Donald Trump had the opportunity over the weekend to clarify his positions on American foreign policy. While the GOP frontrunner continued to avoid disclosing many details, his statement did set a clear tone and establish a general theme. Trump was consistent in his interview with the New York Times. He’s tired of the rest of the world taking advantage of the US. Now it’s time for the rest of the world to pay up or face the consequences.
Trump didn’t mince his words when pointing more than a few US allies who should be grateful for our continued support.
“’If Saudi Arabia was without the cloak of American protection,’ Trump stated during his phone interview with the NYT, “I don’t think it would be around.'”
The United States has maintained a strained and uneven relationship with Saudi Arabia for some time. In the aftermath of 9/11, the Bush administration put a high level of pressure on the Saudis to work with US intelligence to rout out Al Qaeda. To what extent the Saudis were helpful is a matter of debate, however what isn’t in question is the tenuous domestic strains that the Saudi government must continuously manage as a price for its friendship with the US. In the end, he reduced US strategic interests in the Middle East to one resource – oil.
“… the reason we’re in the Middle East is for oil, and all of a sudden we’re finding out that there’s less reason to be there now.”
Now Trump is promising that if he is elected the next President of the United States, the Saudis will owe us some more. Depending on your perspective, Trump’s rhetoric either amounts to welcomed tough talk or borderline extortion.
What both Republican and Democratic presidents have found since the 1960s is that the Middle East is a complex geopolitical problem. Tough talk around simple sound bites may play well with the voters, but it rarely can be articulated into a sensible and effective foreign policy.
Saudi Arabia wasn’t the only US ally put on notice this weekend. The Republican candidate opined over the “unfair“ arrangement of NATO and that the US shouldn’t be responsible for so much of the organization’s economic support. Trump expressed interest in having NATO not only realign its financial arrangements, but also making a massive shift to its strategic mission.
While on the surface his statements seem easy enough and likely will play well to his core constituents, NATO is not simple a relic from the Cold War that can be refurbished or tossed out. As President Obama has learned during his second term, NATO still plays an important strategic role in Europe especially with regards to balancing the aggressions of Putin’s Russia.
The Russian strongman has shown a willingness for his country to take an aggressive posture, the likes of which the world hasn’t seen since the end of the Cold War. The United States remains the only global power with both the economic and military might to keep the Russians in check.
But above any valid criticisms of Trump’s lack of ability to grasp the realities of a complex world, the most alarming assessment to come from his New York Times interview is the clear picture of who he wants the US to be. The nation that has been a beacon for democracy and liberal ideals since the Second World War would be reduced to the equivalent of a schoolyard bully under a Trump administration.
Our global friends would fear us. Our relationships would be lopsided to clearly benefit the United States (primarily in economic ways). Our friends, like South Korea and Japan, who have relied on our strategic protection for generations would either pay up or be abandoned. And if that the removal of US military presence led to nuclear proliferation in a region, so be it.
His guiding global principle is “America First” and “we will not be ripped off anymore.”
It’s boisterous rhetoric from a candidate appealing to an angry core of voters. While they clap and cheer for him, Trump paints a clear course in which he will proudly make the United States a global bully unlike history has ever witnessed before.
Featured image courtesy of The Daily Beast.
