WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is abruptly reversing himself on key issues. And for all his usual bluster, he’s startlingly candid about the reason: He’s just now really learning about some of them.
“After listening for 10 minutes, I realized it’s not so easy,” the president said after a discussion with Chinese President Xi Jinping that included his hopes that China’s pressure could steer North Korea away from its nuclear efforts.
“I felt pretty strongly that they had a tremendous power” over North Korea, he said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “But it’s not what you would think.”
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That’s just one of several recent comments offering insight into what looks like a moderate makeover for an immoderate president. As he approaches 100 days in office he appears to be increasingly embracing what he describes as his “flexibility” – acknowledging he may not have thought deeply about some of the issues he shouted about throughout his political campaign.
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Over the past 48 hours, the outsider politician who pledged to upend Washington has:
– Abandoned his vow to label China a currency manipulator.
– Rethought his hands-off assessment of the Syrian conflict – and ordered a missile attack.
– Turned his warm approach toward Vladimir Putin decidedly chilly and declared U.S.-Russia relations “may be at an all-time low.”
– Decided NATO isn’t actually obsolete, as he had claimed.
– Realized the U.S. Export-Import Bank is worth keeping around.
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