New Yorker’s Evan Osnos: Trump Left the G-7 In Tatters

BRENNAN: Evan, you heard Larry Kudlow on this program, the economic advisor to the president, saying that the blowup with the Canadian prime minister really had more to do with the North Korean leader and making him look weak, making the president look weak ahead of those talks.

OSNOS: Yes.

BRENNAN: You don’t normally hear those two countries in the same sentence. But is there something to what the White House is arguing here, that so much of the U.S. weight has to do with perception?

OSNOS: Well, look, the president decided that this was a grave insult that he couldn’t abide from Canada. The reality is, our allies and our adversaries, things are being thrown upside down right now. The president walked into what should have been the friendliest club he will ever be in, and he managed to leave that in tatters.

And that is a problem that just doesn’t pose a challenge for the president tomorrow. This is a long range issue that he has to confront, how do we keep Americans safe over the long-term? The way you do that traditionally is by keeping your allies close and working through problems in ways that make sense. This is not how we have done it in the past and I don’t think it puts us in a particularly strong moment as we go into Singapore.

BRENNAN: Seung, do you think that — I mean it’s been interesting to see some Republicans speak out on the trade front with this dispute at the G-7, but they’re sort of few and far between. There hasn’t been outcry.

KIM: Definitely. And I think we saw a moment earlier this week when we did see Republicans starting to coalesce around legislation that would limit the president’s power on tariffs. We had that legislation from Senator Bob Corker, who isn’t always a Trump ally, but you do have senators such as Pat Toomey, Mike Lee, Jeff Flake behind that legislation as well with a bunch of Democrats.

But the president gathered about a dozen Senate Republicans at the White House on Wednesday, mostly friendly Senate Republicans, and he made the message clear that I don’t like this bill. I think it infringes on my power to negotiate on trade issues and Republican leadership tell us that this bill, you can get a vote if you want, but if it doesn’t have a presidential signature, it’s all just kind of an exercise.

BRENNAN: Interesting to see how this develops. Thanks to all of you.