The testing of a new U.S. president by both adversaries and allies is a well-established phenomenon. What’s different about the Trump transition is the tactics some have adopted. Rather than dispatch delegations or lobby advisers, foreign governments, having taken the new man’s narcissistic measure, are doing their best to engage him personally, through tweets and other public statements.
It’s not that hard to succeed. After Trump held an unprecedented phone call with the president of Taiwan, the Chinese Navy grabbed a U.S. underwater drone from international waters. “Let them keep it!” was Trump’s baffling response, which handed a talking point to Beijing. “He seemed emotionally upset, but no one knows what he wanted to say,” mocked the Global Times, a regime mouthpiece, which went on to argue that Trump “has no sense of how to lead a superpower” — a message China wants to drive home with nervous U.S. allies in East Asia.
Trolling Trump is not the only option of course. It’s been noted in allied capitals that the man is deeply susceptible to flattery. “President-elect Trump, thank you for your warm friendship and your clear-cut support for Israel!” tweeted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Trump criticized a U.N. resolution on Israeli settlements. “President-elect Trump has shown deep and great understanding of what is taking place in the region as a whole and what is taking place in Egypt,” proclaimed Egyptian strongman Abdel Fatah al-Sissi in an interview that was splashed by the Trumpist Breitbart website.
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