‘America is respected again,’ tweets Trump as allies question his leadership

WASHINGTON: President Trump retooled a campaign slogan on Monday to defend his worldview, declaring that “AMERICA IS RESPECTED AGAIN!” during a four-hour Twitter tirade as foreign allies braced for the potentially destabilising effects of his policy decisions on national security.

Democratic leaders accused the president of “plunging the country into chaos” on Christmas Eve.

Ensconced in the White House with no official plans, Trump showed no sign of slowing a Twitter storm amid a government shutdown, the fallout over his defence secretary’s resignation and a cratering stock market. In the midst of posting, he even lamented, “I am all alone (poor me) in the White House waiting for the Democrats to come back and make a deal on desperately needed Border Security. At some point the Democrats not wanting to make a deal will cost our Country more money than the Border Wall we are all talking about. Crazy!”

His posts were replete with grievances about funds for border security, the federal reserve chairman, Democrats critical of his relationship with American allies and Brett McGurk, the departing special envoy for the global coalition fighting the Islamic State.

“To those few senators who think I don’t like or appreciate being allied with other countries, they are wrong, I DO,” Trump wrote in a pair of tweets critical of Jim Mattis, his departing defence secretary. “What I don’t like, however, is when many of these same countries take advantage of their friendship with the US, both in military protection and trade.” He added: “General Mattis did not see this as a problem. I DO, and it is being fixed!”

Mattis’s resignation was prompted by Trump’s abrupt decisions last week to pull troops from Syria and Afghanistan. Those moves have plunged some of the longest allied partners of the US into uncertainty.

Trump sent more than 10 Twitter posts focusing on money saved in four hours. In one, he declared that Saudi Arabia would “spend the necessary money needed to help rebuild Syria, instead of the US.” It was not clear how or when that would happen.

As he assailed critics of his “America First” approach, Trump also targeted McGurk, the envoy to the coalition fighting the Islamic State. Trump suggested on Twitter that McGurk was a “grandstander.” The envoy resigned in protest over the Syria decision, which he said had blindsided US officials and allies in the Middle East, including American-backed Kurdish soldiers who are fighting the Islamic State.

Trump also said he was making progress on negotiations with North Korea, despite the state department having been stymied so far in efforts to persuade the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, to begin the process of dismantling its nuclear arsenal. “Looking forward to my next summit with Chairman Kim!” he tweeted.

On the domestic policy front, Trump saved his ire for Democrats and furthered his feud with Jerome H Powell, the federal reserve chairman. Trump said on Twitter that a “complete” border wall would be paid for with “shutdown money.” The White House did not respond to a request for comment about what “shutdown money” was.

After his initial burst, Trump tweeted that he had just given out “a 115 mile long contract for another large section of the Wall in Texas.” White House and Department of Homeland Security officials did not respond to a request for comment on what the president meant.

The president’s marketshaking tweeting caught the attention of top Democrats. In a joint statement, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, accused Trump of “plunging the country into chaos.”