The Trump Doctrine Explained Analysis

By Luis Durani*
My foreign policy will always put the interests of the American people and
American security above all else. Donald Trumps recent speech discussed his
overall foreign policy theme. In the course of navigating through his speech,
Donald Trump attempted to paint a new global direction for America that breaks
away from the rusting trajectory of US foreign policy since the end of the Cold
War.
While sounding almost elementary, Trump vowed to return the US to a timeless
principle of America First, which he argued has been absent from US foreign
policy objectives for a while. As Trump read through his speech, there was a
dialectical engagement of sorts with the audience on whether America has been
protected by her foreign policy for the past 25 years. After discussing and
critiquing the status quo, Donald Trump laid out his vision for a new America.

Synopsis
After glorifying the past and discussing the necessities of certain wars such as
World War II and the Cold War, Trump turned his attention to the current state
of foreign policy. He argued that America has lost her way since the end of the
Cold War by engaging the world with a vision of foolishness and arrogance.
Interestingly, this castigation of US foreign policy is bipartisan in the fact that he
was critiquing Clinton, Bush, and Obama. More importantly, he gets to the root
of failure in American foreign policy. He critiqued the premise that American
intervention would lead to Jeffersonian democracies around the world. In such a
manner, he condemns the humanitarian interventionist policy of Bill Clinton,
nation building of George Bush and neo-democratic interventions of Barack
Obama. Trump defies what the media, Republicans, and Democrats all neglect;
by stating the large degree of culpability the US shares in decimating the
infrastructures of the nations the US has intervened in and creating the
environment for terror to thrive due to bad foreign policy principles.

Trump goes on to outline five (5) shortcomings plaguing the current state of
American foreign policy:
1.Resources Trump focuses on Americas solvency and economic state,
which appears to be heading towards collapse. The US has become overextended
in all aspects leading to a weakened nation that is unable to fix its aging
infrastructure.
2.Fair Share Trump continued his attack on the notion of unequal
distribution of costs amongst Americas allies when it comes to defense. He
brought up the fact that only a few of Americas NATO partners are adhering to
the minimum requirements per the alliances charter while the US is carrying the
preponderance of costs for defense. Trump plans to end this problem by either
having these nations pay their fair share or exclude them from the American
defense umbrella.
3.Reliability Trump accused the Obama administration of not being a
dependable partner to Americas historical allies such as Israel and Egypt. Trump
believes the fickleness in American foreign policies has left both allies and
enemies dumbfounded.
4.Respect Due to the actions of the US or lack thereof in some cases, ally and
foe alike do not respect the US anymore, according to Trump. In order to make
his point, Trump alluded to the two recent trips President Obama took (Cuba and
Saudi Arabia) and where there were no foreign leaders present to greet him.
5.Lack of Direction/Clarity Finally, Trump points to the lack of vision for
American foreign policy since the end of the Cold War. This lack of clarity has led
to quagmires in areas where America should not have been involved. While
alluding to the fact that his administration will not be isolationist, he points out
that this legacy of intervention has led to disarray and tragedy for everyone.

The Trump Doctrine

While America First appears to be the theme of Donald Trumps entire
campaign, he has managed to bring it into the foreign affairs realm as well.
Trump is creating a foreign policy that is almost reminiscent of a distant past,

where nationalism trumped (no pun intended) globalism. Trump claims he will
reorient American foreign policy by focusing on imminent and long-term threats.
Donald Trump plans to:
Eliminate the most looming threat to US national security; ISIS
and extremism. He plans to work with regional nations to help
eliminate the scourge that threatens Europe, the Middle East, and
America.
Focus on rebuilding the military to be able to withstand the
expanding capabilities of nations such as Russia and China.
Concetrate on policies that are a function of American interests.
Trump wants a foreign policy that is more centered on Realpolitik
than the current Neoliberalism approach.
Even though the US appears to be butting heads with Russia and
China, Trump thinks the US can coexist with both nations. While
being cognizant of their differences with the US, Trump believes
rivalry is not the only option. He views cordial relations based on
shared interests and fears are key. China will be Trumps main
focus; he believes the Chinese are the key to a prosperous future.
While they have taken advantage of America, according to Trump,
their behaviors can be rectified if dealt with from a position of
strength.
Upon becoming president, Trump will call a NATO summit and an
Asian summit. The intention is to update the objectives of the
alliances threatening todays world as well as rebalance financial
commitments with Americas allies in Europe and Asia.

How is it Different
Trumps doctrine is looking to hearken back to an era where Americas foreign
policy was more nationalistic in nature than globalist. Perhaps the largest
difference that can be observed is that when the US gets involved abroad its
intent and how it is pertinent to its interests will be well known, thus laying out a
clear set of objectives for Americans. The current approach of American foreign
policy always tends to have some sort of corporate interest cloaked beneath the
justification of humanitarian intervention or nation building. Americans have

grown weary of this and do not see any benefit in this approach. Instead the
inveterate approach creates more enemies and results in tremendous costs for
the American public. Trump promises to change this by focusing his foreign
policy on American interests solely. This will be a deviation from the past. In a
sense, he is altering the definition of superpower. The long held belief is that as a
superpower, nations would have additional responsibility to the international
community by being more involved. This type of archaic thinking, according to
Trump, is what has gotten the US into quagmires, endless spending, and loss of
prestige. In its place, Trump wants a strong US that watches out for its interests
and does not intervene in anything that does not pertain to that.

Critique
As with any policy or objective, flaws and shortcomings exist. With the Trump
Doctrine, there are few points that Trump appears to have omitted or will need to
address.
While Trump is echoing the frustration of most Americans with
respect to the unequal distribution of costs for defense between
the US and its allies, Trump appears to neglect the fact that these
treaties were not dictated to the US by these nations but in most
cases crafted by the US. While the US does pay for the majority of
costs, these expenditures are the price the US pays in terms of
securing allies, land bases, air space rights, etc. as well as
opening foreign markets to American corporations. It doesnt
behoove any nation to just provide free defense or give away aid.
The US benefits as well in such agreements. If not economically,
it is imperative to the US geopolitical calculus to have such
nations on their side.
While Trump continues to contend that the US military has gotten
weaker, this is not necessarily true. Yes, military spending is
reducing but this comes at the heels of it exponentially exploding
in the past decade. Simultaneously, technology has greatly
improved, thus changing how America fights its wars. The US
military is undergoing a philosophical shift to become
autonomous by relying more on aerial, ground, and aquatic

drones to fight and gather intelligence, hence its reduction in

size. A 21st-century military will need to be lean, autonomous
and technology adept.
When Trump accuses China of taking advantage of its relation
with the US through devaluation of currency, he is right but he
also ignores similar methods employed by the US. Either Trump is
neglecting or uninformed about the current global currency war
ongoing between nations. China devalues its currency to boosts
its exports because the US devalues its currency as well. The US
devaluation takes place through quantitative easing (QE) and
interest rate reduction. With the US retaining the major reserve
currency status, China and other nations have invested heavily in
the US dollar. Through QE, the US has devalued its currency by
mass printing, which helps the US reduce its debt burden to
China.
A major omission from Trumps speech was the Afghan war.
Donald Trump did not discuss the longest war in American history.
He has broached the subject before with the idea of maintaining
the current contingent of 10,000 troops almost indefinitely until
the situation is pacified but he never discusses how. The current
situation in Afghanistan epitomizes the true definition of a
quagmire. Despite employing an Iraqi-style surge to no avail, the
US finds itself lost in Afghanistan with no clear objectives. The
Taliban are gaining ground and popularity as each day goes by
while the corrupt Afghan government continues to fight internally
over money and power. If elected, the Afghan War will pose a
major headache for Trump since no solution really exists aside
from a full withdrawal.

Conclusion
In order to further promote his credential as a presidential candidate, Donald
Trump gave a foreign policy speech outlining his objective and position.
Demonstrating a break from the past, Trump plans to take a more nationalistic
tone in his vision for America. Citing the failures of the past 25 years of American
foreign policy, Trump emphasized how his approach will scrutinize everything

before an action is taken and only proceed with actions for the protection of
Americans, not other entities be they allies or corporations. While his policy
demonstrates inconsistencies and flaws, overall it appears to be a reset in how
America will do business abroad.