What happens if Trump is re-elected? The world order, which has existed for 75 years, will certainly come to an end; the only question is what will take its place
Presence at Creation is an eight hundred page memoir by Dean Acheson, Secretary of State under US President Harry Truman. The title, with its biblical echo, was immodest, but, in Acheson's defense, deserved.
Building on plans drawn up under President Franklin Roosevelt, Truman and his top advisers built nothing less than a new international order after World War II. The United States adopted a doctrine of containment that guided US foreign policy during the four decades of fighting the Soviet Union during the Cold War. This course turned Germany and Japan into democracies and created an entire network of alliances in Asia and Europe. Under the Marshall Plan, American policy provided the help Europe needed to get back on its feet and, in line with the Truman Doctrine, directed economic and military aid to countries vulnerable to communism. A number of international organizations have been established, including the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (predecessor to the World Trade Organization). A modern foreign and defense policy apparatus also emerged, including the National Security Council, the CIA and the Department of Defense.
It is inconceivable that one of the national security chiefs in the Donald Trump administration would write a memoir that has the word "creation" in the title. The problem is not only that little has been built over the past three and a half years. Construction was simply not the main foreign policy goal of this administration. On the contrary, the president and the frequently changing composition of officials around him were much more interested in tearing things apart. A more apt title for this administration's memoirs would be "Attendance at Destruction."
By itself, the term "destruction" is neither a compliment nor a criticism. Destruction can be desirable and even necessary if the current state of affairs is incompatible with the interests of the people and there is an alternative that is both beneficial and achievable. But if these criteria are guided, the destruction started by the Trump administration was neither justified nor reasonable.
When it came to foreign policy, Trump (as with healthcare and the Affordable Care Act) inherited an imperfect but valuable system and tried to abolish it without offering any replacement. As a result, the United States and the entire world were in a significantly worse position. This destruction will leave an indelible mark. And if it continues or accelerates (and there is every reason to believe that this will happen if Donald Trump is elected for a second term), then "destruction" may well become the most appropriate term to describe this period of US foreign policy.
Distorted lens
Trump entered the Oval Office in January 2017 convinced that US foreign policy needed to be broken. In his inaugural speech from the steps of the Capitol, the new president spoke very darkly of the accomplishments of the United States: “For many decades, we have enriched foreign industry at the expense of the American one, subsidized the armies of other countries, while allowing a very unfortunate depletion of our military forces. We defended the borders of other countries, refusing to defend our own. We spent trillions of dollars overseas while America's infrastructure collapsed and fell into disrepair. We made other countries strong and rich, while the wealth, strength and confidence of our country disappeared over the horizon ... From now on, America comes first. "
After three and a half years at the helm of foreign policy, Trump apparently saw nothing that could change his mind. Addressing graduate cadets at West Point in early 2020, he applied a similar logic to the use of military force: “We are restoring the fundamental principles that the service of the American soldier is not about rebuilding foreign states, but about protecting - and resolute defense - of our nation from external enemies. We are ending the era of endless wars. It is being replaced by a new, clear view of protecting America's vital interests. It is not the responsibility of the American military to resolve ancient conflicts in distant lands that many have never even heard of. We are not the world's policemen. "
Many of the foundational elements of Trump's approach to the world can be gleaned from these two speeches. In his opinion, foreign policy is mostly an expensive distraction. The US was doing too much abroad and it made it worse at home. Trade and immigration destroyed jobs and communities.