Two of President Trump’s senior cabinet members dropped jaws in the past week with comments that appeared to suggest a clear break with the president.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told Fox News host Chris Wallace that “the president speaks for himself” when it comes to America’s values.
Defense Secretary James Mattis told unidentified troops overseas in a video shared on social media to “hold the line” until America “gets back to understanding and respecting each other.”
Then later, Mattis appeared to explicitly contradict the president on the viability of diplomacy in the ongoing crisis with North Korea.
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U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has also drawn notice for months by appearing to contradict the president on myriad issues, from U.S. support for a two-state solution in Israel to the belief that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.
Critics say the dissonance between Trump’s statements and those of his Cabinet is making it difficult for allies to interpret America’s policies overseas by raising a fundamental question: Does the president speak for the United States?
At the very least, the apparent daylight between the president and his senior advisors represents a stark contrast to the previous administration, which marched in lockstep on matters of public messaging.
Under the Trump administration, the president’s tweets are often in direct opposition — or are at the least shaded differently — to what his senior policy-makers are saying.
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But for foreign nations unaccustomed to Trump’s freewheeling governance style, critics say, it can be difficult to toggle between Trump’s campaign rally persona or Twitter voice and the more formal expressions of policy that come from administration officials such as Tillerson or Haley.
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NEW: Tillerson and Mattis contradicting Trump leaves allies wondering if Trump speaks for US https://t.co/XbyqQFrbEv pic.twitter.com/GGnO3MHTT0
— The Hill (@thehill) September 2, 2017
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