Bear Essentials

The Trump transition has been bumpy and divisive in the US. But it could be raising even more concerns in Europe and across the globe. Trump has described NATO as obsolete, indicated more countries would probably leave the EU, trolled Angela Merkel, and stated that the one China policy is up for negotiation. Some of this could be part of a negotiating strategy. Or maybe the statements shouldn’t be taken literally. I don’t know, and neither, it seems, do many US allies. From one senior envoy: “What he’s saying is so serious, so grave, that if you take it all seriously it’s a world crisis. And he’s saying it all in such a reckless and ignorant way that I suspect everyone is praying that this is not serious.” Robin Wright on Trump’s World Disruption.

+ “I went to my lawyers. I have a lot of lawyers in-house. We have many lawyers. I have got guys that handle this stuff. I said, ‘See if you can have this registered and trademarked.'” From WaPo: How Donald Trump came up with Make America Great Again. Like most of Trump’s campaign tactics, this one came right from the top.

+ Betsy Devos, Trump’s pick for Secretary of Education had a pretty rough confirmation hearing on Tuesday. Many of her answers were instant social media hits, including this one on whether guns should be allowed in schools: “I will refer back to Sen. [Mike] Enzi and the school he was talking about in Wyoming. I think probably there, I would imagine that there is probably a gun in the schools to protect from potential grizzlies.” (For what it’s worth, you’re probably better off using bear spray.)