"I cannot remember an occasion when he launched into a digression on the differing social structures of our states. He always presented himself as a pragmatist uninterested in the theoretical aspects of an issue, a man who preferred to keep discussions on a purely practical level. The man from Queens, our own Donald Trump, has similar instincts; that's all to the good."
"Politics is not the realm of geometry. Universals-we won't negotiate with terrorists, we'll back whomever for however long as it takes, autocracies versus democracies, and so on-tend not only to make for unsound policy, but retrospectively to be embarrassing and politically damaging. Anyone might be forgiven for wishing Trump had just a touch more ideology, though. The realist and restrainer foreign policy camp has"
"Trump is, however, a politician and an opportunist; if the Republican primary field he's facing has an ideological commitment to a long-running, deeply unpopular war, he'll use that stick to smack his enemies. His hesitation about the use of armed force is as much a canny recognition of how badly long wars have gone for American politicians in his lifetime as it is some abstract commitment to peace, love, and understanding."
Richard Nixon preferred highly concrete, practical diplomatic exchanges, a trait echoed in Donald Trump's instincts and pragmatism. Reliance on universal principles in politics often produces unsound, embarrassing, and politically damaging outcomes. Trump lacks consistent ideological commitments across foreign and domestic issues, disappointing realist foreign-policy advocates and various conservative and libertarian factions through interventions in Syria, Iran, and Yemen and moderate stances on social and fiscal matters. Trump functions as an opportunistic politician who exploits opponents' ideological commitments in primaries. His reluctance to use armed force reflects recognition of the political costs of prolonged wars and strong sensitivity to public opinion.
Read at The American Conservative
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