Trump changes more and more positions as his staff tries to explain why

WASHINGTON — Three months in office, President Trump is giving the world policy whiplash.

A week after ordering a missile strike on Syria — in stark contrast to the position he took as a private citizen in 2013 — the still-new president is now reversing himself on a host of issues, from Russia to NATO, from Chinese currency valuation to the worthiness of the Export-Import Bank.

All presidents change positions once they get into office and receive more information, but Trump's pace "is still pretty remarkable," said political scientist Nicole Renee Hemmer, an assistant professor at the University of Virginia's Miller Center.

"We’ve had plenty of evidence over the past year and a half that Trump is a man of impulses more than a man of doctrine," she said, "which makes his policies much more pliable than most politicians."

In a sense, it's "welcome to the White House" for Trump. The president who had no previous experience in political office is simply learning more about the array of issues that confront any chief executive, according to administration aides and political analysts.

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In some cases, Trump appears to be using new policies as bargaining chips for other goals. He suggested this week that he would stop accusing China of manipulating currency rates if the Beijing government would help the United States deter North Korea's nuclear threats.

Another reason: The seeming triumph, at least so far, of Trump advisers who are bigger backers of the global economy, such as senior aides Jared Kushner and Gary Cohn, over the "economic nationalist" wing championed by political strategist Steve Bannon.

Trump, meanwhile, said he is keeping his promises "one by one." On Twitter, he said he is busy reducing government regulations in order to stimulate the economy, particularly in the energy sector. "Jobs are returning, illegal immigration is plummeting, law, order and justice are being restored," Trump tweeted Thursday. "We are truly making America great again!"

Trump and his aides have offered explanations for his changed views:

• Syria. Trump cited the photos of dead and maimed babies after an April 4 chemical weapons attack in Syria as among the reason he authorized the missile strike —- an option he had criticized President Barack Obama for considering (and rejecting) back in 2013.

• Chinese currency. After vowing during the campaign to declare China a currency manipulator on "Day One" of his presidency, Trump told The Wall Street Journal he no longer believes China is manipulating its currency. The Journal reported Trump believes that "taking the step now could jeopardize his talks with Beijing on confronting the threat of North Korea." (On Twitter Thursday, Trump said, "I have great confidence that China will properly deal with North Korea. If they are unable to do so, the U.S., with its allies, will!")

• The Export-Import Bank. Trump once denounced the institution that finances and insures foreign purchases of U.S. goods, calling it "featherbedding" for politicians. He told The Wall Street Journal that the bank "actually makes money," and basically endorsed the idea it helps U.S. companies that have to compete with foreign rivals that receive subsidies from their governments — arguments that supporters of the Export-Import Bank of the United States have been making for years.

• NATO. At a joint new conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Trump suddenly disclosed a new view of the U.S.-European military alliance: "I said it was obsolete. It's no longer obsolete." The president noted he had complained that NATO didn't fight terrorism, and "they made a change," although counter-terrorism has been part of its portfolio since 9/11. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said NATO is moving toward Trump's position on fighting terrorism and financial contributions to the alliance.

• Russia: During the campaign, Trump spoke of improving relations with Russia, and opponents said that was one of the reasons that Russian hackers sought to influence the election in his favor. Now Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are involved in a war of words over Syria.

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Trump and aides have criticized Russia for backing Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, and apparently failing to follow through on plans to remove all chemical weapons from the country. Russia has accused the Trump administration of injecting itself into a complex civil war in a way that will benefit the Islamic State and other extremist groups fighting Assad.

During his Thursday tweet storm, Trump said that "things will work out fine between the U.S.A. and Russia. At the right time everyone will come to their senses & there will be lasting peace!"

All presidents backtrack on various promises. President Woodrow Wilson used the slogan "He Kept Us Out of War" during his re-election campaign of 1916, a year before the United States entered the First World War on the side of France and Great Britain. President Franklin Roosevelt vowed to balance the federal budget as part of his 1932 campaign; as president, he signed a slew of spending programs designed to counter the Great Depression.

Patrick Maney, a professor of history at Boston College who specializes in the presidency, said Trump is unique because his promises were so sweeping and grandiose, as when he accused China of "stealing" U.S. jobs and vowed to act against them on "Day One."

"It's Trump's hyperbole that I think is unprecedented," Maney said.

On-the-job training is also a factor. Tony Fratto, a former spokesman for President George W. Bush who has criticized Trump over trade issues and the Export-Import Bank, said, "I've seen candidates who don't like Ex-Im, but I've never seen a president who doesn't like Ex-Im."

No strategy

Some of Trump's critics also see other factors at work.

"He has no core principles,"  Michael Cohen, author of American Maelstrom: The 1968 Election and the Politics of Division. Cohen, a Trump critic who writes a column for The Boston Globe, said you can expect more flip-flops because "he's not capable of learning," and "he says things at any given moment because it's in his interest to say them at that given moment."

He added: "I think the biggest mistake people make about Trump is believing that there's a strategy here."

Many of Trump's new economic positions track with the views of advisers who come from the Wall Street world of high finance. They include Kushner, senior adviser and the president's son-in-law, and Cohn, director of the National Economic Council. Cohn is a former executive at Goldman Sachs, the investment banking giant Trump criticized during his presidential campaign as a symbol of corporate greed.

All this in opposition to "economic nationalists" led by senior political strategist Bannon. They want to change trade deals they say enable other countries to claim U.S. jobs, and have been particularly critical of Chinese trade policies, including currency valuations.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said the changes are "dizzying," and will probably continue.

"The only thing that's consistent about Trump's foreign policy so far is its inconsistency," Murphy said on MSNBC's Morning Joe. "Just wait a few days and it's going to change."