#43 - Dispruption as a Doctrine

Dispruption as a Doctrine

That’s how Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations refers to Trump’s foreign policy. I have listened to Haass over the years and found him to be extremely knowledgeable, credible and balanced as a foreign affairs expert who can think long term and do so strategically.  Most noteworthy, he is a Republican who served under George H.W. Bush, was a close advisor of Colin Powell and has been critical of Obama’s foreign affairs endeavors as many times as he has been supportive.  This is important for me as I want to improve my understanding of the world from someone who is not in the bag for liberals, Democrats, or the left leaning press, nor from someone who lives and breathes the unique perspective of the Fox News Channel.

His commentary on Morning Joe yesterday morning provided a fair synopsis of where we are with Trump's management of world affairs, or more precisely lack thereof.   He cited Trump’s pulling out of TPP, his failure to reaffirm Article 5 of the NATO agreement and now his decision to pull the plug on the Paris Accord as three examples which don't add long term value to the U.S., but Haass’s more important point  was that Trump offers no vision for the future.

He went on to say that Trump has this amazing inheritance of goodwill which the US has painstakingly been built up over 70+ years by Republicans and Democrats alike, and he is systematically, check that, he is unsystematically tearing it down with nothing to put in its place.

He ended his commentary with an appropriate analogy stating that this is the equivalent of a health care debate.   This is repeal without replace.

Expanding on Haass’s comments, the pulling out of TPP, under the rationale of improving trade for the U.S., has only served to improve China’s relationships with the other 13 partner countries who participated.   His failure to reaffirm article 5 of the NATO agreement, was baffling as this was something all US presidents have done since 1948, and by some accounts came as a surprise to critical members of his own team including McMaster, Tillerson and Maddox.  His public lecturing of NATO leaders for failure to pay their full share of funds to the organization (some reports have said this is inaccurate, but giving Trump the benefit of the doubt) was an opportunity to show some diplomacy and could have been delivered in private.   Instead, it was more important for Trump to show everyone how tough he was by publicly embarrassing his them. And that was before he made the call to pull out of the Paris Accord, which according to a recently released Washington Post – ABC poll, showed that 55 percent of Americans believe the decision hurts U.S. leadership in the world, while just 18 percent said it would help American leadership’s standing.  All of this has only served to astonish them our allies. 

Trump’s strategic approach to showcasing US strength, apparently centers around pissing them off our closest allies in the process.

Layer in the fact that Trump wants to cut the State Department budget 31%, and by all accounts he can't fill open positions fast enough. I have to conclude that Haas's is correct.  Of the Trump administration on foreign affairs, all we have seen Is a desire to disrupt. 

I do disagree with Haass on one point though.   This is not a doctrine, it’s dogma.