Trump Has No Foreign Policy

nhboy

Ubi bene ibi patria
" Whenever a new American president takes office, or even well beforehand, analysts and academics rush to discern their foreign policy “doctrine”—a grand theory that connects what might otherwise appear to be a Pollock-like splattering of dots.

The Bush doctrine, for instance, was supposedly about the rejection of multilateral constraints on American power, or maybe it was a willingness to wage pre-emptive war to promote “freedom abroad,” or protect the U.S. homeland; the Obama doctrine, depending on whom you ask, placed a new emphasis on “dignity” at home and around the world, sought to revitalize diplomacy as a tool of American leadership, displayed reluctance about using force abroad (except for the many instances when it didn’t) and was eventually boiled down by the boss to “don’t do stupid ####.”

You can see where I’m going here: This kind of exercise is often a fool’s errand. As a big nation with myriad interests, many of which inevitably come into conflict, even in the most regimented of times, U.S. engagement with the world doesn’t lend itself to theoretical coherence. Unlike in the imaginary world of political theory, real presidents rarely have doctrines; more often, they have a collection of strategies that they struggle to implement and an endless series of reactive scrambles to events.

The present era is no different in that regard. What is different is that right now not only is there no discernible doctrine guiding President Donald Trump’s foreign policy, the United States currently has no real foreign policy at all. By that I mean not that the policies are objectionable, or that the Trump team is struggling with the learning curve each new administration faces at the outset, as it reviews its predecessors’ approach and settles on its own. Rather, I mean that we are experiencing an unprecedented degree of policy incoherence on virtually every major issue the country faces. "

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/02/trump-has-no-foreign-policy-214797
 

Hijinx

Well-Known Member
" Whenever a new American president takes office, or even well beforehand, analysts and academics rush to discern their foreign policy “doctrine”—a grand theory that connects what might otherwise appear to be a Pollock-like splattering of dots.

The Bush doctrine, for instance, was supposedly about the rejection of multilateral constraints on American power, or maybe it was a willingness to wage pre-emptive war to promote “freedom abroad,” or protect the U.S. homeland; the Obama doctrine, depending on whom you ask, placed a new emphasis on “dignity” at home and around the world, sought to revitalize diplomacy as a tool of American leadership, displayed reluctance about using force abroad (except for the many instances when it didn’t) and was eventually boiled down by the boss to “don’t do stupid ####.”

You can see where I’m going here: This kind of exercise is often a fool’s errand. As a big nation with myriad interests, many of which inevitably come into conflict, even in the most regimented of times, U.S. engagement with the world doesn’t lend itself to theoretical coherence. Unlike in the imaginary world of political theory, real presidents rarely have doctrines; more often, they have a collection of strategies that they struggle to implement and an endless series of reactive scrambles to events.

The present era is no different in that regard. What is different is that right now not only is there no discernible doctrine guiding President Donald Trump’s foreign policy, the United States currently has no real foreign policy at all. By that I mean not that the policies are objectionable, or that the Trump team is struggling with the learning curve each new administration faces at the outset, as it reviews its predecessors’ approach and settles on its own. Rather, I mean that we are experiencing an unprecedented degree of policy incoherence on virtually every major issue the country faces. "

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/02/trump-has-no-foreign-policy-214797

Well Obama bowing to all of the worlds leaders, and apologizing all around the world wasn't much of a foreign policy either.
 
Top