In the history of mankind, many republics have risen, have flourished for a less or greater time, and then have fallen because their citizens lost the power of governing themselves and thereby of governing their state. TR

Wh3

White House Dossier

The Trump Doctrine: Pick up the Cans Clinton, Bush, and Obama Kicked Down the Road

I have an op-ed about President Trump’s foreign policy running on the NBC News website today. Here’s a taste of the piece:

That clattering noise you’ve been hearing for years is the sound of previous U.S. presidents, from Bill Clinton to George W. Bush to Barack Obama, kicking cans down the road for someone else to pick up. Now, a heavyset older man with orange hair has set about collecting them — not to recycle for another president, but to ensure no future U.S. leader will trip over them.

Critics describe President Donald Trump’s foreign policy as a muddled, unpredictable collection of impulses, with the one organizing principle being the coddling of like-minded, ruthless dictators. But there is, in fact, a defining diplomatic strategy: He is cleaning up the messes left by his predecessors.

Trump, regularly derided as the most irresponsible of presidents, is actually taking ownership of the most terrifying problems the country faces and trying to solve them in a direct way that his recent predecessors avoided.

Trump is actually taking ownership of the most terrifying problems the country faces and trying to solve them in a direct way that his recent predecessors avoided.

With respect to Iran, China, North Korea and even Russia, Trump is taking tough stances. He is getting cozy with dictators because the man who considers himself an artist of the deal understands that those are the people he must strike bargains with.

I hope you get a chance to check it out.

15 thoughts on “The Trump Doctrine: Pick up the Cans Clinton, Bush, and Obama Kicked Down the Road”

  1. Mr. Pibb

    A few months ago Trump was commenting on one of these “kick the can” issues and said, “It wasn’t me who did this…it was our past geniuses.”

  2. srdem65

    IMO, we ain’t seen nothin’ yet from PresidentTrump’s foreign policy agenda. When he wins in 2020, he’ll pull our troops out of Afghanistan, reduce the number of American troops in Europe, squeeze Iran until they cry ‘uncle’, tell China to take a hike off a short pier, and that’s what we want our President to do.
    When Obama went on the ApologyTour, he shamed us and we haven’t forgotten how we felt watching him bow down to foreign dictators.
    We expect our POTUS, no matter who, to acknowledge that we are Top Dog, don’t bow to anyone, anywhere.
    ot: a little
    Biden issued his foreign messed up policy today that would resume the Obama position that America owes every country something -money, apologies,free trade, something.
    That’s not who we are (as they say).

    1. Langley Spook

      Afghanistan = Nuke it from orbit.

      If ANYONE on Sept 12, 2001 had ever read a military history book they would have know Afghanistan was going to be a mess & useless…

      1. Cisco

        “Afghanistan, where empires go to die”
        Kipling?
        Any who, it didn’t take the Brits or Russkies 19 years to unass Afganistian.

        1. Langley Spook

          The Brits & Russkies got their asses kicked, went home & left that place to the savages who live there and kill each other.

          Why hasnt the USA learned this lesson after 19+ freakin years of wasted American lives & treasure.

  3. Langley Spook

    Well Said Keith!
    …pick up the cans from Clinton to Bush to Obama.

    All those stuck-up, arrogant, elitist, know-it-all, pricks who are career State Dept bureaucrats/swamp scum, there’s a major cause of the problems in modern US Foreign Affairs…

    Looking back, I am kinda glad I never passed the Foreign Service Officer Test back in 2003 and was never sucked into that swamp that is the US State Dept.

    1. Sarah

      I have always been proud to have served my country as a Foreign Service Officer….And glad I made the decision to get out mid-career (not the norm) even though I was on the fast-track. Most of my colleagues couldn’t believe I would actually do such a thing. Better for me, better for my family.

      1. Sarah

        Langley Spook, thankfully I was smart enough to get out. Some of my colleagues had a similar mind-set but not most — especially the Economic and Political Officers who were in many respects glorified newspaper readers.

Comments are closed.