Tune Out

It's international relations, not the Bible. Masking your true intentions is par for the course. At times leaders are straightforward, and at other times they are not. At times they blatantly lie.

Everyone involved in diplomatic matters knows this. It's one reason why there are private diplomatic cables from ambassadors to their home countries that dissect official and unofficial communications, especially from the heads of government. All countries do this.

If Trump "showed all his cards" in dealing with world leaders, he'd be an idiot, and he'd be putting the country at risk. In this case, it's a matter of determining whether or not Trump was being straightforward in this particular instance. I would be absolutely shocked if the diplomatic staff of the Ukrainian government didn't parse every word Trump uttered (and also considering what he did not say) to try to figure out his intentions. If they didn't, they were putting their country at risk, and they should have been fired on the spot.

 

It was supposed to be a joke