C.D.S. Forrester was spot-on in his March 9 letter ("Trump failed at Hanoi summit"): The collapsed talks were yet another global embarrassment for a show-biz impresario who understands less about geopolitics and cross-cultural negotiation than he does about theoretical astrophysics.
What's farcical about Trump's latest botch is how his previous bombast about "success" was divorced from reality. Specifically, on June 18, (after the Trump-Kim PR stunt in Singapore) he tweeted, "There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea." Three days after he left Hanoi, satellite images showed that the North could be preparing a nuclear test or missile launch. And that isn't the only example of Trump's chest-thumping, knuckle-dragging proclamations being laughably phony: His braggadocio about immigration and the U.S. trade deficit has been equally mendacious.
Regarding immigration, Trump grandstanded in Kentucky on March 20, 2017: "Since the day of my election, we've already cut illegal immigration at the southern border by 61 percent," which was an easily disproved lie. Fact: On March 5, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security reported that unauthorized southern border crossings are at a 12-year peak.
About the trade deficit, last Aug. 5, Trump tweet-gloated, "Tariffs are working big time." This was delusional bluster from an amoral propagandist whose doddering brain cannot discern truth. Fact: This March 6, the U.S. Commerce Department announced that the U.S. trade deficit is at a record high, partly due to "punitive tariffs the administration has imposed on both allies and adversaries."
Trump, a malevolent manipulator who spews fabrications with alacrity, perpetually demonstrates that his skills are ideal for a fifth-rate carnival barker, but not for executive leadership of any kind, especially of the world's most powerful nation. Ironically, his incessant lies are the penultimate definition of "fake news."
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.
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