Colin Dueck on Donald Trump's Ignorance of Foreign Policy

Colin Dueck
School of Policy, Government,
and
International Affairs

George Mason University

Colin Dueck, writing for the National Review in an article titled "A Nuclear-Armed Trump?" (March 7, 2016), argues that Donald Trump cannot be trusted with American foreign policy:

Trump can't defend or affirm an American-led order, because he doesn't even understand it, much less support it. Nor does he make any clear distinction between America's allies and our adversaries. Instead, he seems by instinct to nurse a kind of undifferentiated resentment toward all foreigners, with the possible exception of a few dictatorial strongmen, such as Putin, who earn his respect. Trump calls for protectionist trade policies that would impoverish the United States as well as our partners. He calls for Japan and other allies to contribute to their own defenses, without realizing that they already do. His insistence that Mexico will pay for a U.S. border wall is absurd; it will not. He calls for bombing ISIS but otherwise offers no serious strategy. His proposal for a ("temporary") ban on all Muslims into the United States would of course make counterterrorism much harder, because the U.S. can defeat jihadist terrorists only by cooperating with those Muslims who oppose [jihadist terrorists].

Dueck spells out what I've been mulling over for several weeks. Some of my friends advise me that in a face-off between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, the latter must be opposed. I have to acknowledge that Hillary has dropped in 'likability' - from my perspective - since her time with Bill in Arkansas. At the time (latter seventies, early eighties), I respected the Clintons for their efforts to improve Arkansas's educational system. Since that time, they've tarnished and stained themselves.

I've made no decision yet . . . but I won't tell you whom I've voted for when I have voted.