Opinions & Interviews

‘No one dares to disagree’: Lukashenko on Trump’s new team

MINSK, 20 April (BelTA) – The team of US President Donald Trump is made of yes-men, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said in an interview with the RT news channel, BelTA reports.

“Donald Trump has no one around him who will say, “You are wrong.” [That wasn’t the case with] Biden, Obama, or Clinton. I know this for certain about Obama and Clinton, because I knew them personally. They were open to different opinions. There were people who could tell them “no.” And in Trump’s first term, there were people who said “no.” Take Bolton [former National Security Advisor to Donald Trump].

He told him straight out “no.” Well, we all know how that ended, but at least Trump understood that other opinions existed,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The head of state emphasized that during Donald Trump’s second presidential term, the situation has changed, and there are no longer any people in the White House who can say “no.” “Now everyone around him just falls in line: ‘Yes, Donald, you’re absolutely right. Go ahead, bomb, break, crush’. And when it comes to the military, he doesn’t actually run the Department of War, but gives in to them. But he should be the commander-in-chief. He should be the one giving orders,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

Furthermore, the Belarusian leader noted that Donald Trump has said that he goes with his gut, which defines his decision-making. “You know, as a president, I can tell you, your instincts can sometimes lead you astray. You have to be able to listen to people, especially when you hold that much power, when you’re running an empire like this. You need to listen, to take other opinions into account, and to draw the right conclusions. It’s not the case there, and that’s a serious problem,” Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized.

In his view, Donald Trump might be starting to understand that: “But there’s no time left to fix it and build a sensible policy.” 

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