The Tribune

During Donald Trump’s three-year presidency, many Americans who are repulsed by his buffoonish lack of good manners and arrogant disregard for US law and political custom have comforted themselves with the notion that at least in several areas, a resolute resistance to some of his worst instincts could be found in the form of a perhaps unlikely source.

That would be the massive federal American bureaucracy. Most Americans see their national government as full of entrenched civil servants who generally resist change and bend only grudgingly to the policy initiatives of their largely politically-appointed leadership.

This is neither unfair nor untrue. Policy change and new initiatives do mean more work for civil servants, and some of them, like some of us, don’t exactly seek out extra work.

When you disagree with the president’s efforts to revive an already extinguished coal industry, for instance, you might take comfort in bureaucratic obduracy. Maybe the civil servants will frustrate Trump’s apparent eagerness to ignore global warming in favour of short-term employment and stock price rises.

And when you recoil as federal courts are packed with judges whose principal qualification appears to be an implacable objection to a woman’s right to an abortion if she so chooses, there might be some comfort in the residual adherence to the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade in prosecutorial offices around the country.

But most seasoned observers feel federal bureaucratic resistance to presidential initiatives that diverge from their personal beliefs is most likely to occur in the Department of State.

The State Department is the “senior” American cabinet department and its entrance requirements are among the most daunting in the US government. The department’s personnel tend to view themselves as members of the government’s elite, and their politics is broadly regarded as liberal-leaning.

It was, therefore, no great surprise when the most damaging evidence so far of Trump’s blatant disregard for the duties and responsibilities of his presidential office was provided by members of the State Department.

Marie (“Masha”) Yovanovitch, who fired the first salvos against the president and his apparent co-conspirators in the great Ukraine shakedown, earned her appointment as US ambassador to Ukraine the old-fashioned way. She laboured in the byzantine corridors of American policy toward Russia and Eastern Europe for decades, developing widely-respected expertise and wisdom.

She was yanked out of her ambassadorial position by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in May, apparently for her unwillingness to go along with Trump’s scheme to withhold military aid to Ukraine until that country’s political leadership agreed to launch investigations that would assist Trump’s re-election effort.

William Taylor achieved his present prominence via a different path. Like his current boss Pompeo a graduate near the very top of his class at the US Military Academy at West Point, Taylor punched his military ticket in some prestigious assignments and then served in high-profile civilian jobs involving Afghanistan and the Mideast peace process. Along the way, he served as the US ambassador to Ukraine from 2006-09.

Taylor was hastily summoned back to government service as Yovanovitch’s replacement in June but as we know, he too was reportedly shocked by the machinations of Trump and company. Both ambassadors have offered what liberal pundits hope will be fatally damaging testimony about Trump. We’ll see if the American voter agrees.

Meantime, fear not for the futures of Yovanovitch and Taylor. They will eventually find soft landing places, though not likely in today’s State Department.

China takes dim view over Morey tweet

Major sports leagues all do it. And most fail. This year, one league succeeded, and wished that it hadn’t.

Pro sports leaders all want us to get excited about their upcoming season, whether it’s basketball, football, baseball, hockey or soccer. The leagues and their commissioners know their teams need at least some practice games, so they try to get us interested and make some money while preparing for their regular seasons.

The NFL, having long forced season ticket-holders to include two meaningless home pre-season exhibition games in their package, has acknowledged the failure of that policy and is considering abandoning this extortion in favour of a longer regular season schedule.

Major league baseball, now playing its championship series in late October, at least plays its March spring training games in Florida and Arizona where large vacation crowds of northern snow birds reward MLB’s owners with substantial paydays.

English Premier League soccer teams, especially the largest, wealthiest clubs, often organize pre-season tours of places like the United States and Asia to spread their brand and make some money while training for the regular season.

NHL teams don’t all have the same approach to pre-season games, but generally aren’t able to generate very much interest in their hockey practice game schedules.

And the NBA has not generally been too successful in attracting interest in its pre-season, either. Until this year.

On October 4, in the context of sustained protests against China’s sometimes heavy-handed administration of Hong Kong, Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted the following:

“Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.”

With those seven words, Morey managed to link two subjects very often on Bahamian minds: China and the NBA. This is particularly true now, thanks to Buddy Hield’s reported new $100 million deal with the Sacramento Kings and China’s large new tourism investment in Nassau.

With that tweet, Morey, pictured below, also ignited a firestorm of a news story that is still flaring this morning as the NBA regular season begins.

Morey fired off his tweet as NBA teams like LeBron’s Lakers and the Nets (minus injured Kevin Durant) were getting ready to play pre-season games in China. China, whose state-led intolerance of criticism is by now pretty well established, reacted strongly and swiftly after Morey’s tweet.

The initial reaction was to pull those games off Chinese TV. There were and doubtless will be other Chinese retaliatory measures. The Chinese have denied demanding the NBA fire Morey, but reports persist that the Chinese would make the Rockets and the NBA pay dearly for Morey’s indiscretion.

The China-NBA relationship was working pretty well for both sides until this month.

Solid and high-performing but not superstar NBA players like the Celtics’ Gordon Hayward and the Warriors’ Klay Thompson have lucrative sneaker endorsement deals with Chinese companies. The NBA has a $1.5 billion deal in place with Chinese tech firm Tencent. The lucrative ties between one of the world’s most visible sports leagues and the largest global audience retains massive positive financial potential for both sides.

Amid multiple apologies and explanations from many, including NBA commissioner Adam Silver and Morey himself, in the wake of the infamous tweet, there remain concerns that there’s much more to come.

Added to all this is the fact that Morey is the GM of the NBA’s most well-known franchise in China, thanks to the enduring popularity there of Yao Ming, the 7-foot 6-inch Hall of Famer who led the Rockets for a decade after he was the first pick in the 2002 NBA draft. Yao’s riveting rivalry with Shaquille O’Neal and gentle, almost stoical demeanour endeared him to many American NBA fans.

But Yao, now chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association, is angry with the NBA and is speaking out. His remarks will likely keep open this sore wound for at least a while longer.

Meantime, the 2019-2020 NBA season has begun, with the Los Angeles Clippers as pre-season favourites thanks to their adding Kawai Leonard and Paul George in the off-season. The Clips obliged their supporters by beating the Lakers in their opening game Tuesday. Commissioner Silver and his staff doubtless hope all the regular season excitement dulls the controversy with China. But it’s worth recalling Silver’s comments two weeks ago:

“It is inevitable that people around the world – including from America and China – will have different viewpoints over different issues. It is not the role of the NBA to adjudicate those differences. We recognize that our two countries have different political systems and beliefs. And like many global brands, we bring our business to places with different political systems around the world.

“The fact that we (the NBA) have apologized to fans in China is not inconsistent with supporting someone’s (Morey’s) right to have a point of view.”