Trump's Triumphs Installment 4: Foreign Policy
Looking at a map of Trump property holdings outside the US, one can’t help but make a connection between them and the president’s hard-nosed, hands-on foreign policy. His company owns properties in Asia (including South Korea), the Middle East (Turkey, Azerbaijan, Dubai), Europe (Scotland and Ireland), as well as North and South America.
As an international builder, the president would know - perhaps better than anyone - how foreign policy affects corporations and individuals. He’d know the ways in which the EU benefits Ireland, for example, but hurts rural Scotland, or how tariffs might affect the price of Chinese steel in Uruguay, making it more or less expensive than in Mumbai or New York. He’d know how paying into Canadian National Health affects the bottom line and how American employees compare to those from a wide range of cultures. Lastly, he’d fully appreciate how developing and third world nations are rapidly changing thanks to modern infrastructure and the internet. No doubt, throughout his decades long business career, when Trump thought of foreign policy, he thought “If only!”
So it’s surprising how surprised main stream media appears over the president actually having a policy, let alone succeeding at implementing it.
According to ForeignPolicy.com, the president’s “totally boring” plan has three basic components: fighting terrorism, containing Iran, and supporting Israel. Supporting this premise are Trump’s most public foreign successes to date:
- The announcement of a meeting between himself and Kim Jong Un possible scheduled for the end of May. Apparently, calling the dictator “rocket man” and threatening to “totally destroy North Korea”(AP) made an impact.
- The battle against Isis, which has lost nearly 100 percent of the territory it once controlled in Iraq and Syria, demonstrates "the president’s commitment to an assertive stance and the revival of hard-nosed realism.”(WhiteHouse.gov)
- The US officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announced the relocation of the U.S. embassy in Israel to that city. This move on Trump’s four dimensional chess board revealed the subversive motives of many at the United Nations and provided the president with motivation to renegotiate foreign aid.
But, according to the White House, the president’s America First (but not alone) policy is even simpler than that and stems from one basic premise: “economic security is national security.” President Trump “implement(s) policies that jumpstart job creation and strengthen our country’s economic base” and “bolster(s) American influence by leading a coalition of strong and independent nations to promote security, prosperity, and peace both within America’s borders and beyond.” “The promise of a better future will come in part from reasserting American sovereignty and the right of all nations to determine their own futures.”
To this end, Trump convinced congress to lower corporate and personal taxes, incentivizing companies to reinvest in America. He is also "modernizing and rebuilding America’s armed forces” (WhiteHouse.gov) as well as strengthening our borders with the four pillars outlined in his State of the Union Address: 1) DACA pathway citizenship, in exchange for 2) the wall on our southern border, 3) the end of the immigration visa lottery and 4) the end of chain migration.
Therefore, the man (falsely) accused of colluding with Russian hackers knows that attacks on our national identity - whether through the influx of too many illegals, Facebook’s anti-conservative algorithms, or the hacking of government servers by enemies of all stripes - are actually attacks on our borders. And that the best way to combat such attacks is to secure the American Dream by making sure that those who live here have work, and those who wish to migrate here can both take care of themselves and meld with the core principles outlined in our constitution.
Trump’s experience as a negotiator give him the confidence to walk away from bad deals without false fears over reputation. According to Yahoo News, Trump delivered an ultimatum to the European signatories of the Iran Nuclear Deal on Jan. 12, saying they must agree to “fix the terrible flaws of the…deal,” which was agreed under his predecessor Barack Obama, or he would refuse to extend U.S. sanctions relief on Iran.”
He knows that the Europeans have no choice but to do business with the US, so he holds them accountable. Unlike politicians, who seek re-election, or even other business leaders, who may care more about stock options than their corporations products and services, Trump the builder expects concrete results from his interactions. Trump the international builder respects cultures and borders and sees them as tools for peaceful trade and mutual accomplishment.