The Review, May 20, 2018 -- King Trump: I Am the State.
King Louis XIV of France supposedly proclaimed L'Etat, c'est moi (“I am the State”). Although that is probably apocryphal, Trump is endeavoring to put the phrase into practice, erasing any difference between his personal wishes and the U.S. government.
This week Trump lifted U.S. sanctions against a Chinese company, ZTE, that was guilty of bad behavior, including repeatedly lying to the U.S government. The day after the sanctions were ended, China made a $500,000 investment in one of Trump’s projects.
ZTE had entered into a settlement agreement with the U.S. for selling prohibited items to North Korea and Iran. It was serious: ZTE agreed to pay a $1.2 billion penalty. Because ZTE subsequently violated the settlement agreement, last month the Commerce Department barred American companies from selling key components such as microchips to ZTE.
But there is more. In February, half a dozen U.S. intelligence agencies told U.S. consumers not to buy smart phones produced by Chinese companies, specifically naming ZTE. In April the U.S. military pulled ZTE phones from U.S. military commissaries. FBI director Christopher Wray told a Senate panel Wednesday that companies like ZTE, which sell cellphones, could “maliciously modify or steal information [and] conduct undetected espionage” through the equipment.
Despite this, a week ago Trump lifted the sanctions on ZTE. With an amazing lack of subtlety, one day later China invested $500,000 in Trump’s Disneyland-like project in Indonesia.
And it’s not just personal gain that drives decisions. Trump is using the U.S. government to reward friends and punish perceived enemies.
Trump supported a media merger between Disney and 21st Century Fox. 21st Century Fox is the parent company of Fox News, Trump’s favorite network. In that deal, Rupert Murdoch, who calls Trump a friend, would receive $52.4 billion.
In contrast, Trump has fought a similar media merger between AT&T and Time Warner. Time Warner is the parent company of CNN, the network Trump criticizes the most often. There the Justice Department just happens to be suing to block the merger. On May 11 Rudy Giuliani said that “The president denied the merger” of AT&T and Time Warner.
On Friday we learned that Trump is pressuring the U.S. Post Office to double the postage it charges Amazon. Amazon is owned by Jeff Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post. Administration officials have admitted that Trump has publicly attacked Amazon in response to articles in the Washington Post that he did not like. Trump has called the paper the “fake news Washington Post” and condemned the paper’s “phony headlines”.
So far, the Post Office has resisted, but given U.S. government control, it is difficult to say whether that resistance will last.
The ZTE affair, given its effect on U.S. foreign policy, is reminiscent of Trump administration policy regarding Qatar. Qatar was in the news again this week, as Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner successfully pressured Qatar to bail him out financially.
Qatar houses the largest U.S. naval base in the Mideast, more or less in the middle of the Persian Gulf. The Gulf exits through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran borders on roughly half of the Gulf. Approximately 20% of the world's oil (about 35% of the oil traded by sea) passes through the Strait, making it strategically vital. If mines or warships prevented tankers from using the Strait, oil prices worldwide would skyrocket.
A year ago, in April 2017, Kushner approached the Qataris for funding. He desperately needs money when a $1.2 billion loan comes due in early 2019 on his building at 666 Fifth Avenue in New York City. Given the precarious financial position of the building, the Qataris politely declined.
Roughly a month later, Kushner, assuredly with Trump’s backing, had the U.S. government support a blockade of Qatar by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia and the UAE hate Qatar talking with Iran, although Iran and Qatar jointly control the world’s largest natural gas site and have to communicate. The Saudis and the Emirati also hate Qatar’s Al Jazeera’s television network, which sometimes criticizes them. In that regard, they are soul mates with Trump, who also hates journalism critical of him.
The blockade has been costing Qatar $20 billion per month. Just this week, Qatar decided it would provide Kushner the money after all.
For Trump, it’s good to be King.