Donald Trump has been pretty consistently successful when it comes to foreign policy. From the day he was elected, China has gone from action mode to reaction mode and has been constantly running to respond to every little glance he makes. For instance, he sent them into an absolute meltdown just by a phone call to Tsai, and by signing an order saying the Navy will "consider" making port calls there. Neither involved any action, but Trump sent Beijing into a frenzy.
The fact that the CCP's facebook propaganda pages have to churn out posts screeching about him at such an ungodly rate while they never even gave notice to Obama's existence except to occasionally say "good boy! Here's a treat," says that he's got them at their wits end.
And as for Russia, he broke Gazprom's stranglehold over the Intermarium by selling natural gas to Poland, he has rendered their Pacific deterrent moot by installing a new missile defense system in Japan, and when he had to throw them a bone to make up for those two fingers he stuck in their eye, the bone he threw to them was one he stole out of China's bowl: he persuaded Mongolia to reach out to their former Big Brother, Russia, which (given that Xi has been pretty open about seeking to make Mongolia the next Taiwan) was a wonderful wedge to drive between Russia and China. The man is downright Macchiavellian, and I love it.
Domestically, he's hit or miss (and God knows his tweets are a source of embarrassment), but in terms of foreign policy (which is the real arena of presidents: congress is really the ones in charge domestically), he's been remarkably cunning, and he has done it all while playing the role of the total buffoon very convincingly.
I kinda like his tweets...
I never read them but I LOVE the reaction it causes
It drives the left insane
(short walk...why drive...but..whatever)
Well yeah, I guess I never thought of it in terms of the reactions from the Left. Maybe if I was back Stateside to enjoy watching their meltdown it'd be something. As it is though, living abroad I sit back and quietly grin when he does something, and then brace myself for a round of laughter from my foreign colleagues when he says something.
I just chalk it up to "well, I see the moves he's making and if making himself look like a fool because of some dumb tweets is his method for keeping Europe, Russia or China from seeing that he's tying their shoes together, then cringing every time his tweets go public is just the price I'll have to pay I guess."
sun tzu
Indeed. "All Warfare is based on deception."
There is also Lord T'an's Strategy #27: Feign Stupidity while Not Being Injudicious.
Zi Ma Chong-ta deceived Cao Shuang by deliberately masquerading as a drunken idiot in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and it worked smashingly. It's so ironic that Beijing fails to recognize when Western Powers apply ancient Chinese wisdom.