Just, wow.

According to The Independent, Trump felt so desperately obligated to talk to Vladimir Putin that he exploded with adolescent rage at a national security staffer right in front of Theresa May, then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, over a phone call from Putin. To make things impossibly worse, Trump threw his temper tantrum during a formal dinner, with butlers present and luxury place settings. In other words, Trump picked the single worst environment to show his ass on an international stage.

According to May”s former chief of staff Nick Timothy, Trump’s rage thundered up and down the table, lit solely due to learning he missed a Putin phone call. Quoting Timothy:

Somebody just mentioned in passing that Vladimir Putin had asked for a call with him, and right in front us he absolutely shouted down Mike Flynn, like really shouted. This was at a formal dinner with butlers and fancy crockery – and he was properly shouting at him down the table.

Trump apparently told Mike Flynn, “If Putin wants to talk to me, just put him right through.”

Nick Timothy said that the scene led one to doubt Trump’s state of mind and question wrhethe there would be any stability in the White House decision-making.

This is both terrifying and humiliating. The United Kingdom has traditionally been one of the two closest allies with the United States, along with Canada. If Trump was May’s guest, there should not have been a single phone call important enough to interrupt his dinner absent an urgent emergency. The only appropriate message to Putin in such a setting is that the president is currently engaged with Prime Minister May and will return the phone call promptly once done with his current obligation. Such a response is fully in line with international diplomatic protocol and it also happens to be simply polite and indicated one has manners.

Trump sent a signal that he couldn’t care less about manners and that his relationship with Putin was far more important than his relationship with May. We should also recognize that Putin surely knew Trump’s schedule, especially as it involved a foreign leader. Yet Putin believed it to be his right to interrupt Trump, which should lead everyone on earth to question who reports to whom in that relationship. Of course, there have been plenty of other bothersome indications regarding the answer to that question.

The story is shocking but far from surprising.

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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom