Foreign officials are now intimately familiar with the whole taking Donald Trump “seriously versus literally” debate, and they’re preparing for the worst-case scenario. | Jim Watson/AFP via Getty ImagesNahal Toosi is POLITICO’s senior foreign affairs correspondent. She has reported on war, genocide and political chaos in a career that has taken her around the world.
“With a normal president, if they say something, we take it as a kind of final statement of policy. With Trump, we can’t do that,” Kroenig said when I pressed him on his sanguine views on Trump. “Sometimes it’s just a rhetorical flourish. Sometimes it’s ad-libbing. Sometimes it’s an opening position in a negotiation, but not his final position.”this week even if Trump’s debate talk is explosive.
“Rhetoric has real world implications,” the diplomat said, having been granted anonymity, like others, to be candid. “It moves the Overton window of what is acceptable to propose. Once it is said, it becomes a possibility. Then people support that possibility and it becomes a demand on the politicians.”Whether it’s in the language of a treaty or an off-the-cuff interview, countries pay heed to every syllable emerging from power centers.
Among American officials, there’s a fear that South Korea will seek its own nuclear weapons program if it comes to believe the U.S. will not protect it against nuclear-armed North Korea. That could fuel an arms race in Asia and beyond. “I’m not a determinist when it comes to Trump. His policy is totally dependent on who he surrounds himself with and the last adviser he talks to,” said one former Trump administration official who hopes to work under him again.
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