Blue plate special
The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward Table 6
At the Halifax International Security Forum, one of the surprises was how infrequently one heard the name “Trump.” The once-and-future President’s name wasn’t banished, of course. There were occasional mentions in the open plenary sessions, and a number of off-the-record dinners were devoted to aspects of whatever it is that’s about to happen. I attended a session on “Broligarchs,” i.e. Elon Musk, and while nothing anyone said could be attributed to them, little of it would have surprised you either.
Still, it’s surprising how much time you can spend discussing, ahem, Ukraine, Russia, China, tariffs, international migration and international trade without saying, “But of course we might as well just shake the Etch-a-Sketch now, because 45 is about to be 47.” The unspoken but widespread assumption seemed to be that, since Trump is a random variable, it was best to spend the weekend trying to solve for all the other variables. There will be time to worry about him later.
In one plenary, a member of the audience asked how the West can “maximize our leverage by using Mr. Trump’s DNA.” Adm. Sam Paparo, commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command — a four-star officer who’s flown 1,000 F-14 carrier landings and who used to command every American boat in the Middle East — hiked up his socks nervously and sputtered for nearly a minute as he tried to figure out what to say. “I really see a lot of continuity coming,” he managed at last. You can see the moment here in this video from the session.
During a break, an acquaintance who is preoccupied with the future of NATO took out a phone, scrolled briefly, and showed me a photo.
It was Mark Rutte, the former Dutch prime minister and new secretary-general of NATO, shaking hands with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. The encounter had taken place the previous evening. “That’s a real smile,” my friend said, with real hope.
In some ways, the last week of November was book-ended with two photos from the Palm Beach resort, the one with Rutte and the one with Justin Trudeau. There have been other petitioners. There will be more. “Which of you shall we say doth love us most,” one of Shakespeare’s kings says, “That we our largest bounty may extend.”
The week between the two photos was a reminder of Donald Trump’s gift for revealing the character of all who deal with him.