal" that would allow refugees now sheltering on two Australian islands to come to America. He has since backed off slightly.
   He has threatened to force Mexico to pay for a wall along the U.S. border.
   He has called NATO "obsolete," and suggested it should be disabled.
   He has called NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, two mutual international trade agreements, destructive to the American economy.
     When you insult your friends, don't be surprised when they go away and form new friendships.