On the campaign trail, Donald Trump’s foreign policy smacks of bluster and bellicosity. He is, as he often says, ready to ‘knock the hell out of ISIS.’ But that kind of rhetoric appears to mask a far different philosophy, that of an inward-looking politician whose views represent a dramatic break with years of Republican Party orthodoxy.
From the Middle East to Europe to Asia, Trump’s instincts appear shaped by his belief that too much has been asked of the United States and that it’s time for other nations to shoulder a far bigger share of the financial and other burdens of dealing with a world of dangerous terrorists and aggressive states such as Russia and China.
Trump met Monday morning with members of The Washington Post’s editorial board. An audio recording of the hour-long interview was shared with reporters and editors in the newsroom. In perhaps the most extensive questioning he has faced on foreign policy issues, the Republican front-runner sounded more isolationist than interventionist, more interested in rebuilding the United States than nation-building overseas.
‘I don’t think we should be doing nation-building anymore,’ he said when he was asked about the values and policies of previous presidents such as Ronald Reagan. ‘I think it’s proven not to work. .’.’. I just think we have to rebuild our country. .’.’. There are values in our country that we have to promote. We have a country that’s in bad shape.’
He fretted that the United States is spending billions and billions of dollars to support countries such as Germany, Saudi Arabia, Japan and South Korea. ‘We spent billions of dollars on Saudi Arabia and they have nothing but money, and I say, ‘Why?”’ Trump said. ‘I would structure a much different deal with them, and it would be a much better deal.’
This post was published at David Stockmans Contra Corner on March 23, 2016.
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