With guest host Anthony Brooks.
America in Europe. The president’s envoys try to reassure Europe and NATO that we’re all still on the same team, but Europe wonders.
President Trump, the great disruptor, has disrupted Europe: applauding Brexit, calling NATO “obsolete,” and leaving European diplomats stunned — and uncertain about their alliance with America. So Trump surrogates, including Vice President Mike Pence, have been assuring them that the U.S. remains committed. But will Trump’s next tweet offer the same message? This hour On Point, Trump and the Trans-Atlantic alliance.
Guests
Tom Nuttall, European politics columnist for The Economist. ( @tom_nuttall)
Richard Armitage, president of Armitage International. Former Deputy U.S. Secretary of State under former President George W. Bush.
John Kornblum, former assistant U.S. Secretary of State for European affairs and former deputy U.S. ambassador to NATO.
From The Reading List
New York Times: Mike Pence Tells a Skeptical E.U. That It Has Trump’s Support – “Mr. Trump’s presidency has upended Washington, where his rambling and grievance-filled news conferences, chaotic decision-making and thin staffing levels have left much of the capital uncertain how to manage the earthquake he has wrought. The aftershocks swept across Europe, leaving those who depend on the United States for security and vital economic ties uncertain about where they stand, particularly in the face of a resurgent Russia.”
POLITICO: Awkward first date in Munich – “But how much of the reality represented by the gray-haired, experienced, boring Americans who were here is the reality of the new Trump foreign policy? Or is it to be found in the potshots taken at the EU and the praise for Brexit, the criticism of Germany and frequent nice words for Russia, in the president’s Twitter feed? Is the new commander-in-chief at the White House ‘100 percent behind’ NATO, as U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May claimed at their meeting last month? Or is the alliance ‘obsolete’ in Trump’s repeated phrase?”
Reuters: White House delivered EU-skeptic message before Pence visit — “In the week before U.S. Vice President Mike Pence visited Brussels and pledged America’s ‘steadfast and enduring’ commitment to the European Union, White House chief strategist Steve Bannon met with a German diplomat and delivered a different message, according to people familiar with the talks. Bannon, these people said, signaled to Germany’s ambassador to Washington that he viewed the EU as a flawed construct and favored conducting relations with Europe on a bilateral basis.”
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