Politics –
Foreign Policy Trumps Trump
If anyone was wondering whether or not GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump could master foreign policy, his erratic, perplexing and often contradicting speech on the subject should remove all doubt.
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During a speech last week to roll out his “America first” foreign policy agenda, Trump vowed that his presidency would require U.S. allies in Europe and Asia to fend for themselves if they did not pay more for U.S. defense. His remarks were stoic and delivered using a teleprompter in an attempt to show that he could appear more presidential, instead of as the usual playground bully who frequently takes pot-shots at his detractors. However, instead of receiving accolades for what he believes is his readiness to become leader of the free world, the entire speech was panned by political pundits and foreign leaders alike.
“It is time to shake the rust off of America’s foreign policy,” Trump said in an attempted dig at President Barack Obama. “The countries we defend must pay for the cost of this defense. If not, the U.S. must be prepared to let these countries defend themselves.” He then promised “a disciplined, deliberate and consistent foreign policy” in contrast to the “reckless, rudderless and aimless” policies of Mr. Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. His message was contradictory at times and largely devoid of details.
Previously, Donald Trump has all but acknowledged that he knows next to nothing about foreign policy and how the world works, which is why he vowed to “hire the best people” to help him get up to speed. However, it seems his hired guns have already failed him, as criticism of Trump’s speech and readiness to be Commander-In-Chief has come under rapid fire.
“Donald’s speech is the most dramatic evidence thus far that he fails the presidential test,” said GOP challenger Sen. Ted Cruz.
“It’s isolationism surrounded by disconnected thought, demonstrates lack of understanding threats we face,” Sen. Lindsay Graham wrote on Twitter. “Not sure who is advising Trump on foreign policy but I can understand why he’s not revealing their names.”
“I’ve got to say, I’ve listened to a lot of foreign policy speeches over the years, and have given a lot myself, and I was hoping it would make some sense,” former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said, adding that Trump’s address was centered on “simplistic slogans and contradictions.”
The criticism didn’t end there.
“The most striking aspect of the speech was its repeated contradictions,” CNN’s Fareed Zakaria said during a lengthy on air rant against a man who wants to be taken seriously as a presidential candidate. “We will spend what we need to rebuild our military, he promised, though Washington already spends more than the next seven countries put together. But almost in the same breath he talked about pinching pennies because of the crippling national debt. Trump is against humanitarian inventions, but he implied that we should have intervened to help embattled Christians in the Middle East. Which is it?
“Trump put America’s closest allies on notice that if they didn’t pay their fair share on defense, he would end America’s security guarantees to them,” Zakaria continued. “Then he assured them that he would be a close and reliable ally. Trump promised to be consistent and yet unpredictable. Is your head spinning yet?”
Politics
Foreign leaders, who traditionally distance themselves from U.S. politics during an election year, could not help but respond to the looming disaster a potential Trump presidency would bring.
“Trump‘s campaign gives America’s friends a feeling of uncertainty,” said Niels Annen, foreign policy spokesman of the Social Democrat party group in the German parliament.
“I can only hope that the election campaign in the USA does not lack the perception of reality,” added Germany’s foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. “The world’s security architecture has changed and it is no longer based on two pillars alone. It cannot be conducted unilaterally [in a post-Cold War world]. No American president can get round this change in the international security architecture…. ‘America first’ is actually no answer to that.”
“Trump had not a word against Russian aggression in Ukraine, but plenty against past U.S. support for democracy in Egypt,” said former Swedish prime minister and foreign minister Carl Bildt.
Trump would be “the first isolationist to be U.S. presidential candidate, while in the post-war era all the U.S. presidents have been to varying degrees internationalists,” said former South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Sung-han. “Saying the U.S. will no longer engage in anything that is a burden in terms of its relationships with allies, it would be almost like abandoning those alliances,” he added. “It will inevitably give rise to anti-American sentiment worldwide.”
The speech “suggests Trump would make America’s allies less secure rather than more,” said Xenia Wickett, head of the U.S. and Americas Programme at Britain’s Chatham House think tank. “He talked about allies being confident but all of his rhetoric suggested that America should be unpredictable and that America’s allies needed to stand up for themselves,” Wickett added.
“Ultimately, he’s selling a dream and he’s still not offering a plan. He’s representing the sales office, but he’s given no clue of who will be the architect and who will do the construction,” said Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.
Supporters of Donald Trump have mostly been in his corner due to his domestic rhetoric: building a wall to keep Mexicans out; implementing a policy to ban all Muslims and thus end terrorism; making America “great again” by “taking our country back” (from the hands of a black president and back into the rightful hands of White America). However, most of these voters have failed to realize that a U.S. president is not only in charge of a domestic agenda, but will also control the nuclear codes.
Like every predecessor, the next President of the United States must balance domestic policy with a delicate foreign policy. The POTUS must nurture and maintain long-standing relationships with international allies — being careful not to damage or destroy years of established history. Finally, the next POTUS must also be someone America trusts to have the wisdom and patience to handle an unforeseen international crisis or catastrophe — particularly when their finger is only inches away from the nuclear button.
Is Donald Trump the right person for the job? Or will his lack of grasping foreign policy and how the world works be his ultimate demise?
TAKE OUR POLL:
Trump was just reading from a tv screen what he was told to say. He doesn't know anything about foreign policy and DJ was right when he said these people voting for him on domestic reasons are crazy. The president has to know how to talk to other leaders and know what to do if there is a emergency. Trump knows nothing which is scary he is the choice Repubs want.