GOD HELP US WITH TRUMP & OUR FOREIGN ALLIES

…Trump is ignorant of the US Constitution.  He once thought it had 15 Articles…it has 7.

 

Many foreign leaders are fearing that Trump would alter US foreign policy.

 

It’s obvious that with Trump being the non-politician, all the polls were wrong because they continually reviewed Trump’s campaign like they have always looked at other politicians.  In addition, the polls and the opinion writers had no real idea that the public in general was and is, really pissed off at the grid-lock in Washington.  And these voters decided that they think Trump is the answer.

 

Another issue for this particular election is how the two parties feel about each other.  I read that 55% of the Democrats that were asked, said they were scared of Republicans and their crazy ideology, and 49% of the Republicans asked, were scared of the Democrats and their ideas....?

 

On the other hand, what I am most concerned with about a Trump presidency, is his total lack of experience in foreign affairs.  Everything from the relationships with Cuba and Russia, to Great Britain and Europe and Asia.

 

On Tuesday, Trump once again made his “America First” proclamation.  According to the foreign press, many foreign leaders are fearing that Trump would alter US foreign policy.

 

The problem is that Trump has so little knowledge of the US Constitution, US law and US foreign policy, trying to figure out where Trump is truly coming from is a real challenge.  A challenge for our friends, our enemies and the American public.

 

But one thing is for sure.  That is, whatever the relationship is with Russia, the Middle East, Europe and Asia, Trump has previously promised that he would be breaking the country off from its current approach.

 

Now what does that really mean……and who the hell knows?

 

More and more foreign senior officials consider Trump as an inexperienced and unreliable American who might dismantle traditional US commitments and alliances. And most foreign leaders have stated that they are highly upset and concerned that Hillary Clinton, an advocate of traditional US strategy and commitments, lost the race.

 

If Trump follows through with his former statements, you will see a new focus on US national and internal interests and a rejection of US engagements abroad.

 

Here are some of what some of the experts say is expected:

 

First, you will see a move to improve relations with a combative and assertive Russia. You will recall that Trump stressed repeatedly during the campaign, at some political cost to him, that he would work with President Vladimir Putin. “I think I’d be able to get along with him,” he said in September at a televised forum hosted by NBC. “If he says great things about me, I’m gonna say great things about him. . . . I mean, the man has very strong control over a country.”

 

Even though 17 separate US intelligence organizations have said that Russia had meddled in the presidential election,  all Trump would say is “I doubt it, I doubt it”.  Trump has said this when he was asked about it directly.

The Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, accused “Russia’s senior-most officials” of approving the hacking of Democratic Party websites. Trump’s denial of that led some Democrats to argue that electing Trump had been Russia’s real goal.

 

Trump has also since backed-off of his comment that he would dismantle NATO.  But, he has continued to say that the NATO nations need to pay more for being under the US military umbrella.  Well, Trump obviously hasn’t understood that most of the NATO countries pay more than just their share of the costs of NATO.  Yes, there are some nations that do not have the finances to pay their complete fair share, but that’s why those countries that have the resources, they will pay a bit more to cover those few that are not as well financed.  I don't think "The Donald" has a clue about the details of NATO.

 

The area that everyone is concerned about is where Hillary accused Trump of undermining commitments to defend NATO allies and Asian partners such as Japan and South Korea.  Trump has never retreated from his speech in which he said “the US must be prepared to let these countries defend themselves.”   But he then added: “Even if that means letting them acquire nuclear weapons.”  This is a serious no-no that Trump needs to fully understand the logic of this not happening.  The world does not need more nations having nuclear weapons, especially those nations in the Middle-East.

 

The other questionable area is Trump’s idea of a joint military effort with Russia and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to defeat the Islamic State (ISIS). Trump proposed this as a shared campaign, “If Russia and the United States got along well and went after ISIS, that would be good,” he said. He also offered positive comments about Assad, saying, “He’s just much tougher and much smarter than her [Clinton],” adding that if the opposition should win in Syria, “you may very well end up with worse than Assad.”   Sorry Donald, it doesn’t quite work that way.  Having joint military efforts in our adversary's own military arenas is not a workable idea.

 

I’m not sure how Trump is going to do it, but he is still promising to step-up the US military activity against ISIS.  He has said he will replace those generals that are not; “sufficiently combative”, whatever that means.  But he has never gone beyond this statement and what he really meant...?

 

The leaders in Europe are today referring to Trump’s election win as the “Brexit of the United States”.  "Brexit" was the neo-nationalist approach and the surprise voter victory of the exiting of the British from the European Union.  The British courts have now gotten involved by requiring that the British Parliament must now vote on the exiting from the Union, before they begin the actions for leaving.

 

What really concerns me about Mr. Trump and his lack of understanding US foreign policy issues is that in his “Make America Great Again “ approach, his “America First” attitude is just so brazen!  I could see many US allies in both Europe and Asia start making their own trade deals without the US with an assertive Russia and a rising China.  By rejecting the up-coming TPP agreement out-right, Trump and the GOP are saying: "OK China, you go ahead and lock up your deals with all of the South-East Asia nations."  That would be a very costly mistake for the US.

 

As one diplomat has already stated,  “It would be impossible for even Trump to undo today's globalization, but he could easily remove the US leadership in the current global trade agreement discussions.”

 

This is the kind of issues that could get a novice in foreign policy like Trump into serious trouble with our long-time allies.

 

God help us with Trump and our foreign allies.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2016