Senior Fellow @BrookingsFP. contributing writer @TheAtlantic, Formerly Biden NSC, Author of All Measures Short of War, co-author of Aftershocks. Views my own.
Washington DC
- Tweets 23,235
- Following 1,845
- Followers 35,034
- Likes 12,710
Pinned Tweet
Some news. I have a short Penguin special (just 25,000 words) coming out as part of a @LowyInstitute paper series on April 28. It's called Inflection Point: Biden, Trump, and the Future World Order.
It's partly a memoir with reflections on my time in the Biden administration and partly an analysis of Trump's second term.
The key argument is that there are now two America's: 1) an internationalism that focuses on a post-neoliberal global economy, strategic competition and tech, and 2) an America First movement that builds on Trump's second term.
These two Americas will compete for the foreseeable future but never destroy the other. The world will need to hedge against this volatile fluctuation.
Pre-order here. Just $6.99 for the Kindle version and $10 for the paperback.
penguin.com.au/books/inflect…
4
18
61
27,263
Back in Ireland for Christmas and have to give my incredible brother Peter a shout out. He had a Covid close contact so couldn’t attend Christmas dinner so pulled up a van by the dining room window in torrential rain, fitting it out w/ lights and a table, and ate alongside us
1,191
3,955
62,374
Trump tweeted twelve times today but not once— not a word of sympathy or remembrance— for the 4,591 Americans who died yesterday alone.
1,055
8,890
36,294
This is no longer funny. Danish troops fought alongside the US in Afghanistan and Iraq. 50 Danes died. The president dishonors the alliance and their sacrifice. On the same day he sought to appease Putin by supporting his return to the G8.
Denmark is a very special country with incredible people, but based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time....
419
3,108
11,913
Biggest story you're likely missing right now: Merkel in an internal party crisis in Germany (over migration) and could lose a confidence vote this week, leading to her resignation. Situation in Berlin on a knife edge.
496
5,017
9,291
Elon Musk is an immigrant, born in South Africa
Congratulations @ElonMusk and @SpaceX on the successful #FalconHeavy launch. This achievement, along with @NASA’s commercial and international partners, continues to show American ingenuity at its best!
310
4,561
10,232
Jones won't be seated till Dec 26 or Jan 3. When Scott Brown won the MA senate race in 2010, Harry Reid & Obama said they would not ram through a vote on health care until he was seated. McConnell shld follow their example and hold no new votes on tax reform until Jones is seated
502
3,327
7,476
My colleague Fiona Hill, who staffed the summit for Trump, told the BBC that Helsinki was so bad that she considered faking a medical emergency just to disrupt it.
Helsinki was one of the low points of his presidency.
Trump remembers it fondly, in one of his more psychotic statements
174
1,430
5,806
The unavoidable reality is Pompeo never would have been in contention for a senior level appointment in a normal GOP administration. He was promoted beyond his abilities because so many people were ruled out. The delta between what’s required & what he has is now on full display.
Official response from Pompeo about his NPR interview. Haven’t seen anything like this before with a State Department seal on it:
179
1,422
5,279
Much being made of why former or current Trump administration officials won’t go on the record. As someone who has occasionally quoted such sources in essays, the reasons they have given me for anonymity include concern for their personal safety and that of their families.
287
1,046
4,359
Mitch McConnell in Senate Hearings in Feb 2001 on Bill Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich: "While the president alone possesses the power to pardon, it's imp to remember that he is not personally exempt from federal laws that prohibit the corrupt actions of all government officials."
82
1,150
3,550
Bombshell interview to Breitbart by Ric Grenell, US Ambassador to Germany. He says he will personally intervene in internal politics of Europe to empower anti-establishment conservatives. Directly contradicts State Dept line that Trump admin is neutral breitbart.com/london/2018/06…
819
3,331
3,246
Trump left London for Scotland. He did not leave the U.K. nitter.app/whitehouse/status/1017…
312
664
3,249
You couldn’t make it up. John Bolton was sent to Mongolia while Tucker Carlson was one of those accompanying Trump to the DMZ.
215
1,455
2,877
Taliban endorses Trump cbsnews.com/news/taliban-on-…
220
1,396
2,707
Something incredibly weird is happening with Interpol. The previous head was imprisoned by China and forced to resign. Interpol accepted his "resignation" & the international response was muted. Now this. And still the world is silent. Even complicit. What is going on?
Days after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russian legal authorities deployed the rule of law for political purposes, Interpol is about to elect a Russian government official as its head. Crazy. nyti.ms/2zdgXQ9
92
1,673
2,556
Thanks for all the love! For those asking if this was an overreaction, 4 out of the 15 expected for dinner tested positive the day before or of. Peter had spent a lot of time with two of them indoors and we have immunocompromised people in the house so that’s why.
79
45
2,597
Exactly right. Obama should release everything the US knows about Russian interference in the election before he leaves office nitter.app/jeffreygoldberg/status…
125
1,734
2,099
Don’t do both sides here. Biden equipped himself as well as he could. Wallace tried hard and did okay. It was a shitshow solely because of Trump.
60
399
2,200
Merkel ridicules Trump admin for calling German cars a threat to US national security. Audience laughing and bursts into applause. What must Ivanka be thinking. #MSC19
145
490
1,930
It is long past time that former Trump admin officials-- H R McMaster, Rex Tillerson, and others-- go public with what they know about Trump's real foreign policy agenda.
38
576
1,955
Blockbuster scoop by the FT’s @Dimi. Trump China Advisor, @mikepillsbury, goes on the record saying China gave him information about Hunter Biden in the same week Donald Trump urged China to investigate. on.ft.com/2ICwj56
140
1,307
1,937
Needless to say, blaming the military for your aide getting Covid when you are deliberately holding in person rallies and not wearing masks will not go over well.
31
478
1,905
A thread on John Bolton. This was inevitable. For many months Trump wanted to pivot to striking deals w/ America's enemies-- Taliban, Iran, DPRK, even Russia-- in the run up to the election. Pompeo was willing to accept this to shape it. Bolton was not & sought to sabotage it 1/9
92
766
1,963
Ted Cruz to Axios: "As long as there's litigation ongoing, and the election result is disputed, I do not think you will see the Senate act to confirm any nominee" axios.com/joe-biden-cabinet-…
323
309
1,858
The appropriate course of action now is for Congressional leaders to introduce and pass unanimously a resolution affirming America’s alliance with Denmark and respect for its sovereignty.
55
318
1,701
Coming from the person who weaponized the Benghazi hearing this is quite something
Secretary of State Pompeo blasts critics of Trump's Ukraine call for 'silly gotcha game'
ti.me/2LMMnmV
65
332
1,514
Mattis is quite something. Totally trolling Trump w/ his speech. I can only imagine what he thinks of him privately.
SecDef Mattis at #SLD17 quotes Churchill on US: "bear with us, once we have exhausted all possible alternatives, we will do the right thing"
44
592
1,559
Great answer by McMaster when asked by a Russian delegate about cyber security. "I'm surprised to see any Russian cyber security experts here since you're all so preoccupied" in attacking us. #msc2018
34
545
1,491
"I had concluded the Vietnam War was lost, and I made the cold calculation that I wasn't going to waste time on a futile struggle." John Bolton in his memoir on why he dodged going to Vietnam upon graduating in 1970.
385
964
1,533
This is literally the opposite of reality. Let's count Trump's concessions: 1) giving KJU the meeting his family has sought for decades, 2) Pompeo defining denuclearization down, 3) changing military exercises, 4) excluding allies from the meeting, 5) praising KJU.
.@seanhannity: "The @POTUS is reacting from a position of strength. Let's see, he's given up nothing. Kim Jong Un is making every concession." fxn.ws/2s0IWPr #Hannity
71
636
1,469
Here’s my understanding of what happened on the sub deal. There were problems between Australia and France on their 2016 deal. It was over budget and late. Part of this is in the nature of such projects. France thought it was mainly haggling over cost but for Australia it was…
61
390
1,588
CNN now reporting 2nd alignment was done wrong in some precincts. If true, sounds like there may never be complete results from Iowa.
202
451
1,500
I knew the Trump administration would be weird but never, ever did I for one second imagine there would be mass demonstrations in Manhattan in support of Jeff Sessions
139
306
1,442
Amazing. CNN reporting Pompeo told Trump it would be "counterproductive" to allow Bolton to attend the Oval Office meeting with visiting North Korean official Kim Yong Chol. Non trivial probability Bolton doesn't last much longer. cnn.com/2018/06/04/politics/…
128
585
1,293
As far as I can tell Kelly Knight Craft will be the first ever donor appointed to the position of US ambassador to the United Nations. All other holders of this office were senior political figures or diplomats.
70
458
1,325
John Bolton has a lot to answer for. Trump, for all of his flaws, did not initiate this. Bolton chose to do it because he has a very narrow definition of national security and did not believe global health had a place in the national security council.
Dr. Fauci is asked about the president cutting the NSC desk that would have handled coronavirus.
"We worked well with them. It would be nice if it was still around"
84
487
1,239
The Polish people must be watching this and thinking “we understand Trump has to cancel his trip to Poland commemorating the start of World War II because he needed to...tweet about Omarosa”
62
333
1,155
Grenell has just created a huge headache for US Assistant Secretary of State Wess Mitchell. This will heighten tensions between the Bolton and Pompeo wings on n the Trump administration
93
333
1,086
President Lincoln was assassinated 152 yrs ago today. The original @AP report is a textbook case of burying the lede bigstory.ap.org/article/91fe…
30
912
1,205
Simple test coming up of how tough Trump really is on Russia: will he congratulate Putin on his "election win" or will he call it out for what it is-- a dictator's charade?
86
299
1,005
My new piece for @TheAtlantic on Trump and Kim Darroch. Theresa May gave Trump everything he wanted, took all his abuse, and it was not enough to save the ambassador theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv…
60
370
960
I have a new piece in @TheAtlantic on how we are entering into the 3rd phase of Trump’s foreign policy— the reckoning in which he confronts the consequences & contradictions of his own decisions theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv…
60
413
971
Translation: Biden is performing so well that I have to come up with a new conspiracy theory
I will be strongly demanding a Drug Test of Sleepy Joe Biden prior to, or after, the Debate on Tuesday night. Naturally, I will agree to take one also. His Debate performances have been record setting UNEVEN, to put it mildly. Only drugs could have caused this discrepancy???
41
180
943
You couldn't make this up. Trump's law firm, Morgan Lewis, won Russia law firm of the year in 2016 morganlewis.com/news/chamber…
44
809
938
I recently read a Michael Lewis’s The Fith Risk. One of his key points is during the transition and early part of the term, the Trump team had ignorance as a principle and sought to avoid briefings on what the govt actually did because knowledge could constrain them.
No one saw this coming, the President often says. Except the medical professionals in his own administration. The National Security Council. His top trade adviser. The remarkable story of warnings delayed, dismissed and ignored. nytimes.com/2020/04/11/us/po…
47
310
959
What we're seeing Trump do this week-- bashing allies, imposing tariffs, cozying up to dictators, & reaching out to Russia-- is all four elements of his ideology in practice. It's a feature not a bug and was evident well before the election politico.com/magazine/story/…
68
489
933
How it happened is of great consequence. While everyone was waiting for Jim Mattis to speak out, Bolton has actually walked through that door. His tweet disputing Trump's account and his active outreach to media today suggest he will not take this lying down. 3/9
21
171
880
On Fox, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, deputy WH press secretary says time to let Russia investigation go.
799
960
919
This by @JoeNBC is exactly right & very fair. JFK's 1961 trip led to Cuban Missile crisis; what crisis will Trump's trip lead to?
Donald Trump's trip was the most damaging for American interests abroad since JFK's disastrous 1961 Vienna summit with Khrushchev.
113
390
890
This two day break was the perfect opportunity for Trump to finally visit US combat forces in Afghanistan. Will he ever do so?
I have arrived in Scotland and will be at Trump Turnberry for two days of meetings, calls and hopefully, some golf - my primary form of exercise! The weather is beautiful, and this place is incredible! Tomorrow I go to Helsinki for a Monday meeting with Vladimir Putin.
159
284
831
I see Trump said he'd have taken on the school shooter without a gun. This is how he reacted when someone fell at Mar-a-Lago
39
575
901
Breaks on the eve of Trump's visit to Japan. An absolute kick in the teeth for Prime Minister Abe who has bent over backwards to flatter and appease Trump. He's been rewarded w/ tariffs, accommodation of Kim Jong Un, and now this.
JUST IN: President Trump has recently mused to confidants about withdrawing from a postwar defense treaty with Japan, sources say bloom.bg/2IH7jtZ
88
481
824
A reminder that the kindling is dry and the President should stop playing with his matches.
The U.S. Army is monitoring Vindman’s security and is prepared to move him and his family to a local military base if necessary following his impeachment testimony. wsj.com/articles/impeachment…
17
198
854
Sounds like the EO signed on Holocaust Memorial Day bans 145,000 Jews from traveling to the United States.
Just in: Israel seeking clarity on #TrumpTravelBan - 145,000 Jews born in 7 countries listed in EO incl 54,000 in Iraq & 45,000 in Iran
54
1,009
860
Tucker Carlson saying it is “strange” and “weird” that Trump avoided Covid for months but now gets it a month before the election. Don Jr, of all people, says not to get conspiratorial.
92
149
826
If I'm not mistaken the Senate can require Gen H R McMaster to testify as he is a serving general. Seems like a good time to do that.
20
305
751
The FT breaks the story that Donald and Melania Trump had a short and till now secret meeting w/ Putin at the G-20 w/ no US staff present. A Russian translator accompanied Putin. ft.com/content/61842ec4-23a0…
107
618
739
I moved to the US 16 years ago next month. Became a US citizen today. Wonderful, uplifting ceremony with 116 people from dozens of nations.
80
55
816
Oprah gave a great speech last night but one lesson of 2017 is that experience matters in governing. The answer to Trump is not"celebrities of our own" w/ no experience in governing / national security/ etc but a return to, and reinvigoration of, traditional politics.
52
207
800
Anyone who uses dehumanizing language like this is not fit to be president of the United States or leader of the free world.
Trump: "We're taking people out of the country — you wouldn't believe how bad these people are. These aren't people. These are animals."
He says the U.S. has "the dumbest laws on immigration in the world."
31
186
712
Putin will be thrilled at Trump's refusal to endorse Article 5. Unimaginable under any other president.
56
603
744
Nine days ago I was in a very severe traffic accident and was basically unconscious for several days. Since then I have begun to recover. I am eternally grateful to my wife, son, doctors and care givers, my family, friends & work colleagues who have all been extraordinary.
138
3
884
133,372
As far as I can tell, not a single Democratic candidate for president has issued a statement on Orban's visit to the US. It's a missed opportunity to make a larger point about Trump being on the wrong side of a global competition with autocracies.
34
206
724
Dismayed & saddened that the Trump admin has denied entry to the US to my friend and Brookings colleague Javier Solana, a former Sec Gen of NATO and one of the strongest & truest friends America could wish for. All b/c he visited Tehran as part of his tireless diplomacy.
U.S. denies entry to Spanish Foreign Minister and former NATO secgen Javier Solana because of travel to Iran, acc to this El Pais story
bit.ly/2yFR4dM
33
532
744
My new piece for @TheAtlantic on why Mike Pompeo has no right to claim the mantle of the free world given everything he is doing to undermine it theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv…
38
278
712
If only he had his own expert analysts who could explain to him what's happening in Europe
My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden.
41
275
745
Fiona Hill does not have a twitter account. A fake account seems to have been set up this morning. Don't get fooled by it.
9
336
670
He is quoted: "I absolutely want to empower other conservatives throughout Europe, other leaders. I think there is a groundswell of conservative policies that are taking hold because of the failed policies of the left." Imagine if Germany's amb to the US said that about liberals?
62
167
669
The president should resign or be constitutionally removed. He is clearly far out of his depth and hurting the United States.
132
159
666
Manafort denies he spoke to Russian intel. Was canvassing in Virginia where he met people like this couple who run a small business
16
267
718
Trump says on Hannity he just went for a test and is waiting on a result. He blames the military— “when you’re with soldiers, airmen, marines, police...when they come up to you it’s very hard to say stay back, stay back. It’s a tough kind of situation. It’s a terrible thing.”
157
311
685
My guess: he agreed to the visit under the previous center right govt, (in power until June 2019) but doesn’t want to go now Denmark has a young female center left leader
24
63
644
My latest: the story of the mad king is an immortal tale & means Trump will never be forgotten by future generations. The only question left is whether the story ends with what Trump did to America or what America did to him. That will be decided Tuesday ift.tt/368iGWD
39
191
689
This is a remarkable and terrifying clip. Stephen Miller says the goal of these tariffs is to reverse and end all interdependence with the rest of the world on manufacturing/ goods and to create an America that produces everything it needs. In a word, autarky.
WATCH: White House officials just released a lecture on why the tariffs are a game changer. Stephen Miller really understands it.
"Well, the announcement today is the most significant action on global trade policy that has taken place in our lifetimes. It's not even a close call. I mean, this is probably the biggest event that's happened on global trade since the very ill-fated decision that we are now reversing of knocking down all of America's trade tariffs and revenue policies that led to the offshoring and outsourcing of all industry."
"This is the great onshoring, the great reshoring of American jobs and wealth."
116
257
882
120,545
Yep, violating the Hatch act is bad but keep it in perspective. We are three days away from the 6th anniversary of the Obama scandal that rocked the nation
26
120
693
Truly outrageous. Esper should resign rather than preside over this. cnn.com/2020/08/02/politics/…
35
265
642
As Bismarck quipped, this is committing suicide out of fear of death.
The Iran Deal is defective at its core. If we do nothing, we know what will happen. In just a short time, the world’s leading state sponsor of terror will be on the cusp of acquiring the world’s most dangerous weapons....
14
209
682
This sets the stage for a GOP civil war over foreign policy. If the challenge was coming from the center, the Tom Cottons and Lindsay Grahams of the world wld stand foursquare behind Trump. it is much harder if it is from Trump's "right" and on an issue they care about, Iran 4/9
15
127
651
As a reminder, Duterte bragged publicly, and on tape, about shooting three men and throwing another one out of a helicopter. nitter.app/gzornick/status/819269…
25
494
662
You see the beginnings of that today with tweets from @tedcruz and other Republicans. As Trump is criticized, he will do what he always does-- go on the attack against Bolton and his allies, worsening the split. Meanwhile, full steam ahead on Rouhani, Taliban, etc. 5/9
8
101
573
