TRUM WORL ORDE
external actors including Iran, Russia, and Turkey pursue their own interests in zero-sum fashion. The circumstances in Afghanistan aren’t much
BORDERS Illegal immigration crosses over into many different realms. It is simultaneously a domestic and foreign policy issue, an economic as well as national security issue. If there is any one challenge that will define Trump’s success or failure, it is solving the problem of mass illegal immigration. Trump promised to secure our borders, restore sovereignty, and enforce immigration laws, and even his most ardent supporters are likely to abandon him if he gives up on this fight. Congress, however, is another matter. The recent debacle over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals “DACA” program, is instructive here. Inertia is their preferred option. It is becoming increasingly clear that neither Democrats nor Republicans in the Senate want to take any meaningful action on immigration, preferring instead to use it as a fundraising tool for the 2018 midterms. How Trump can get around this legislative logjam is anybody’s guess right now. DEFEAT JIHADISTS One of the least touted successes of Trump’s term in office has been the accelerated defeat of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Trump expanded the target set for airstrikes against ISIS and gave control of those decisions to the commanders on the ground. The result was that the slow degradation of ISIS turned into an all-out rout. What has been left behind in Syria, however, is a viper pit. Warring factions continue to hammer each other inside Syria’s borders, and
better. Trump has decided to stay the course with a relatively small commitment of U.S. troops, but the security situation continues to deteriorate. In counterinsurgency, if you’re not winning, you’re losing, and unless Trump and his commanders have an unforeseen trick up their sleeves, all the Taliban has to do now is wait us out. REBUILD MILITARY Trump has signed the bill for a 13% increase in the military budget from 2017 for 2018. It is only set to go higher after that. With this, he is following through on his campaign promises to rebuild the military after decades of punishing deployment schedules to Iraq and Afghanistan. That Trump seems to have fallen into the bipartisan trap of spending the government further into debt is an issue that will have to wait for another time... and perhaps another administration. RUSSIA COLLUSION The Trump national security strategy document does not address the “Russia issue,” but it has become one of the greatest vulnerabilities the administration faces. With Robert Mueller’s special counsel probe
National security may end up being the greatest arena of success for his presidency.
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