President Donald Trump’s phone calls to foreign leaders sounded like his meandering, combative coronavirus press releases, fact-free but replete with conspiracy theories, fantasies, and hunches stemming from social media rumors and personalities’ perspectives. Fox News, according to a new report by CNN’s Carl Bernstein.
In tones reminiscent of his controversial coronavirus conference calls with U.S. governors, Trump regularly bragged and flattered opponents of strongmen, while intimidating key allies, more specifically women, into whom Trump used to directly insult in calls that officials described as “almost sadistic.” Bernstein reported.
Bernstein, who relied on four continuous months of interviews with several former top White House and intelligence officials, reported that top cabinet advisers thought Trump’s calls were “delusional” and posed a threat to national security.
The president routinely intimidated two heads of state, former UK Prime Minister Theresa May and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor with a doctorate in quantum chemistry whom Trump called “stupid.”
“Some of the things he said to Angela Merkel are incredible: he called her ‘stupid’ and accused her of being in the pocket of the Russians … He is the toughest. [in the phone calls] with those he considers weak and weaker he should be tough on, “a US official told Bernstein.
A German official confirmed that Trump was “very aggressive” towards Merkel, adding that the calls were “so unusual” that the Germans took additional precautions to ensure they did not leak, including reducing the circle of officials involved in the talks.
“It is just a small circle of people involved and the reason, the main reason, is that [the calls] they are really problematic, “the official said.
Merkel, however, took Trump’s blocks calmly – “like water from a duck’s back” – calmly pushing back factual remarks. The German official said Trump displayed “very questionable behavior” when he visited the White House in 2018, which “was quite aggressive.” [T]The chancellor remained calm, and that is what she does on the phone. “
Prime Minister May, by contrast, is said to have become “nervous and nervous.”
“It clearly intimidated her, and she intended to,” a source told Bernstein.
Trump’s calls with May were “humiliating and intimidating,” Bernstein reports, and the president dismissed her as “dumb” and cowardly regarding his actions around Brexit, immigration and NATO.
“He was upset about something with Theresa May, then he got nasty to her on the phone call,” said a source. “It is the same interaction in all environments, coronavirus or Brexit, without applying any filter.”
Trump also rejected expert opinion in favor of unenlightened flattery.
In an early call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the president invited his son-in-law Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka to the listening room, where they were joined by former national security adviser HR McMaster, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, former senior national security adviser Fiona Hill and an assistant to the State Department.
“The call was everywhere,” said an official who read a detailed summary and recalled that Putin spoke extensively about the policy, to which Trump responded with “brief autobiographical bursts of boasting, self-congratulation and flattery.”
After the call, Kushner and Ivanka were “immediately gushing” with praise. Hill, who wrote an acclaimed biography of the Russian leader, tried to explain to the president what she had learned from the conversation, giving him an insight into Putin’s thought process, his “soft conversation” and what he wanted to get out of the call. .
However, Trump is said to have interrupted her and returned with Jared and Ivanka to receive more cheers.
The president often encouraged Jared and Ivanka to comment even on topics they had no experience with, Bernstein reported. Trump himself hardly ever reads the reports that intelligence officials prepared before the calls.
Ultimately, the Russians learned that “no one has the authority to do anything,” which Putin has exploited to his advantage.
The president’s actions in calls with Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman were particularly troubling, authorities said, noting that leaders could take advantage of Trump in various ways, largely because talks with heads of state are typically registered by intelligence services.
CNN reported last fall that two calls in particular raised so much concern that the small circle of US officials involved restricted access to the records. In one case, a call with MBS following the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi blocked a transcript before it was distributed.
An official familiar with nearly all of Trump’s calls to Turkey, Russia, Canada, Australia and European allies described Bernstein as “abominations.”
“There was no sense of ‘Team America’ in the talks,” said the official. “Quite the contrary. It was as if the United States had disappeared. It was always ‘Just me.'”
