Opinion | Why Trump must play the North Korea card well to save face on foreign policy
Robert Delaney says with China leaning towards dialogue with Pyongyang, and criticism at home over the Saudi arms deal and his team’s alleged Kremlin links, Donald Trump, fresh from a first overseas trip strewn with terrible optics, can ill-afford another policy fiasco
China ‘won’t back further measures to rein in North Korea’
Beijing’s dissension creates a challenge for Trump, potentially as damaging as the current probe into possible connections between his associates and what the US intelligence community believes was an Kremlin-engineered effort to sway the US presidential election in his favour. Trump will need full exoneration, as he has lost the support of all but his enthusiastic base, who believe the investigation is part of a “deep state” conspiracy.
Trump’s first budget proposal cuts parts of the social safety net that broad sections of working class Americans depend on, and has lawmakers in his own party hissing. Moreover, his first overseas trip won’t boost his popularity.
Watch: Trump in Saudi Arabia
Trump ingratiated himself to monarchs of the Middle East. As he pontificated in Riyadh’s palatial settings about stamping out religious extremism, young people in Tehran celebrated an election that rejected religious hardline rulers in Iran, which was excluded from the meetings in Saudi Arabia.