According to one report on Dec. 19th, Kuwait switched its annual party from the Four Seasons Hotel to president-elect Donald J. Trump’s newest hotel in Washington, DC, “after members of Trump’s Organization pressured” Kuwait’s ambassador to the U.S., Salem Al-Sabah.

The next day another report claimed that there had been no pressure from the Trump Organization to switch hotels. The ambassador said, “I do not know president-elect Trump. I do not know any of his people. None of his people have contacted me. I thought would be exciting for our guests to see a new venue. It looks great. It looks cool. So let’s do it.”

Regardless of which version is true, it gives the United States the feel of a banana republic, where you try to gain favors from a country’s leader by enhancing the leader’s economic well-being. Unfortunately, “[f]oreign diplomats have openly admitted that some see staying at the Pennsylvania Avenue hotel owned by the president-elect as a chance to curry favor with Trump.“

To prevent our becoming a banana republic, President Obama should issue an executive order that forbids any foreign government representative from staying in or having functions at any Trump property.

If the U.S. wants to retain it superpower status, we must not only maintain our strength, but also our moral standing. We must demonstrate that we will base our foreign policy on actual policy. Otherwise our status as a banana republic will become permanent.