"Donald Trump has achieved an unlikely redemption: By pursuing a shambolic foreign policy, he has made the bygone days of "regime change" look restrained, strategic, and pragmatic by comparison. Trump campaigned in 2024 saying he would begin "no new wars," eschew "regime change" and "nation building," and generally prioritize domestic policy over foreign affairs. No more Coalition Provisional Authority, as in Iraq. No more extended U.S. military deployments, as in Afghanistan."
"But Trump has instead opted for global buccaneering: attacking Islamic terrorists in Nigeria, launching pinprick swipes at Yemen's Houthis, and seeking a massive, elusive trade deal with China. He has inserted himself as a would-be governing force into lands as diverse as Venezuela, the Gaza Strip, and Greenland. He has done so inconsistently and incoherently, unguided by theory or history, improvising at will, painting with real-estate salesmanship futures that bear little connection to reality and threaten potentially disastrous consequences for America if he fails."
Trump campaigned in 2024 promising 'no new wars,' to eschew 'regime change' and 'nation building' and prioritize domestic policy. Instead he pursued a global, improvisational approach: military actions against Islamic terrorists in Nigeria, pinprick strikes on Yemen's Houthis, and aggressive trade outreach to China. He intervened in Venezuela, the Gaza Strip, and Greenland without coherent strategy, inserting himself as a would-be governing force and offering unrealistic plans. This approach lacks the cost-benefit logic of traditional regime change, and the Venezuela effort removed Maduro while leaving key Maduro-era figures like Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello in place.
Read at The Atlantic
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]