Foreign Affairs
President Trump
The President’s greatest powers are in foreign affairs, where he is largely unchecked by Congress, other than for war making and treaties.
For his first four years, President Trump alienated our traditional allies and has sought to make friends with our traditional enemies. He has broken treaties and damaged alliances. It is hard to understand his thinking, and he has cycled through a number of different national security advisors, homeland security leaders and defense team leaders, which has added to the chaos. On the other hand, he has not gotten us into any new shooting wars.
Starting in Europe, he has alienated France and Germany and encouraged the British to leave the EU. https://carnegieendowment.org/2020/05/06/trump-has-irrevocably-changed-american-relations-with-europe-and-biden-probably-can-t-fix-it-pub-81739 While cozying up to Putin, he has cast doubt on our commitments to defend our allies in NATO, and left the Ukraine in an uncertain, insecure limbo vis a vis its aggressive large neighbor who is fomenting a civil war in eastern Ukraine.
In the Middle East, he has sided with and improved relations with traditional allies (Israel, Turkey and Saudi Arabia), but walked away from our Kurdish allies in Syria, ripped up the treaty to restrain Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon, helped to worsen the civil war and suffering in Yemen, and opened up Iraq to Iranian influence and Afghanistan to a Taliban takeover. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/01/06/trumps-reckless-middle-east-policy-has-brought-the-us-to-the-brink-of-war/ His administration has helped open up important diplomatic relations between Israel and several of its Arab neighbors. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/middle-east/2020-08-19/trumps-accidental-diplomacy-middle-east
In Africa, he has been ineffectual in developing and improving relations with fast growing, emerging national economies, while China has been aggressive in developing deep economic ties in the region. Congress has blocked his Administration’s efforts to cut funds for African development. https://www.cfr.org/blog/new-study-trump-administrations-impact-us-africa-relations and https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/trumps-africa-policy-better-it-looks
Trump has pursued a mostly vocally, belligerent policy towards Latin America; this has damaged long time relationships throughout Latin America and alienated Latin American publics, with the principal exception of Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, the Trump of the Tropics. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/south-america/2017-11-08/trump-riles-latin-america and https://www.thedialogue.org/analysis/the-trump-effect-in-latin-america/ He has not succeeded in driving from power either Vicente Maduro in Venezuela or Raul Castro in Cuba. By ripping up the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement, he further opened the region to Chinese influences. You can see this first hand when you travel to Lima or Panama City.
In Asia, he has sought to develop friendlier relationships with North Korea, including a full fledged bromance with Kim Jung Un. The friendlier tone has not dampened the North Korean drive for nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems. He has fought a trade war with China, which he certainly did not win, and that caused very real damage to American farming exports. https://www.cfr.org/blog/92-percent-trumps-china-tariff-proceeds-has-gone-bail-out-angry-farmers He has ignored the plights of the Uighurs and Hong Kong. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53517439 He has forged a new military relationship with India as a counterweight to China in the Indian Ocean. https://www.iiss.org/blogs/analysis/2020/03/sasia---us-india-relations-trump-and-modi It is hard for our allies and the American public to follow the thread of the President’s thinking on China; one day President Xi is his best friend, and they can and will make extraordinary deals together. The next moment, China is doing terrible damage to our economy and to the nation’s health and well-being.
Trump has been remarkably consistent in extending a peaceful, friendly and helping hand to Vladimir Putin. He wants to bring Putin back into the G-7, from which he was ousted for invading Ukraine. Putin wants Russia to extend its spheres of influence throughout the former Soviet Union and the old Eastern Bloc of nations. It has played key roles in propping up Bashar al Assad in Syria. Putin wants to destabilize Ukraine and sow dissent throughout the US and Europe, playing important roles in the 2016 election, the Brexit election, the French and German elections and elsewhere. Trump has been at odds with most in his own Administration and in Congress and among our allies in his efforts to woo Putin; however he has achieved practically nothing, and Putin continues his malign activities. https://www.brookings.edu/policy2020/votervital/why-are-us-russia-relations-so-challenging/ Dan Coats, the ex-head of National Intelligence under Trump, wonders aloud what strange influence Putin has on Trump. https://www.businessinsider.com/bob-woodward-book-dan-coats-putin-trump-blackmail-2020-9 and https://www.axios.com/bob-woodward-book-trump-putin-russia-dan-coats-b3994f91-8791-4fdc-9adb-ad093141592b.html?utm_campaign=organic&utm_medium=socialshare&utm_source=twitter&utm_source=ground.news&utm_medium=referral Those who choose to speak truths about the Putin/Trump relationship often find themselves out of their jobs. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/08/us/politics/trump-russia.html Those who choose to keep their mouths shut even when facing prison, like Manafort, Flynn and Stone, are praised and rewarded, with their sentences commuted, guilty pleas discarded and releases from prison confinement.
President Trump does not like treaties. He has been ripping them up: Paris Climate Change, Trans-Pacific Trade, Iran, nukes and missiles. He has, however, updated one important agreement – NAFTA.
Trump praises himself as an extraordinary dealmaker. That has been rarely brought to fruition, and instead he has damaged our nation’s standing in the world and our credibility with our most important allies. The challenges to our nation and to our planet are great, and the President is not simply incompetent, but dangerous to our nation and the world.
Please vote no on President Trump on 11/3/20.
Prepared by: Lucien Wulsin
Dated: 10/29/20