WHAT MAKES TRUMP TICK... ANDWHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR AMERICAN NATIONAL SECURITY?
I t’s too early in his first term to judge Trump’s security approach, but we have seen some initial trends. Judged strictly on a policy basis, the first year of Trump’s national security strategy fell largely within the standard GOP playbook. He kept the Iran deal in place, reassured NATO of his commitment to the alliance, and left U.S. troops in Afghanistan. His most senior and seasoned advisors in the national security sphere, notably Gen. James Mattis as secretary of defense and Gen. H.R. McMaster as his national security advisor, provide expert counsel and a tempering influence. These Cabinet members, among other confidantes, pushed Trump to maintain some policy continuity with previous administrations. That may well have helped reassure allies and stabilize markets. But Donald Trump is in many ways the ultimate non-traditional president. His seat- of-the-pants approach to issues ranging from trade tariffs to handling a hostile press is unprecedented. That the Donald plays by his own rules delights his base... and keeps his detractors up at night. Nowhere is his style more of a shock
to expected norms than national security – and paradoxically because of that, national security may end up being the greatest arena of success for his presidency. Trump’s tone, however, has been a radical departure from previous presidents, and could indicate some high-stakes policy maneuvers are forthcoming. It is in the realm of national security that Trump’s shoot-from-the-hip rhetorical style most worries his Democratic opposition. While their concerns of a Trump- based creeping fascism at home have faded, the anti-Trump Left still frets over a possible Twitter-induced nuclear exchange. Scorned, still-recovering Hillary supporters can console themselves that a trade war would be reversible. A real war would not. Of course, President Trump could care less what his detractors (“ haters ,” in Trumpian parlance) think. Never one to shy away from blunt-force discourse, Trump dials up the rhetoric on security matters. He is the leader of the free world, but he doesn’t shy away from calling transnational Latino gang members “bad hombres” or taking to Twitter
By Buck Sexton
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to refer to trade deals as “very stupid.” Nowhere has this tendency been more
American Consequences 21
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