Socialist country he likes

In Vietnam, Trump finds a 'socialist' country he likes

By NAHAL TOOSI

Republicans may want to re-think one of their planned 2020 campaign themes: It seems that President Donald Trump has met a “socialist” country he actually likes.

In recent months Trump has repeatedly cited what he calls the growing threat of socialism in an effort to tarnish leftist Democrats eyeing the Oval Office while also justifying his efforts to oust Venezuela’s dictator.

But this week, the U.S. leader has been praising Vietnam, the socialist-in-name country hosting his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. In fact, Trump has pointed to Vietnam’s economic advances as a model Kim could emulate if he gives up his nuclear weapons.

“Vietnam is thriving like few places on earth,” Trump tweeted Wednesday. “North Korea would be the same, and very quickly, if it would denuclearize. The potential is AWESOME, a great opportunity, like almost none other in history, for my friend Kim Jong Un.”

During his meeting with Vietnamese leaders the same day, Trump waved a small Vietnamese flag, praised growing U.S.-Vietnam economic ties, and signed new trade deals. The president’s public schedules also used the country’s full official name: the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Though it is standard diplomatic protocol to refer to foreign countries by their preferred name, the repeated presence of the word in official White House statements this week was jarring.

In reality, the Vietnam model, and Trump’s praise of it, also underscores the elasticity of the concept of “socialism,” and why some of its tenets may appeal to Americans.

Despite the presence of the s-word in its formal name, Vietnam is typically classified as a communist state. But its economy is largely capitalist, especially after the Communist Party adopted a policy of “doi moi” (renovation) in the 1980s.

The country's official name "is a vestige term," said Joshua Kurlantzick, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. "People in Vietnam are focused on getting rich, making money."

Vietnam is in some ways mimicking China by unleashing capitalist forces while keeping tight restraints on political expression.

In one sense, praising Vietnam is just the latest discordant note for a president whose foreign policy, more than most presidents, is a tangle of contradictions on everything from human rights to use of military force.

After all, on the other side of the world right now, Trump is using diplomatic and economic pressure to try to push out of power Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who preaches socialist ideals but whose country's economy is in ruins.

In his State of the Union speech earlier this month, Trump slammed Maduro’s rule and also took veiled swipes at progressives such as Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, an independent Senator from Vermont, both of whom support some socialist ideas.

“We are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country,” Trump said, signaling what Republicans expect to be a potent 2020 campaign attack line. “America was founded on liberty and independence — not government coercion, domination, and control. We are born free, and we will stay free.”

Sanders, who also ran for president in 2016, describes himself as a “democratic socialist” who wants to reduce economic inequality in the United States.

He has pointed to European countries such as Norway, Denmark and Sweden as examples of places that successfully incorporate some socialist ideas into democratic political systems, including offering generous health care, retirement and educational benefits.

Maduro came to lead Venezuela after the 2013 death of Hugo Chavez, a longtime socialist firebrand and political mentor. But some Maduro critics say his government's problem isn't so much socialism as it is corruption, authoritarian instincts and the influence of narco-traffickers.

Venezuela was once relatively wealthy; now, many of its people are starving and millions have fled.

North Korea’s official name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, but it’s essentially a totalitarian dictatorship. Kim, who is in his 30s, inherited rule from his father and grandfather.

Trump is banking that Kim’s desire for a stronger North Korean economy will lead him to offer concessions on the nuclear front in exchange for relief from international sanctions. And Kim may find the Vietnamese model an enticing one, so long as he gets to stay in power.

Of course, before any of that can happen, Trump and Kim may want to forget about the meaning of the word "socialism" and focus more on how each defines their shared stated goal of "de-nuclearization."