President Trump’s testy telephone conversation with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull quickly produced a reaction from one ubiquitous U.S. player on foreign policy issues, Arizona Senator John McCain. He contacted Australia’s ambassador in Washington to assure him of Washington’s undying devotion to the U.S. alliance with Australia and to that country’s security and well-being. The implicit message was that Canberra should not take Trump or his actions seriously. In so doing, McCain basically anointed himself as America’s shadow president, with the right and obligation to bypass the elected president and conduct relations with foreign governments and other parties.
His actions were entirely inappropriate. Granted, Trump’s conduct toward Turnbull deserves no praise. During the telephone call, a dispute arose over refugee policy, and an angry Trump reportedly berated the Australian leader and abruptly cut the scheduled one-hour session short after 25 minutes. Such behavior was that of a petulant adolescent rather than the expected behavior of a president of the United States.
Nevertheless, the Constitution empowers the president and his appointees to conduct America’s foreign policy. Even senators are not authorized to undercut their authority by engaging in direct, free-lance diplomacy with foreign leaders. Yet that is what McCain did.
Read more at https://www.cato.org/blog/john-mccain-americas-foreign-policy-loose-cannon
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