Trump’s Non-Convention Fire: His Foreign Policy Interview

Ken AshfordElection 2016, Foreign AffairsLeave a Comment

Well, we know why Trump doesn’t discuss policy much.  Because when he DOES, oooooh my.  The New York Times has yet another interview with Donald Trump, foreign policy genius. Let’s listen in:

He even called into question whether, as president, he would automatically extend the security guarantees that give the 28 members of NATO the assurance that the full force of the United States military has their back.

For example, asked about Russia’s threatening activities that have unnerved the small Baltic States that are the most recent entrants into NATO, Mr. Trump said that if Russia attacked them, he would decide whether to come to their aid only after reviewing whether those nations “have fulfilled their obligations to us.”

Vladimir Putin will be delighted to hear this.

And so much for pledges, right?  We have kept this one to our NATO allies for 75 years.  Trump wants to throw it away or squeeze more out of them.

Trump’s ridiculous comments have already had international repercussions:

The head of NATO was forced to offer public assurances that the alliance remains firmly committed to its mission after Donald Trump expressed hesitance on Wednesday that the United States would honor NATO’s security guarantees to its member countries.

“Solidarity among allies is a key value for NATO. This is good for European security and good for US security. We defend one another,” NATO Secretary General‎ Jens Stoltenberg told BuzzFeed News in an interview published on Thursday.

“Two world wars have shown that peace in Europe is also important for the security of the United States,” he added.

Stoltenberg’s comments come after Trump gave a troubling interview to the New York Times on Wednesday, suggesting that he was not willing to help all NATO nations in need.

When asked if he would assist the Baltic states that have recently joined NATO in combatting Russian aggression, Trump said he would help only after assessing whether those countries “have fulfilled their obligations to us.”

Trump’s comments could embolden Putin’s Russia, cause distress among America’s European allies, and undermine the careful decades-long work of forging a lasting European peace. They come after the Trump campaign worked to soften language in the 2016 Republican platform about helping Ukraine fight Russian forces. The platform will not call for the U.S. to supply arms to Ukraine, despite broad support among Republicans for helping Ukraine fight Russian forces if necessary.

So… well done there, Candidate Trump.  No wonder Putin loves you.  Even John Bolton thinks Trump has gone off the rails.

“When an American leader says ‘I’ll look at what the situation is after the Russians attack,’ that is an open invitation to Vladimir Putin,” Bolton said.

“When he (Putin) reads this kind of statement, it’s an encouragement to him. We’re not deterring him, we’re in effect giving him a free hand. So I hope that whoever advised Mr. Trump on this rethinks it,” Bolton said.

UPDATE:  Paul Manafort, the Trump campaign manager says that the Times got it wrong.  But nope.  The transcript is clear.

Also from the New York Times interview:

Reiterating his threat to pull back United States troops deployed around the world, he said, “We are spending a fortune on military in order to lose $800 billion,” citing what he called America’s trade losses. “That doesn’t sound very smart to me.”

Mr. Trump repeatedly defined American global interests almost purely in economic terms. Its roles as a peacekeeper, as a provider of a nuclear deterrent against adversaries like North Korea, as an advocate of human rights and as a guarantor of allies’ borders were each quickly reduced to questions of economic benefit to the United States.

Lots of politicians say American can no longer be policeman of the world. Trump actually believes it. Next:

Mr. Trump said he was convinced that he could persuade Mr. Erdogan to put more effort into fighting the Islamic State. But the Obama administration has run up, daily, against the reality that the Kurds — among the most effective forces the United States is supporting against the Islamic State — are being attacked by Turkey, which fears they will create a breakaway nation.

Asked how he would solve that problem, Mr. Trump paused, then said: “Meetings.”

Not everything is a business deal, jerkface.