None dare call it obsequiousness, so I won’t. But it comes close.
Did anyone else notice how Donald John Trump, 47th president of the United States, went out of his way to kowtow to Chinese Premier Xi Jinping at every opportunity during his recent summit, while speaking tough in interviews with Sean Hannity and with reporters aboard Air Force One on the way home?
Look at the photo above. Do you notice how Trump not only shakes Xi’s hand but also repeatedly caresses it with his left hand? Notice also that Xi does not reciprocate the affection.
That’s just one example of President TOFU — Trump Often Fawns Unrelentingly — in action around powerful people. In his position as president, of course, the only two really powerful people he would feel a need to kowtow to are Xi and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, though he showed some similar traits when meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his first term.
So, I hereby nominate my new nickname — President TOFU — to the Trump Observers’ Hall of Fame, to join the President TACO formulation.
Unfortunately, this presidential fawning has led to dire potential results for Taiwan. Word has it that the Trumpster is now considering delaying, halting, canceling — whatever — a $14 billion arms shipment to the island republic. He is also lifting the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz for Chinese ships.
Trump evidently thinks this will lead Xi to help him achieve a long-term peace deal with Iran, but who’s kidding whom? Xi has no intention of forcing Iran to accept Trump’s terms, though he may help expedite an Iran-favorable deal while he continues sending missiles to the Islamic Republic.
Well done, there, President TOFU. We’re giving up a democratic republic so you can rub elbows with the powerful.
