Donald Trump gave a speech today that outlined his foreign policy plans. The speech came from a prepared text rather than the usual Trump style. The style may have been different, but the reaction was totally predictable. The usual anti-Trump forces like Lindsay Graham criticized the speech as demonstrating no understanding of America's place in the world. Those who support Trump generally thought the speech was huge and wonderful. All of those people could have made their comments without even hearing what Trump had to say (in fact, I wonder if senator Graham did read the speech.) But let's take a moment to look at the basic points that Trump made.
1. Trump says that we need to restore economic growth here at home so that we can afford to meet our military and foreign obligations. That's completely correct. During the slow-growth Obama years, the military has been starved of funding to the point that we currently do not have a sufficient military to meet all of this nation's current needs.
2. Trump says that the guiding principle of his foreign policy is that he will do what is best for the USA and not let our interests be outweighed by those of other nations. He acknowledged that there are times when helping other countries also helps the USA, but even then the goal ought to be doing what is best for America. Here too, Trump got it completely correct. The president of the USA has to do what is best for this nation. There can be disagreements over what that may be, but the guiding principle is beyond dispute. The amazing thing is that when Trump enunciates this principle, the Democrats attack him as if there is another principle that overcomes national interest in foreign policy. There is not.
3. Trump says that America's allies can depend on the USA after he becomes president and that the scary days of "unreliable America" under Obama are coming to a close. Nevertheless, Trump says that our allies will have to contribute more to the alliances in terms of cost, both financial and human. It's about time for the president to say this. When the Cold War ended, most of Europe moved towards disarmament. Some major European powers spend precious little on their own defense; they rely instead on America to defend them. That's not our job, however. We can assist each other with mutual defense. We are not the world's military force. If terrorists attack in Europe, then it is European forces that ought to take part in finding and destroying those terror groups. The Europeans cannot sit on the sidelines while our forces protect them. Trump is right here again.
4. Trump also says that the USA needs to be more unpredictable in dealing with out adversaries. Once again, Trump is correct. Just look at the Obama moves like announcing the dates of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq. The terrorists knew that all they had to do was wait for American forces to leave. What was the point of the announcement? And don't we want countries like Russia to wonder what might happen if it continues to have its planes buzz our naval vessels? Fear of the unknown might well prevent many of these events.
It's fair to say that Trump did not provide all the details of his foreign policy plans. So what? The same is true of Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz. Indeed, the Democrats stay away from foreign policy whenever possible. When Hillary talks about the subject, she usually gives us diplomatic doubletalk. We know from her days in the State Department that her goal has always been not "America First" but rather "Hillary First". After four years as secretary of state, she had no accomplishments to list, but there were many failures.
The truth is that Trump's foreign policy sounds pretty good.
1. Trump says that we need to restore economic growth here at home so that we can afford to meet our military and foreign obligations. That's completely correct. During the slow-growth Obama years, the military has been starved of funding to the point that we currently do not have a sufficient military to meet all of this nation's current needs.
2. Trump says that the guiding principle of his foreign policy is that he will do what is best for the USA and not let our interests be outweighed by those of other nations. He acknowledged that there are times when helping other countries also helps the USA, but even then the goal ought to be doing what is best for America. Here too, Trump got it completely correct. The president of the USA has to do what is best for this nation. There can be disagreements over what that may be, but the guiding principle is beyond dispute. The amazing thing is that when Trump enunciates this principle, the Democrats attack him as if there is another principle that overcomes national interest in foreign policy. There is not.
3. Trump says that America's allies can depend on the USA after he becomes president and that the scary days of "unreliable America" under Obama are coming to a close. Nevertheless, Trump says that our allies will have to contribute more to the alliances in terms of cost, both financial and human. It's about time for the president to say this. When the Cold War ended, most of Europe moved towards disarmament. Some major European powers spend precious little on their own defense; they rely instead on America to defend them. That's not our job, however. We can assist each other with mutual defense. We are not the world's military force. If terrorists attack in Europe, then it is European forces that ought to take part in finding and destroying those terror groups. The Europeans cannot sit on the sidelines while our forces protect them. Trump is right here again.
4. Trump also says that the USA needs to be more unpredictable in dealing with out adversaries. Once again, Trump is correct. Just look at the Obama moves like announcing the dates of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq. The terrorists knew that all they had to do was wait for American forces to leave. What was the point of the announcement? And don't we want countries like Russia to wonder what might happen if it continues to have its planes buzz our naval vessels? Fear of the unknown might well prevent many of these events.
It's fair to say that Trump did not provide all the details of his foreign policy plans. So what? The same is true of Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz. Indeed, the Democrats stay away from foreign policy whenever possible. When Hillary talks about the subject, she usually gives us diplomatic doubletalk. We know from her days in the State Department that her goal has always been not "America First" but rather "Hillary First". After four years as secretary of state, she had no accomplishments to list, but there were many failures.
The truth is that Trump's foreign policy sounds pretty good.
No comments:
Post a Comment