via WordPress http://ift.tt/2lN1oFl
(CNN)The iceberg wedge salads, dripping with blue cheese dressing, had just been served on the terrace of Mar-a-Lago Saturday when the call to President Donald Trump came in: North Korea had launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile, its first challenge to international rules since Trump was sworn in three weeks ago.
The launch, which wasn’t expected, presented Trump with one of the first breaking national security incidents of his presidency. It also noisily disrupted what was meant to be an easygoing weekend of high-level male bonding with the more sobering aspects of global diplomacy.
Sitting alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with whom he’d spent most of the day golfing, Trump took the call on a mobile phone at his table, which was set squarely in the middle of the private club’s dining area.
“I just want everybody to understand and fully know that the United States of America stands behind Japan, its great ally, 100%,” Trump said.
He declined to read from a set of prepared remarks, which photographers captured images of, that were resting on his podium. Those remarks did mention the missile test specifically and vowed cooperation between allies to “safeguard and protect” against North Korea’s “provocative acts.”
“That was a joint statement we decided not to make,” a senior administration official said afterward, explaining why those remarks were cast aside. Because Abe spoke first, and then Trump, there was “no need for communique,” the official said.
Trump left the impromptu briefing room without taking questions, having delivered the first emergency foreign policy statement of his presidency,
But even as he confronted one of the gravest matters of his office, Trump nonetheless found it impossible to resist dropping in on a nearby wedding reception, already underway in his treasured Grand Ballroom. Trump designed and built the space himself after purchasing Mar-a-Lago in the 1980s.
Entering the ornate room, Trump took a photo with the bride and her bridesmaids, who posed in red gowns next to the commander in chief, mimicking his signature thumbs-up.
Then he grabbed a microphone.
“I saw them out on the lawn today,” Trump said of the bride and groom, who were standing nearby. “I said to the Prime Minister of Japan, I said, ‘C’mon Shinzo, let’s go over and say hello.’ “
“They’ve been members of this club for a long time,” Trump said of the newlyweds. “They’ve paid me a fortune.”
Read more: http://ift.tt/2l956fJ
The post At Mar-a-Lago, Trump tackles crisis diplomacy at close range appeared first on MavWrek Marketing by Jason
No comments:
Post a Comment