Flopper
Diamond Member
- Thread starter
- #21
I read his foreign policy speech and it does say clearly where he wanted to go last August. His problem now is that he is facing reality which is why he's backing off on so many of his positions that got him elected. Working with Russia to wipe out ISIS means accepting Assad and a puppet government controlled by Moscow in the Middle East. I'm sure he's hearing about the problems that will be caused by restricting travel from Muslim countries. And the improbability of getting Mexico to pay for a wall that most of the American public doesn't support. It's one thing to make grandiose campaign promises and another to actually fulfill those promises.The assumption is that the “idealists” don’t care as much about American interests. They just want the United States to live up to its principles and get on the right side of history no matter what the strategic costs.In other words, you think the President has to be guided by an ideology rather than take a pragmatic approach to the facts and issues he confronts.Throughout his campaign, Trump acknowledged his lack of foreign policy knowledge by saying he would have the best people as advisers. What Trump needs is not just advisers but a solid world view; that is deeply held political beliefs of how nations should deal with each other, an understanding of the major cultures and how they effect the view of leaders, and most important what American's philosophy should be in dealing with other nations. A world view is not a set of issues nor slogans such as make America great. It is a basic philosophy on which foreign policy is constructed.
Unlike economic policy or energy policy, the president's foreign policy can not change with the wind. The policy has to be consist otherwise allies and foes will misinterpret America's intention which often has disastrous results. Donald Trump has always consider his unpredictability as his greatest weapon. That certainly has to change or America will find itself with a lot more enemies and fewer friends.
Lastly, Foreign Policy is created by the president, not the Secretary of State or National Security Advisor. It will be the President's Foreign Policy. Upon that policy thousands of people in the State Dept, Dept of Defense, and Security agencies will formulate regulations, rules, and procedures in dealing with allies and foes.
That's exactly what Obama did, relying on a schoolboy understanding of globalist philosophy, he managed to screw up the ME, allowing ISIS to form, hundreds of thousands of people to be killed and millions made homeless, destroy the non proliferation protocol the world had relied on since the 1950's and bring American prestige and influence in the region to the lowest point it has been since before WWII and bring US Russia relations nearly to Cold War status, making peace in the ME or eastern Europe nearly impossible.
The last thing America or the world needs is another president committed to a schoolboy ideology of how the world should work. Remember Hitler, Stalin and Mao fit your description of how a leader should be perfectly, but Trump would not because he is a pragmatist, not a stars in his eyes idealist such as you want.
This, of course, is nonsense. For one thing, nations, like individuals, rarely act purely on principle or purely out of self-interest. Nor can national interests be so neatly defined. Access to oil is an interest, but so is the promotion of certain principles, including democracy. Good foreign policy is based on a good understanding of the culture and forces that drive the leadership in those cultures. It will be support by principals but also be goal orientated.
Like most modern presidents, Obama's foreign policy was pragmatic. For example, Obama initial foreign policy statement stressed 5 key points, ending the war in Iraq, rebuilding the military, securing, destroying, and stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction, rebuild and construct the alliances and partnerships necessary to meet common threats, and help other nations rebuild societies but only the citizens of those nations can sustain it. At the heart of Obama's failures in foreign policy as well Bushs has been the lack understanding of the driving forces within the Middle East. It had nothing to do idealism or pragmatism.
The divergence of opinion between the people Trump spoke to about key foreign policy positions indicate that he does not know where he wants to go and that is a major problem because foreign policy is far more than a set campaign issues.
It is obvious you are confused.
His foreign policy speech in August very effectively established where he wanted to go. It addressed the key issues and it promoted the idea of non interventionism.. His speech outlined the areas that needed to be fixed that Obama had screwed up and it established a goal of non interventionism.
This was a much more competent and mature foreign policy declaration than anything we go out of that Crooked Hillary dumbass.
Obama's foreign policy was a disaster for this country and the rest of the world. Crooked Hillary was the worst Secretary of State with failures in just about everything she did. During Crooked Hillary campaign never once articulated a vision for America. The best we got out of the bitch was that she was going to allow open borders, bring in a million damn Muslims and continue with whatever it was that Obama had been doing, including kissing the ass of the Muslims.
I think we all know that Crooked Hillary's foreign policy would have been centered on paying back the IOUs she got from foreign countries that contributed to her money laundering foundation.
SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR DONALD TRUMP
The direction I will outline today will also return us to a timeless principle. My foreign policy will always put the interests of the American people, and American security, above all else. That will be the foundation of every decision that I will make.
America First will be the major and overriding theme of my administration.
...snip...
It all began with the dangerous idea that we could make Western democracies out of countries that had no experience or interest in becoming a Western Democracy.
We tore up what institutions they had and then were surprised at what we unleashed. Civil war, religious fanaticism; thousands of American lives, and many trillions of dollars, were lost as a result. The vacuum was created that ISIS would fill. Iran, too, would rush in and fill the void, much to their unjust enrichment.
Our foreign policy is a complete and total disaster.
No vision, no purpose, no direction, no strategy.
Today, I want to identify five main weaknesses in our foreign policy
First, Our Resources Are Overextended
Secondly, our allies are not paying their fair share.
Thirdly, our friends are beginning to think they can’t depend on us.
Fourth, our rivals no longer respect us.
Finally, we must develop a foreign policy based on American interests.
Many of the people Trump has been considering for cabinet positions, particular Secretary of State have very divergent views on foreign policy from what he's expressed in his campaign. Some such as Romney agree with him on practically nothing. Trump did not understand the ramifications and problems with his foreign policy positions, so now he is looking for direction as to how he can create a workable foreign policy within the framework of his campaign rhetoric. This should be interesting to watch.