Tuesday, June 21, 2016

There Is One Issue That President Obama And Donald Trump Agree On


Josh Cohen, Reuters: Obama and Trump agree on one thing – and they’re right

From terrorism to immigration and healthcare, President Barack Obama and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump don’t agree on much. Obama hammers Trump on immigration policy, describing his ideas as "dangerous" and "loose talk and sloppiness." Trump meanwhile calls Obama a "lousy president" who has done a "terrible job."

Beyond the mutual disdain though, Obama and Trump do agree on one thing: When it comes to foreign policy, the United States supports too many “free rider” NATO allies who benefit from American military support without contributing enough to their own defense. While questioning the importance of NATO to the United States is anathema to much of the Washington foreign policy establishment, there are valid reasons to question the extent to which NATO truly promotes American national interests.

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WNU Editor: The U.S. role in Europe (until recently) has been decreasing since the fall of the Soviet Union. I do expect this trend to continue, and I do expect Europe and other U.S. allies in other parts of the world to increase their defense budgets .... but I do not see it happening now.

1 comment:

Daniel said...

They're both foreign policy realists, basically. Even if theoretical realists refuse to acknowledge it because of their own narrow conception of realism. Obama's realism is moderated by the foreign policy establishment but I'm not sure who's really in charge there and who just gets to do some things for show. Advantage seems to be with Obama, considering all the times he refused to fight for stupid reasons. In Trump's case the conflict with the FPE is likely to be even more overt.