As Donald Trump closes in on the Republican nomination, he’s rolling out a formal lecture series to detail his agenda and burnish a more dignified brand. His maiden policy speech on Wednesday, devoted to foreign affairs, earns an “incomplete” at Trump University.
“America First will be the major and overriding theme of my Administration,” Mr. Trump said in Washington. He called for “a new foreign-policy direction for our country—one that replaces randomness with purpose, ideology with strategy and chaos with peace.” The businessman didn’t mention if the same principle will apply to his rallies or harum-scarum campaign.
The 5,000-word speech lacked specifics by normal political standards, if not his own. The central motif, like all of Mr. Trump’s political thought, is that the businessman has the brains and strength to solve a given problem, and everybody else is a pathetic loser, so trust his instincts and temperament. “I’m the only one—believe me, I know them all—I’m the only one who knows how to fix it,” he said.
Mr. Trump’s intuition does sometimes lead in constructive directions. He is right to identify rising world disorder as the pre-eminent threat to American security and interests. He said President Obama “dislikes our friends and bows to our enemies,” which is an overstatement that nonetheless captures the reality.
Mr. Obama leadership-from-behind philosophy has confused allies, and many have decided that they can’t depend on U.S. commitments. Adversaries like China, Russian and Iran are testing the limits of his resolve as they push for hegemony in their regions.
Mr. Trump is also correct that if he rebuilds alliances he ought to expect more from U.S. partners. And he has a point about the disproportionate burden the U.S. bears to guarantee European security, even if America’s forward deployments also secure U.S. security by deterring aggressive authoritarians. CONTINUE AT SITE
