Congressman Royce Tells Koreans Not To Fear A Trump Presidency
A ROK Drop favorite Congressman Ed Royce is of course correct that any legislation that a possible Trump presidency proposes has to go through Congress. The only affect that I see a possible Trump presidency having on South Korea is that they will have to pay more for the upkeep of the US-ROK alliance:
Q. South Koreans have some trepidation over what a Donald Trump presidency may mean for the U.S. alliance with Seoul, such as Washington maintaining U.S. troops on the peninsula and continuing to extend its nuclear umbrella to the region. Should we be concerned?
A. Well, remember the way in which our system works. It is Congress that has passed many of these laws, and whether it is having given Korea NATO-plus-three status, which was a bill that I authored, or whether it’s [the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement] legislation, which I was a co-sponsor of, it is Congress that has passed these bills. And we are deeply committed.
Republicans and Democrats in a bipartisan way feel that this is a very important alliance for our members in Congress. For our House members and Senate members, this is a strongly held position. And it is Congress that passes the laws. Every spending bill originates in the House of the Representatives. I’m chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; we have 44 members, and we have set these policies. I’ve been traveling here for over 20 years, and for 10 of those years, I was chairman of the inter-parliamentary exchange working with the [Korean] National Assembly. I would say I’ve never seen the relationship as strong as it is today… and I think it’s going to get stronger. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
By the way Congressman Royce has a lot more in the interview that is worth reading at the link.
Ed Royce is boring and didn’t sound convincing(he forgot to tell the Koreans that Trump could veto his/congress bills), however Joni GOPer Earnst did while in town with two other GOPer nuniks
In Korea Ernst ~ GOP far right extremist ~ pushes back on Trump’s Asia policy
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2016/06/01/korea-ernst-pushes-back-trumps-asia-policy/85265796/
“The U.S. will not be re-evaluating its trade agreements with South Korea or the military support it provides in the region — no matter what Donald Trump says.
That was the message sent by U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and two other Republican senators this week during a visit to Seoul.
In an interview with the Yonhap News Agency, a Korean wire service, Ernst and U.S. Sens. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, drew a clear distinction between their policy on U.S.-Korea relations and the proposals floated by Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential candidate…
…Ernst — Iowa’s junior senator and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee — and the other senators are on a four-country tour of Asia.”
There are four issues in Trump’s foreign policy with South Korea.
It is unclear how much power Trump will have over these four issues… but there are hints.
1. Negotiating a cost-sharing arrangement that reflects the market value of the American military.
Does congress have any power over this? Past negotiations, conducted every five years, appear to be done by the State Department. Trump will own the State Department.
2. Pulling the American military out of South Korea.
Past news is full of blame for both Bush and Obama for overriding military requests for troop levels. This indicates the president has some power here and suggests President Trump can set an arbitrarily low number… if not pull out entirely.
3. Dealings with North Korea.
Trump has many tools that other presidents have failed to use… likely because keeping North Korea as a fake threat assists other questionable agendas. Trump may get into the presidency and find that an empty North Korean threat is better than a collapsed North Korea… so nothing changes. Or he may, as a skilled negotiator, care about what truly motivate them and help North Korea achieve some of its less crappy goals in exchange for helping America and South Korea achieve their longer-term goals.
4. Trade with South Korea.
A six year-old could strike better trade arrangements between America and Asia. This type of negotiation is Trump’s specialty. Asia might really need to fear this… as any agreement will likely be based on American products showing up on Asian shelves at competitive prices rather than the fake open markets that currently exist. Negotiating these ageeements are fully executive branch territory. Congress could block them of course… but it would be interesting to see who in congress would have the stones to try… as Trump likely can speak simply to Americans about jobs while a congressman sputtered around about globalism and hooking up the multinationals. Good luck with that.
Sooooo… it seems that President Trump actually can do as he says… and everyone else is full of shyt… but everyone being full of shyt for so long is what has caused most of America’s current problems anyway.
Anybody (intelligent) have any (intelligent) thoughts on this?
Joni Ernst & Co. aren’t up for re-election so they open their mouth traps ~
‘GOP Senators Forced To Soothe South Korea Amid Drumpf Bluster’
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/south-korea-republican-senators-223800
[Just as pressure is mounting on Republican elected officials to fall in line behind Trump, Sens. Joni Ernst of Iowa, Cory Gardner of Colorado and Dan Sullivan of Alaska are in South Korea undercutting Trump’s bluster with assurances that the U.S. is not about to renege on trade agreements or demand its allies pay more to support American forces on Korean soil.]
These three Tea Party Senators are not up for re-election in November, so they can devote time to damage control for the GOP. (Ernst and Sullivan have already endorsed Trump, Gardner hasn’t.) These would-be ambassadors wound up devoting the entirety of their four-nation Asian trip to calming fears about a possible Trump Presidency.
[Ernst and Sullivan also apparently voiced disagreement with Trump’s assertion that South Korea doesn’t pay enough to keep 28,500 U.S. troops on its soil and asserted that Trump’s position on the matter is ill-informed and unlikely to be folded into the official Republican Party platform next month at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
Already the Republic of Korea bears the large brunt of what goes on in the Korean Peninsula,” Ernst said, according to the Yonhap report. “As we look at Europe and NATO, there are countries there that, yes, need to do more. They have not stepped up to that challenge yet. However, when you take a look at the Korean Peninsula, it’s a very different situation.”]
It’s gotta be embarrassing to point out to diplomats and the press in a foreign country that the candidate you endorsed is wrong about foreign policy, and to promise that you’ll keep him under control. Joni Ernst is going to castrate that hog!