Nicholas Burns: ‘Trump Embracing Authoritarian Figures Like Erdogan, Xi Jinping

EXCERPT:

BURNS: "And as you said, Andrea, to see American protesters being beaten up by President Erdogan’s security guards in Washington, D.C., the capitol of the country, was shocking. So there is a crisis in the relationship between Turkey and the United States. There is an obsession that Erdogan has with Fethullah Gülen, the Turkish expatriate living in Pennsylvania. And it continues a pattern in public, and I'm sorry to say this, of President Trump in essence embracing authoritarian figures like Erdogan, like he did Xi Jinping over the last couple days in Beijing. No words of criticism from the American president. I have to think it’s a big mistake. It’s not how Barack Obama or George W. Bush or President Clinton would have handled this kind of situation. This is a time when United States has to be tough-minded about the Turks and remind them of their responsibilities and our long alliance with them, and certainly Erdogan has crossed many lines.”