Foreign officials meeting President Trump during his first overseas trip are being told to praise him for winning the Electoral College last year, the New York Times reported Friday.
Embassies and leaders who have met with Trump have been speaking among themselves and with other dignitaries about how to handle the new president, and a number of themes have emerged, the report said.
Among them are suggestions to compliment Trump on his election win, and compare him favorably to former President Obama; not to expect him to know your country’s history or hot-button issues; and make a short presentation tailored to his attention span, and don’t try to bring up a long list of issues.
{mosads}“If you were prepping people for Donald Trump, the two or three points would be one, bear in mind this is still a guy who focuses on wins,” Peter Westmacott, a former British ambassador to the U.S., told the Times.
“Secondly, he is a deal maker, a pragmatist. Third, this is a guy with a limited attention span. He absolutely won’t listen to visitors droning on for a half-hour — or longer if they need an interpreter.”
Trump on Friday will embark on his first foreign trip as president, stopping in Saudi Arabia, Israel and the Vatican as he visits the centers of three major world religions.
Trump had unsuccessfully sought for the trip to be shortened from nine to five days after expressing “dread” over its length, the Times reported earlier this week.