other types of conversations that he might have had with other people. he was giving a general view about how to deal with mr. trump and the traits and features of mr. trump that the british have to be able to understand and engage with, particularly as they re involved in sensitive negotiations related to brexit and followon relationships with the united states. kim who i know well and greatly respect and admire, he i think should be holding his head high today. how can it work for a british ambassador who the president of the united states has said absolutely won t deal with him from now forward? reports are he disinvited him to the state dinner last evening. they can basically cut him off, and so then it s a question for london to decide whether or not having an ambassador wlike this is worth keeping in london. i would think maybe some time this year kim will go onto greener pastures? isn t there a risk for the
seen throughout my career where the cables really detailed and quite stark terms the failings of the shortcomings of leaders. psychological profiles of foreign leaders aren t quite so easy to construct as they are of donald trump since he throws his psychological profile out there publicly every day. i didn t read anything in what the ambassador had to say that wasn t public information in the united states. that s right. and maybe there was some other cables that will include some other types of conversations that he might have had with other people. he was giving a general view about how to deal with mr. trump and the traits and features of mr. trump that the british have to be able to understand and engage with, particularly as they re involved in sensitive negotiations related to brexit and followon relationships with the united states. kim who i know well and greatly
accomplished and experienced british diplomats. he was the national security adviser before he came to washington and he was doing what every ambassador is supposed to do, to report back to their capital their unvarnished views about what is going on in that country. and to give their assessment about the leadership. so i think kim derek s assessment was spot on. and he is well-respected within the diplomatic community in washington. those words are not going to come as a surprise to others. i think he is, again, still one of the most respected diplomats that the united kingdom has posted abroad. and six months into the trump presidency he had a very important message that he had them deliver. this presidency has it s a four-year term. it s a fixed term. it s not like the united kingdom. and they re going to have to be dealing with them. he said to them, do not expect any changes. that was a time when people in the news media, people in the senate, people in the house were still ho
insecurity. he said you need to start praising him for something he s done recently. you need whenever possible to present them as wins for him. donald trump replied to this story on twitter by calling the british ambassador wacky, stupid, and he called the british prime minister foolish. today prime minister theresa may says she supports the ambassador, and one said if he becomes prime minister, he will keep the ambassador at his post in washington. joining our discussion now is former cia director john brennan, now a senior national security analyst for nbc news. i just have to believe that every embassy in washington, every ambassador in washington has said, sent to his or her government around the world a very similar assessment of donald trump. well, absolutely. and kim derek is one of the most
yes. and i think he was honest in terms of saying don t write donald trump off. that there s an unpredictableness about him. but he was giving recommendations about how to flatter trump if you want to get your point across. i think kim derek was doing what he had to do, not just making blunt comments about trump but also providing guidance to the british government about how to deal with somebody who truly is an anomaly as far as u.s. presidents are concerned. it seems someone was telling kim jong-un something very similar because he got into the flattery of trump business and figured out a way to make that work for him. i think everybody knows that if you say nice things about mr. trump or to mr. trump, he s going to like you. he wants to be liked. and i think kim had it right when he said despite being one of the most powerful individuals in the world, he has this