The US just threatened Southeast Asia for trying to ‘embarrass’ Trump: report

Those needing a more recent reminder than 5 minutes ago of the U.S. president’s thin-skinned megalomania – or, to his fans, his convention-shattering Trump-First Doctrine – better throw another Pop Secret in the waver.

After Donald Trump and his veep were too busy campaigning for re-election to attend this year’s annual ASEAN Summit in Bangkok, and after most heads of state skipped a sesh today with one of his third-tier aides, the United States responded with one of those I’m-not-threatening-you-but-I-am, mafia-style threats that have come to define his administration (See: Ukraine), according to Kyodo News.

“A full or partial boycott by ASEAN leaders will be seen as an intentional effort to embarrass the President of the United States of America and this will be very damaging to the substance of the ASEAN-U.S. relations,” read the US response today, according to a diplomat who spoke anonymously to Japan’s Kyodo News service.

Wow, really? A fine piece of diplomacy from the world’s former Global Super Friends.

Seven of eight heads of state from 10 countries (Thailand’s and Malaysia’s PMs are not considered head of state because reasons) skipped the “US-ASEAN” meeting with US national security adviser Robert O’Brien, according to the Associated Press. Attending were prime ministers from Vietnam, Laos and Thailand – the most democratic of the bunch for sure.

Thailand certainly holds a debt to the under-impeachment president as he held it blameless for steamrolling tanks over its people’s voice, invited coup-leader Prayuth Chan-o-cha to the White House and even went along with make-believe time the kingdom was a democracy again.

That was A-OK with some of America’s greatest regional rivals. The 10-nation ASEAN block had more time to hammer out a massive trade deal with Japan, China and (potentially) India that was initiated after Trump torpedoed an US-led pact upon his election.

The US-ASEAN Summits-within-a-summit began in 2009 as part of US President Barack Obama’s “pivot” toward Asia after nearly a decade of the war on terror (He attended). The second was in November 2014 (He also attended).

That smell-of-a-better-man probably helped keep Trump away from this and previous year’s ASEAN Summits since the 2016 presidential election, or as he calls it, the “best election ever.”

ASEAN has yet to issue any formal response to the whole mess.