VP Pence aims to reassure Australia after tense Trump call

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

SYDNEY — More than two months after President Donald Trump got into a spat with the leader of Australia, Vice President Mike Pence will be working to smooth over any lingering hard feelings.

Pence will meet with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Saturday as part of his 10-day, four-country trip to Asia. His agenda includes reassuring Turnbull about the state of the unusually strained U.S.-Australia alliance and laying out the new administration's priorities for the Pacific Rim.

"Partly, you could call it a diplomatic clean-up mission," said Michael Auslin of the American Enterprise Institute, an analyst on Asian security issues. Auslin said Pence will be more focused on offering Turnbull a roadmap for how the two countries can work together during Trump's presidency. "It's about re-establishing relations."

The affection the longtime allies usually share for each other is rooted in decades of cooperation on defense, intelligence and trade. Australia has fought alongside the U.S. in every major conflict since World War I, and is one of the largest contributors to the U.S.-led military campaign in Iraq and Syria. The country is also part of the "Five Eyes" intelligence-sharing program with the U.S., along with Canada, Britain and New Zealand.

But Australia was unhappy with Trump's decision to pull the U.S. out of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact. Then, Trump and Turnbull had a contentious phone call in January over a refugee resettlement deal struck by the previous Obama administration.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/vp-pence-aims-to-reassure-australia-after-tense-trump-call/ar-BBA7EZK?li=BBnb7Kz

[riversedge]

1. Know-nothing big mouth Trump needs someone to mop up after him at almost every turn!

[justhanginon]

2. Just imagine the "diplomatic clean-up mission" that will be required

if we have four full years of this ignorant moronic cretin we have been cursed with as president. It truly boggles the mind and I am sure some relations with our allies will never be quite the same.

[UTUSN]

3. What keeps him going is the mirror where he says "President PENCE" every morning. Prob is,

Michael MOORE, who has been correct enough about things, says the DRUMPF impeachment won't come until "half way in the second term."

Now, I quibble, because even the Deplorables are becoming convinced that nothing matters that DRUMPF says or does, so even if all the investigations peter out, it doesn't seem likely he can swing 2020. All of his acts are about hurting everybody.

[louis-t]

4. VP job description now includes

cleaning up after a loud-mouthed, narcissist who can't control himself?

[Submariner]

5. The Pence Apology Tour

mimics the Tillerson Apology Tour to NATO nations and Mexico last month.

I thought repute's didn't like to apologize. Weenies...

[smirkymonkey]

6. "Clean up in aisle 45"!

Again.