President Trump issued another of his perplexing tweets this morning, this one linking to a New York Times article about China’s aggressive military activities in the disputed waters it shares with multiple countries in South East Asia.
The article, entitled “Mattis Accuses Beijing of ‘Intimidation and Coercion’ in South China Sea,” highlights the tumultuous relationship between the U.S. and China in the Trump era, with on-again, off-again tariff threats, the negotiations with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, and favors to the Trump family business all complicating matters.
With China increasingly displaying its military might in international waters, it stands poised to dominate its smaller Asian neighbors as the Trump administration abandons former President Obama’s strategy to contain China’s power with security commitments to our allies in the region and through the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.
Very surprised that China would be doing this? https://t.co/D03kV07dF7
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 2, 2018
While the question mark in Trump’s tweet makes it difficult to tell whether he is or isn’t surprised that “China would be doing this,” Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA) replied to the president’s potentially incredulous query with a tweet that highlights the inexcusable ignorance behind Trump’s question.
Note to @realDonaldTrump: Um, China has been militarizing the South China Sea for years.
China is good at distracting you with shiny objects, like trademarks to your daughter. But the South China Sea is a dangerous flashpoint between 2 nuclear powers. Please get a briefing. Thx https://t.co/RM8X7LBQsn
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) June 2, 2018
That briefing will have to be verbal, given the president’s notorious aversion to actually sitting down and reading anything longer than a bullet point.
Count on Representative Lieu to point out the obvious flaws in Trump’s seemingly improvised foreign policy and his jumbled thought process.
Let’s hope that everyone votes in the mid-term elections to put more Democrats like Congressman Lieu in office and regain a majority in both the House and Senate to create conditions that will allow us to rid ourselves of a president who is too arrogant to realize how ignorant he truly is.
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