Subscribe to Common Dreams News Updates
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
Cashiering Helen Thomas
The termination of Helen Thomas' 62-year long career as a pioneering, no-nonsense newswoman was swift and intriguingly merciless.
The event leading to her termination began when she was sitting on a White House bench under oppressive summer heat. The 89-year-old hero of honest journalism and women's rights, the scourge of dissembling presidents and White House press secretaries, answered a passing visitor's question about Israel with a snappish comment worded in a way she didn't mean; she promptly apologized in writing. Recorded without permission on a hand video, the brief exchange, that included a defense of dispossessed Palestinians, went internet viral on Friday, June 4.
By Monday, Helen Thomas was considered finished, even though she embodied a steadfast belief, in the praiseworthy words of Washington Post columnist, Dana Milbank, "that anybody standing on that podium [in the White House] should be regarded with skepticism."
Over the weekend, her lecture agent dropped her. Her column syndicator, the Hearst company, pressed her to quit "effective immediately," and, it was believed that the White House Correspondents Association, of which she was the first female president, was about to take away her coveted front row seat in the White House press room.
Then, Helen Thomas announced her retirement on Monday, June 10. No doubt she's had her fill of ethnic, sexist and ageist epithets hurled her way over the years -- the very decades she was broadly challenging racism, sexism and, more recently, ageism.
Although the behind the scenes story has yet to come out, the evisceration was launched by two pro-Israeli war hawks, Ari Fleischer and Lanny Davis. Fleischer was George W. Bush's press secretary who bridled under Helen Thomas' questioning regarding the horrors of the Bush-Cheney war crimes and illegal torture. His job was not to answer this uppity woman but to deflect, avoid and cover up for his bosses.
Davis was the designated defender whenever Clinton got into hot water. As journalist Paul Jay pointed out, he is now a Washington lobbyist whose clients include the cruel corporate junta that overthrew the elected president of Honduras. Both men rustled up the baying pack of Thomas-haters during the weekend and filled the unanswered narrative on Fox and other facilitating media.
Then, belatedly, something remarkable occurred. People reacted against this grossly disproportionate punishment. Ellen Ratner, a Fox News contributor, wrote -- "I'm Jewish and a supporter of Israel. Let's face it: we all have said things -- or thought things -- about ‘other' groups of people, things that we wouldn't want to see in print or on video. Anyone who denies it is a liar. Giver her [Helen] a break."
Apparently, many people agree. In an internet poll by the Washington Post, 92% of respondents said she should not be removed from the White House press room. As an NPR listener, R. Carey, e-mailed: "D.C. would be void of journalists if they all were to quit, get fired or retire after making potentially offensive comments."
Listen to Michael Freedman, former managing editor for United Press International: "After seven decades of setting standards for quality journalism and demolishing barriers for women in the workplace, Helen Thomas has now shown that most dreaded of vulnerabilities -- she is human.... Who among us does not have strong feelings about the endless warfare in the Middle East? Who among us has said something we have come to regret?.... Let's not destroy Ms. Thomas now."
Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation, wrote: "Thomas was the only accredited White House correspondent with the guts to ask Bush the tough questions that define a free press.... Her remarks were offensive, but considering her journalistic moxie and courage over many decades -- a sharp contrast to the despicable deeds committed by so many littering the Washington political scene -- isn't there room for someone who made a mistake, apologized for it and wants to continue speaking truth to power and asking tough questions?"
Last week, in front of the White House, people calling themselves "Jews for Helen Thomas" gathered in a small demonstration. Medea Benajmin -- cofounder of Global Exchange, declared that "We are clear what Helen Thomas meant to say, which is that Israel should cease its occupation of Palestine and we agree with that." While another demonstrator, Zool Zulkowitz, asserted that "by discrediting Helen Thomas, those who believe that Israel can do no wrong shift attention from the public relations debacle of the Gaza Flotilla killings, and intimidate journalists who would ask hard questions about the Israeli occupation of Palestine and American foreign policy."
Helen Thomas, who grew up in Detroit, is an American of Arab descent. She is understandably alert to the one-sided U.S. military and foreign policy in that region. Her questions reflect concerns about U.S. policy in the Middle East by many Americans, including unmuzzled retired military, diplomatic and intelligence officials.
In 2006 when George W. Bush finally called on her, she started her questioning by saying "Your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of Americans and Iraqis. Every reason given, publicly at least, has turned out not to be true." Or when she challenged President Obama last month, asking "When are you going to get out of Afghanistan? Why are we continuing to kill and die there? What is the real excuse?"
Asking the "why" questions was a Thomas trademark. Many self-censoring journalists avoid controversial "why" questions, thereby allowing evasion, dissembling and just plain B.S. to dominate the White House press room. She rejected words that sugarcoated or camouflaged the grim deeds. She started with the grim deeds to expose the doubletalk and officialdom's chronic illegalities.
What appalled Thomas most is the way the media rolls over and fails to hold officials accountable. (British reporters believe they are tougher on their Prime Ministers.) This is a subject about which she has written books and articles -- not exactly the way to endear herself to those reporters who go AWOL and look the other way, so that they cancontinue to be called upon or to be promoted by their superiors.
The abysmal record of the New York Times and the Washington Post in the months preceding the Iraq invasion filled with Bush-Cheney lies, deception, and cover-ups is a case in point. As usual, she was proven right, not the celebrated reporters and columnists deprecating her work, including the Post's press critic, Howard Kurtz.
Thomas practiced her profession with a deep regard for the people's right to know. To her, as Aldous Huxley noted long ago, "facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."
Lastly, there is the double standard. One off-hand "ill-conceived remark," as NPR Ombudsman Alicia Shepard stated, in praising Ms. Thomas, ended a groundbreaking career. While enhanced careers and fat lecture fees are the reward for ultra-right wing radio and cable ranters, and others like columnist Ann Coulter, who regularly urge wars, mayhem and dragnets based on bigotry, stereotypes and falsehoods directed wholesale against Muslims, including a blatant anti-semitism against Arabs.
Ms. Thomas' desk at the Hearst office remains unattended a week after her eviction. One day she will return to pack up her materials. She can take with her the satisfaction of joining all those in our history who were cashiered ostensibly for a gaffe, but really for being too right, too early, too often.
Her many admirers hope that she continues to write, speak and motivate a generation of young journalists in the spirit of Joseph Pulitzer's advice to his reporters a century ago -- that their job was to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."
- Posted in
156 Comments so far
Show AllTwo heroes in my book who have dedicated their lives, at great expense to themselves, to make the world a better place for all of us to live: Ralph Nader and Helen Thomas. Thank you both!
Goes for me, too. Thank you Helen and Ralph.
(I'd like to see them both together on a speaking tour. Hey, I'd pay good money for that!)
Indeed!
Hey, I'm an American of Jewish descent and I find actions by Israel offensive.
You are not alone.
I also find the policies of the USA offensive, as well as Israel. Anyone with a functioning sense of morality, justice and decency would as well, at least as far as I can see. Assuming they are aware of the facts, which is usually not the case.
No matter what background one comes from, we are all homo sapiens sapiens: religion, race, ethnicity, language differences etc. are superficial and used merely as an instrument of manipulation and division by elites across the world. It works very well and if people are educated and aware of this, they would be better prepared to resist the cynical manipulation and exploitation.
"The Narcissism of Minor Differences" comes to mind.
He may not be alone, but pretty close.
At least if you believe the mainstream media. I have been present at protests in front of the Israeli consulate in SF and there are more Jews protesting than supporting Israel.
Dennis Benrnstein
Barbara Lubin
Nora Barrows-Friedman
Joel Kovel
Norman Finkelstein
Rabbi Michael Lerner
etc.
etc.
etc.
Please do not believe what you see and hear on the mainstream media!
Add in the three etceteras, and that's pretty much the entire list. Not very much to hang your hat on, is it?
Mainstream media? You apologists are astounding. This is from personal experience and from the fact that Jews are doing this right before our very eyes. It's hidden in plain sight, the elephant in the living room. Jews don't get a pass because you have a long list of nine, including three etceteras.
And by the way, Lerner is a Zionist as may well be all of them on your list. Lerner just goes to show you how you have to scrap the bottom of the barrel to disingenuously support your point.
OK smartguy you are right: all Jews are right-wing Zionist deathmongers and all Anglo-Saxon christians are rabid, racist, genocidal, racist imperialists. All peopole of European descent are the same.
How bout that for a nuanced argument?
You are freakin brilliant.
You sound like an apologist for the Anglo-American Empire Inc. It aint their fault its all the Jews fault right?
verb of the day...cashiered. Having been cashiered on at least three occasions (usually called "fired" or "let go") my heart goes out to Ms. Thomas and I'm glad to hear that responsible people have found their backbone, in the wake of the backlash, to express their respect and support for this courageous woman. I'm glad her work has now become more well known to people like myself who previous to this fire storm had no knowledge of her long and illustrious career.
Why do all these commentators seem to agree that Helen's remarks were offensive? She said, in effect, that Europe's Jews had no legitimate claim on that land. She's right.
Zionism has no basis in law or fact. The Balfour Declaration was an outrageous example of corrupt imperial hubris. You want some land. OK...you can have theirs.
I've heard folks say...god gave us this land. Really? Even if some ignoroids believed such nonsense two thousand years ago, does anyone now?
When I was growing up in the 50's I too felt that Jews held a high moral ground because of WW2's atrocities. I thrilled at the potential of the kibbutz movement. Now, they've shown all of us that they are no better than our ancestors who stole this country and slaughtered the people who had lived there for millennia. Where is their sense of shame? Where is ours for supporting this?
Bravo.
Why do all these commentators seem to agree that Helen's remarks were offensive?
_________________________________________
Fear.
FWIW, I got this story in bits and pieces. At first, I had the impression that Thomas had made the controversial remarks while on duty, i.e. at a White House press conference. Of course, that was all wrong, but I mention this because the reports had the overtone of "Helen Thomas seriously loses her shit".
Eventually I read the actual transcript, such as it was, and realized that at WORST, the comments were inartfully expressed-- that is, perhaps "unfortunate" but not offensive.
But between the time the story broke and I read the actual remarks, there was another wave of coverage that blithely and shamelessly spun Thomas' comments in an edited, abbreviated form that supported the notion that they were indeed generally "offensive" and "indefensible".
That's when I realized that Thomas had, in fact, been "acorned"-- regardless of how deceptive and manipulative the spin proved to be when compared to her actual remarks, the vague notion that they were "objectively" repellent and inexcusable had taken hold.
Most people are sufficiently craven and weak-minded to instinctively gravitate to the warm, popular, safe center of the herd. So it's much easier to split the difference and decry the CONSEQUENCES of Thomas being "acorned" while still condemning Thomas' remarks as wrong, offensive, etc.
In a dim light, or a dim audience, the latter position seems safely moral, even high-minded-- sort of a "I don't agree with what Thomas said, but I defend her right to say it" stance.
The "anti-semitism" smear may FINALLY be losing its potency-- keep a good thought-- but most people are still afraid of being tarred by it. Thus, the obligatory if unfounded characterization of the remarks as unequivocally offensive.
Except, of course, to those who SUPPORT Israel's rogue-state genocidal oppression of the Palestinian people. Quite naturally, THEY would indeed be righteously offended by the suggestion that Israel get its boot off the Palestinians' collective neck.
O.S.:
I always appreciate your rapier wit and sharp aptitude for all things political and social. As is your habit, you nailed 'it' on this topic.
I agree. As so often before, OS's comments are elegantly expressed and go to the nub of the issue. Keep 'em comin'...
Because they are either cowardly covering their asses so they don't get taken to the cleaners for uttering unpalatable truths, or actually think that ambushing a reporter during a time of a particularly horrific Israeli outrage and an equally horrific response from official Washington proves anything.
I have gone through a similar shift in reactions to Israel based on the way they came in and have consistently failed to work with the Palestinians in anything resembling good faith. Helen Thomas was being honest in her emotional reactions. But it is political and career suicide to criticize Israel. That has got to change.
I spent a lot of time during my younger life agonizing over how the ordinary German people could have let the Holocaust happen. Now I see the answer here as misinformation, disinterest, lazy thinking, nationalism and national exceptionalism, repression and threats of repression, fearfulness, self-absorption, economic insecurity, mindless consumerism, moral cowardice, inundation with debased culture, adulation of militarism and power allow our idiotic and cruel wars to kill millions and spend trillions while citizens sleepwalk.
Someone like Helen Thomas who breaks the silences cannot be tolerated. They have tried to shut her out as much as possible and wanted to get rid of her completely for a long time now. She has been a problem with her questions about war and about who has nuclear weapons in the Mideast. That one threw Mr. Smooth for a loop. But she made the fatal error. If you say something against Israel -BAM- there is the pretext to get rid of you.
I wonder if any University will give her a part time gig in the journalism department? Harvard? Yale? Chicago? You have a lot of penance to do for the kind of graduates you have provided to goverment, banking and economics so far.
Joe
"Why do all these commentators seem to agree that Helen's remarks were offensive? "
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding.” –Upton Sinclair
I agree with all that was said in the first 4 posts. The woman, who is 90 years old for God's sake, momentary lost control and let her frustrations get the better of her. This pales in comparison to the sum total of her career. It is miniscule. I'm also Jewish, by the way.
Well, that is some way you treat seniors. Let us see what kind of a journalist you would be in place of her. You should know that Barry set this up. Read my post and the link inside. Helen was set up because the Obama administration wanted to oust her for being an honest journalist. Why would a rabbi go out of his way asking someone about Israel in the middle of an event that is supposed to be about Jewish Americans and their contribution to society? He pushed Helen Thomas into anger on purpose !
Who are you arguing with? The poster you're replying to agrees that the outrage and ultimate "cashiering" of Helen Thomas is an injustice.
You sound like a raving lunatic.
Well, you are not paying attention either. I was criticizing the poster on this quote:
"momentary lost control and let her frustrations get the better of her."
She didn't lose control. She told the truth from her heart and we could use such journalists. Raving lunatic "my ass" !
Jennifer B.
Far from being a raving lunatic, your comment about what Ms. Thomas said was right on the mark. My comment on 4:27 pm also echoes what you have written.
Don't let the bastards get you down.
Yes Jennifer don't let the bastards get you down. Your posts are right on!
Go Helen, Go Ralph, and go Jennifer!
I am with you on this, Jennifer. For some people, Rachel Maddow is the epitome of a great journalist.
Thanks for the support. It doesn't seem to matter who you are or what you say on this superheated web site. Someone will find reason to attack you.
Despite her justifiable frustration with the state of Israel (which I share), I do not believe that Helen Thomas really wants to send all the Jews back to the European countries they fled from, and I think it is clear that this part of what she said was overstatement and letting off steam, as might happen to anybody, 90 years old or not. She did not say this for public consumption. I agree she was ambushed by the camera.
To be clear once and for all: I am a big fan of Helen Thomas and believe she has been treated unjustly.
May God help an America without Helen Thomas, the only MSM reporter asking the tough questions, and thank God for her when she did.
The great cosmic balance sheet contains two lists.
The short list, where we'll find Ms. Thomas, is titled, "Angels".
She, like Mencken and Murrow, will be warmly remembered.
The title of the other list also begins with an "A".
It's a bit longer, and sealed under glass to contain the odor.
Otherwise devoid of merit, the sole purpose of this list is "Lest we forget".
It's simple. She criticized Israel. That is forbidden in this country.
Kudos to those who came out in public to defend Helen.
Yep, even indirectly pointing out Israel is a vampire albatross sucking the lifeblood of US Wealth will get you blackballed in DC. Israel allocates part of billions they get annually in US aid to buy lobbyists and influence.
I mean even when they blew up the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967 the incident wasn't investigated (only major US naval maritime incident never investigated in this country's history) and Israel paid a few million out in funeral expenses to the families. Israel has owned D.C. for decades.
More than just DC Judah. The media too.
After all the persecution Helen Thomas was forced to take, not once has the interviewer been questioned on the way he asked Helen the questions. I saw the full interview and I cannot find any sensible reason as to why the Rabbi asked her about Israel when the Jewish Heritage Celebration Day was supposed to be about Jewish Americans and their contributions to society.
Curious about that celebration day, I did a search on the net on that day and found this disturbing plan Barry set up in May.
http://israelinsider.ning.com/profiles
/blogs/american-jewish-cultural
Call me an "Obama hater" if you wish but he wanted to get rid of Helen Thomas who spoke out so he set up this "Celebration Day" to purge the anti-zionists on purpose. The Obama administration knew exactly what it was doing and Barry, Rahm, and the rest of the cabal worked so hard to force her out. I hope Obama fails for doing this !
I, too, wonder if she was set up by the people with the camera to try and discredit her.
JenniferBedingfield:
I am by no means an Obama apologist, what I am however, is a supporter of logic, reason, and fair-play. Your post makes it sound like you've cracked the case and provided indisputable evidence that Helen Thomas was set up by the President himself, but I don't find that to be the case, or anywhere near the case for that matter.
I read the article you linked, and nowhere could I find a "disturbing plan" hatched by the President to end Helen Thomas' career. The article was about the President reaching out to and honouring Jewish Americans and their contribution to Jewish society. It noted that many American Jews viewed this sceptically as a way to make amends for speaking out against the expansion of West Bank settlements.
How is setting Helen Thomas up for a soundbite that's critical of Israel and ultimately ending her career supposed to be connected with Obama reaching out to Jews? I don't get it, please explain.
"How is setting Helen Thomas up for a soundbite that's critical of Israel and ultimately ending her career supposed to be connected with Obama reaching out to Jews? I don't get it, please explain."
Helen Thomas was rightfully critical of Obama on several important issues but most of all on openness and transparency which he promised when he ran for president. You talk about Obama reaching out to Jews but what about setting up a similar celebration day in honor of Palestinian Americans or Arab Americans in general? I don't expect that to change anything given the persecuting policies against Arab Americans in general but Obama is just playing politics with Jewish Americans just to win a second term despite the costs of rising tensions between Jews and Arab Americans. I suppose that it is too much to expect the Obama administration to attempt to separate the zionists from the rest and stop trashing the Palestinians isn't it? Also, since Joe Lieberman was Obama's "mentor" ever since he entered the Senate and Obama happily campaigned for him in 2006, I wouldn't be surprised if Joe Lieberman was also involved.
JenniferBedingfield:
You still fail miserably to draw any concrete connection between that article you linked and the theory that the Obama camp deliberately set-up Helen Thomas into that soundbite. I agree that this theory is plausible, but don't see how or why it would be done as a means to placate the Jews that were angered over Obama's call for the end of West Bank settlement developments.
If Ms. Thomas were deliberately set up, it seems the purposes would be to put an end to her challenging questions in White House media conferences and to create a red herring that draws attention away from the tragic and illegal massacre of peaceful blockade busters.
If you continue to draw such unsubstantiated conclusions based on flawed (at best) evidence your credibility, and by extension, effectiveness in promoting your causes (of which many I support) will continue to be greatly reduced.
As one who also supports many of Jennifer's causes and concepts I would add my voice to "Adhoc's" critique of her stance on this one.
Hearst, bring her back. She's not dead.
As Nader points out Ari Fleisher (whom my late wife declared "looks like a penis with funny glasses") and Lanny Davis, who was Clinton's apologist during his sellout of his left-leaning base, led the charge to run Helen Thomas out of town. I'm sure the fascists that she continually jabbed with her thorny questions are popping champagne corks now that she is retired.
Yet, it is ironic that people like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, et al have been throwing verbal bombs for years and instead of getting flack from the self-righteous defenders of poor Isreal, they get large paychecks from the corporate media.
The United States support for the racist right wing extremist government of Israel is extremely frustrating for anyone who cares about human rights and the Washington Press corps without Helen Thomas is not worth anything.
Indeed they are two heroes, Nader and Tomas.
I don't feel Helen should have apologized, for what?
The only solution is a one state solution.
I will repeat this and repeat,
If it weren't for oil , no one would care about an
Arab or a Jew ....
Soon as the oil dries up in the Middle East,
American Jewish Lawmakers, and International Jewish investors are going to drop Isreal like a hot potatoe.
And I mean just as soon as that oil dries up.
Then many Jewish people are going to be left hung out
on a post and no one is going to care just like they don't
care about the Palsitinians right now.
They have once again, taken a economic fewd and turned it
into a religious divide, like what has gone on forever in
the history of man to get public support for aggressive
and repressive actions to seize resources.
Might as well , before a blood bath after the oil dries,
settle this the only way it is ever going to be settled,
those that don't like, leave.
Helen was right, as usual and had nothing to apologize for.
Thought control is all important to a fascist government. The victim population must never know the truth of what their rulers are doing in their name. The truth is the ultimate danger to them.
I never thought I would see a bigger soulless fraud in the White House than Ronald Reagan. We have one now. He is so good at lying that the fools who elected him still refuse to see him for what he is: a mouthpiece for the corporate/fascist state.
She is gutsy, I'll give her that.
Ralph Nader should know a thing or two about what happens to those highly visible, "politically incorrect" people - uncomfortably so, for the PTB - when they cross the line of permission. Whack!
I think Ralph has been vindicated and it appears Helen will be as well.
Down with wusses!
Up with C-c-c-c-courage!
After watching the video it appears that Helen Thomas said Israel should get out of Palestine and go back to their home countries including Poland, Germany and America or where they came from.
It is clear Israelis landlords want to keep oppressing the Palestinians tenants with no civil or legal remedies. It is total racial apartheid. Clearly Israelis don't want democracy in their country.
Compare that to South Africa and America. They both gave blacks the vote but via legal provisions, kept real power in the hands of the ultra rich. The US incorporated the sandwich islands as Hawaii and gave them all a vote. However when you visit Maui, you will be hard pressed to meet any of the locals.
Why won't Israel do the same trick. Keep ownership of media in current hands. Keep the creation of money with private banks. Let corporations buy politicians. Steal elections if necessary. Then let the Palestinians vote. Watch them rise economically so slowly that few Israelis would be alarmed or upset by the transition. Newer generations would be less racist and more tolerant and 50 years later welcome to America.
But wait... with a 9:1 ratio of Palestinians to Jews, there is no hope for the above tricks working in a one-state solution. So much for a one state solution.
That leaves a 2 state solution. But the occupied territories is now occupied with no contiguous Palestine remaining and construction continuing unabated. Obama has even said the 2 state solution is becoming impossible.
Current policy: Kill Gazans by starvation. Take over prime beach front real estate. Maintain economic and political apartheid. Kill more Palestinians by starvation. Prevent births by economic isolation.
Given the resistance to real democracy, the horrifying current situation and the welcoming highly non-racist arms of Poland, Germany and America, Helen Thomas' option seems to be a much healthier option.
The reason for the creation of Israel was that Germany and Poland and America were racist. That is no longer true.
Helen Thomas made sense. Nothing to apologize for.
Here's a solution to the settler problem in West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem:
Israeli troops should forcibly evacuate the Israeli right-wing Jewish settlers from those territories, because those territories DON'T belong to Israel. The settlers should be dragged out of WB, Gaza and East Jerusalem, kicking and screaming, if need be.
Almost every article I read about this says that Helen wants all Jews to leave Israel. But she clearly said "Palestine." I understand how her comments about Germany and Poland could lead to some ambiguity (and were insensitive). But to clear up that ambiguity, her critics ought to read her columns where she clearly stated she favors a two-state solution.
Her critics don't seem to care what she has or has not said in her columns regarding a two-state solution. They're interested in catching what she "let slip." I think this is a thought crime.
Thank you, Ralph Nader, for your courage in defending Helen. Truly, she could have no better defender.
I agree with MarthaC99. I also hope that both Ralph Nader and Helen Thomas continue asking, and inspiring people to ask, the questions that really need to be asked. It is so incredibly sad that Helen, for all her hard work and intelligence, as practically forced out of her career like that. It says a lot about how things are going in this country.
I agree with the "Jews for Helen Thomas" who said, "We are clear what Helen Thomas meant to say, which is that Israel should cease its occupation of Palestine and we agree with that."
That seems so obvious.
What is wrong with this lynch mob (including "liberals") who yell "antisemitism" and "ethnic cleansing" at her? Who is pulling their strings? Are they on some vested interest's payroll?
Obama's gratuitous and unchivalrous intervention in the Helen Thomas affair, kicking an 'ass' that was already down, is further proof that his Cairo speech of twelve months ago was in fact to be his last effort at improving relations with the Muslim world, not his first. Apart from his momentary displeasure over the Biden-in-Israel incident,Obama has shown that his overwhelming instinct is to accommodate the most powerful elements of US society including Israel's innumerable supporters, irrespective of the effect on American foreign policy and national interests. He may as well continue to cancel all his overseas visits.