Trump’s National Security and Foreign Policy Failures: Year One

The following article by the CAP National Security and International Policy Team was posted on the Center for American Progress website January 17, 2018:

President Trump joins hands with other foreign leaders for a photo during the opening ceremony of the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Manila, Philippines, on November 13, 2017. Credit: Getty Images/Jim Watson

It has been one year since President Donald Trump took office. As Americans reflect on Trump’s turbulent tenure, his record on national security and foreign policy has been alarming. Under Trump, America has retreated from its global and moral leadership roles, alienated its democratic allies, and abandoned the bipartisan defense of liberal ideals that led to more than 70 years of security and prosperity. America is more isolated, less respected, weaker at home, and ultimately less safe under President Trump’s leadership.

Whether it is Trump’s immoral, unwise, and botched travel ban on Muslim-majority nations; his reckless Twitter warmongering on North Korea; or his self-isolating moves to upend the Iran nuclear deal and risk another military confrontation in the Middle East, the result has been the same: America is appreciably less secure than it was a year ago. And the Trump administration’s daily campaign against the nation’s diplomats, intelligence community, law enforcement, and civil servants is gutting the very national security apparatus that the president will need to confront threats to America. Continue reading “Trump’s National Security and Foreign Policy Failures: Year One”