As America careens toward war with Iran, the governing theories about Trump’s foreign policy stand exposed as utterly inadequate critiques of this dangerous presidency.
Jeet Heer writes in The Nation Magazine:
"The real key to Trump’s foreign policy is neither neo-isolationism nor subservience to Vladimir Putin but rather belligerent incoherence. As befits the man who styles himself the master of 'the art of the deal,' Trump has an excessive faith in his own ability to glad-hand his way through thorny disputes with other power players.
"But [Secretary of State Mike Pompeo andNational Security Advisor John Bolton] have their own agenda, which boils down to shoring up American global hegemony by maximum aggression. The combination of Trump’s desire to be a wheeler-dealer on the world stage and the Pompeo/Bolton penchant for throwing America’s weight around has produced a foreign policy that is singularly confused, with a constant sending of mixed signals that could easily provoke conflict.
"If Trump headed a normal administration, one could imagine a good-cop/bad-cop dynamic. Certainly, that is the game Dwight Eisenhower played, letting his Secretary of State John Foster Dulles scare the world with talk of massive retaliation while Ike pursued arms control. Eisenhower’s vice president took the hint: Richard Nixon developed his own good-cop/bad-cop routine, spreading rumors that he was a bomb-happy madman so that foreign adversaries were eager to talk to the seemingly more reasonable Henry Kissinger.
"But if Trump hoped to use Bolton and Pompeo as pit bulls to scare other nations to the negotiation table, he quickly discovered that he doesn’t seem to have any way of controlling these wild animals. With his own tendency towards reckless rhetoric and painfully evident lack of policy knowledge, Trump lacks the skill to convincingly present himself as the reasonable alternative to anything. ...
"It’s difficult to overstate the dangers of the current moment. Bolton and Pompeo are antagonizing all of America’s rivals—and even some of its allies. Trump is so ignorant about how diplomacy works that he thinks he can tamp down these provocations through personal diplomacy. But the hawks have repeatedly displayed cunning in undermining Trump’s back channels and diplomatic initiatives.
"The proper constitutional solution, of course, is congressional oversight. But both major parties are reluctant to challenge the Trump administration on foreign policy.
"The Republicans are too complicit and the Democrats too feckless. The obsessive focus among Trump critics on either his alleged isolationism or his supposed subservience to Putin has prevented the development of a more realistic oppositional analysis, one that focuses on the dangers of mixed messages. Perhaps members of both parties prefer Bolton and Pompeo to run wild rather than risk being labeled Trump-style neo-isolationists.
"It’s entirely possible that the United States could stumble into one or more wars through a reckless administration and a weak-kneed political elite."
