Circumnavigating Trump's World View

During the Republican National Convention in Cleveland which nominated Donald Trump (R-NY) as the GOP Presidential standard bearer, the candidate granted a 45 minute interview to the New York Times on Defense and  Foreign Policy issues. 

His expressed policies point toward an America First priority, a slogan which has an unfortunate history of being associated the Charles Limbergh and 1940 American isolationism. But Trump thinks this is a brand new, modern term which connotes "We are going to take care of everyone in this country before we worry about everyone else in the world."

To his credit, Trump did not pussy foot around a self interested, national weltanschaaung in seeking to "Make America Great Again.".  Trump demurred from dictating how Turkey should resolve their internal politics, noting that "America has to fix its own mess" before trying to alter the behavior of other nations. In fact, Trump mused: "How are we going to lecture when people are shooting policemen in cold blood?” So moral equivalence, a politically correct thought, shuts down America speaking against evil in the world. 

Trump reiterated his threat to pull back American troops deployed to keep stability around the world. Trump chided “We are spending a fortune on military in order to lose $800 billion [in America's trade loss]. That doesn’t sound very smart to me.”  Trump thinks that if there is a threat to the United States, we can deploy troops from our shores. 

Trump echoed his ambition to pull out of NAFTA in a split second, unless Canada and Mexico can be bullied to renegotiate more favorable terms for the United States. And probably that Mexico will pay for a border wall. 


What was truly shocking was Trump's ambivalence to adhering to Article V of the NATO Treaty for joint defense. When pressed on whether the United States would come to the defense of the Baltic States if there was an invasion by the Russian Federation, Trump implied that there would be a cost benefit analysis which was premised on whether those nations are "fulfilling their obligations to us."  So signed and ratified treaties are only bargaining positions in Trump's World. Well, at least Trump seemed to know that Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania are under the NATO security umbrella, unlike Ben Carson.

Former Reagan Foreign Policy and current American Enterprise Institute Resident Scholar Gary Schmitt, the Trump America First policy is likened to a child who picks up his ball and goes home to lock himself up in a room. 

And that's a viewpoint from a CONSERVATIVE think tank. 

Is this the serious Trump which Trump Convention Manager Paul Manafort promised in the second phase of the campaign (Trump 2.0).  If so, Trump's views on foreign affairs and defense are seriously askew.

H/T: New York Times
        AEI