News / Politics

Trump’s foreign policy pivots are ‘how wars start’: US senator

Saturday, 03 December 2016 6:45 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 03 December 2016 7:26 PM ]

US Democratic Senator Chris Murphy (Photo by AP)

US Democratic Senator Chris Murphy has criticized President-elect Donald Trump for his recent overtures to foreign leaders, including the Taiwan president, saying, “That’s how wars start.”

Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, denounced Trump's foreign policy exchanges with world leaders “without any plan” in a tweet on Friday.

He made the remarks after Trump transition team announced he had spoken with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Friday, a historic move that drew an angry response from Beijing on Saturday.

Trump became the first US president or president-elect to directly speak with Taiwan’s leader in more than 30 years.

“What has happened in the last 48 hours is not a shift. These are major pivots in foreign policy w/out any plan. That's how wars start,” Murphy tweeted.

Murphy suggested that it's time Trump gets “a Secretary of State nominee on board. Preferably [with] experience. Like, really really soon.”

On Friday, Trump also talked to President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines.

On Saturday, Murphy continued his criticism of Trump’s foreign policy, saying in another tweet that “I met w Duterte in Manila this summer. His ‘campaign’ involves murdering dealers and addicts (over 1,000 so far).”

A top adviser to Trump, Kellyanne Conway reacted to Murphy’s remarks, saying, “It sounds like Sen. Murphy’s tweet is pretty incendiary.”

“This is how wars start, and it’s a major policy shift because he had a phone call? That’s pretty negative and pretty presumptuous,” Conway told CNN on Saturday.

Trump’s 4 likely secretary of state nominees

Donald Trump’s transition team singled out by name former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (top left) and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani (top right) as options. In recent days, US Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee (bottom left) and former CIA director David Petraeus reportedly met with Trump to discuss the position as well.

Meanwhile, Conway identified the four candidates on Trump’s list for the US secretary of state on Friday.

“We publicly have said there are probably four people right now that have been the narrowed down choices,” Conway said.

Among the nominees she identified were: 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former CIA director and retired General David Petraeus and Senator Bob Corker.

In an interview with Fox News on Friday, Trump suggested that “almost all” of his Cabinet picks will be revealed next week. Conway, however, said the decision “can’t be rushed.”

“It’s an important decision,” said Conway. “And it can’t be rushed because some in the media want a story that day or think he should be forming a Cabinet at that hour.”

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