As an exercise in psychic forethought, should you want to understand what foreign policy under Donald Trump would look like, look no further than Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.
As an exercise in psychic forethought, should you want to understand what foreign policy under Donald Trump would look like, look no further than Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.
After weeks of the getting criticized by the US for the vast spate of extrajudicial killings in a vicious war on drugs, President Duterte referred to President Obama as a “son of a whore.” Its not hard to imagine Donald Trump reacting in a similar way with one minor difference, President Duterte actually expressed regret and apologized for such a brazen comment.
Unfortunately for us, the Donald Trump circus is in no danger of backing down or showing any kind of regret over comments made – past or present. This was on full display during MSNBC’s “Commander and Chief Forum”, which took place last Wednesday and fielded questions from veterans and voters on the most critical of foreign policy issues facing our nation.
Before we get into the crux of what Donald Trump said, it is also important to state unequivocally that Hillary Clinton is by no means a perfect foreign policy candidate either. Her vote to go to war in Iraq and her policies that took us into Libya were a disaster. And in real-terms, her outlook on global affairs more resembles that of the neoconservative wing of the Republican party as opposed to the progressive arm of the Democratic Party.
Her pledge during the forum that she would not send ground troops to Iraq and Syria to fight ISIS is laughable given her penchant for military intervention and the fact that there are already over 4,000 declared troops in Iraq.
Nonetheless, she is not Donald Trump and in the great game of foreign policy that is a huge bonus for very obvious reasons: Clinton never asked, “why can’t we use nuclear weapons.”
So let’s have a look-see at the Donald and see where he might stack up on some of the most complex foreign policy challenges of our generation. Currently we have total chaos and bedlam in the Middle East, a resurgent Russia, maneuvering in the South China Sea, right wing populism and nativism, North Korean nuclear proliferation, and a struggling global economy.
For the Middle East, Trump claims to have a super “secret” plan to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
Beyond that sounding like the musings of a 12-year-old, Trump has no plan.
After spending seven years living and working in places like Iraq I learned a few things. Foremost amongst them, articulating your foreign policy plan is not about “broadcasting” your goals and objectives, but reaffirming to our allies and partners what they can expect from the US should they have to plan around a Trump presidency.
On Russia, Trump’s love affair with Vladimir Putin continues unabated, which should be viewed as equal parts comedy and tragedy. With regards to comedy: It breaks with literally 75 years of Republican orthodoxy and is keeping Reganites everywhere in a perpetual state of self-harm and disbelief.
Perhaps that kind of rapprochement should be viewed as a positive step towards global unity, but it also completely undermines long standing US foreign policy literally everywhere (except in Trump’s mind).
As for tragedy: Put simply, Putin is the kind of leader Trump venerates, because he is the kind of leader that Trump aspires to be. And that should terrify every single living American, nay living human being, even those in RVA.
And finally there was Trump’s declaration that the US military is in a state of “rubble.” Rubble you say?!? Rubble. Even though the US military’s budget is $1.6 trillion and accounted for 37% of all military expenditure globally and supersedes the next seven nations combined – most of which are our allies.
In no uncertain terms, the US military is the most advanced and professional in the world.
The problem is we no longer engage in the kinds of war fighting that our military is most capable of. This is why the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were a failure. We are not dog-fighting ISIS in F-35s over the Middle East for land and possession, but are fighting an ideological war that neither candidate has a plan to address – least of all Trump. But given America’s proclivity for hero worshipping our military, this attack line always seems to resonate with certain kinds of voters. It is one of the great political pivots in every general election.
Well there you have it, a quick and dirty litmus test of Trump’s Commander and Chief prowess.
This is not to say he doesn’t have ideas that are not pragmatic and observable based on the way foreign policy trajectories are headed. The problem for Trump – is that he is Trump – and no amount of advisors, consultants, generals, or experts can save him (and us) from that one unassailable fact.
I would have liked to have spent more time on Hillary Clinton and the complex intricacies of what her internationalism means for all of us in the 21st Century, but let’s face it, Trump is just way to easy.
In the meantime, as summer draws to a close and we move closer to the inevitable outcome of what seems to be a never ending election cycle there are no guarantees. Clinton is only up by four points and that is just outside of the margin of error. People are very emotional this campaign season and the logical rules of politics no longer apply – not for foreign policy – not for domestic policy.
Does this mean I think RVA will vote for Trump? Maybe, maybe not. But I have been surprised before. So weigh your drinking choices accordingly and make sure to show up and vote on November 8, since this election will define America for a generation to come. Not to mention, we all want to avoid a scenario where President Duterte calls President Trump a “son of a whore” and his first response is “Why can’t we use nuclear weapons?”
Some wars have been started for a lot less.
RVA Magazine has always been an open platform for ideas and this week we are inviting local people to present them. If you are interested in writing something send us an email at hello@rvamag.com. The opinions expressed are solely the authors and not necessarily the opinions of RVA Magazine or our staff.
