Trump fails to impress foreign-policy experts
A speech aimed at boosting his credibility got low marks from across the spectrum.
By Michael Crowley
04/27/16 05:58 PM EDT
In his address to an elite, invitation-only Washington foreign policy audience Wednesday, Donald Trump promised that, as president, he would restore a “coherent” vision to America’s role in the world.
But across the ideological spectrum, and even among natural allies, Trump’s speech received a failing grade for coherence and drew snickering and scorn from foreign policy insiders who remain unconvinced that Trump is up to the job.
“It struck me as a very odd mishmash,” said Doug Bandow, a foreign policy scholar at the libertarian Cato Institute, who shares many of Trump’s beliefs about scaling back America’s role abroad. “He called for a new foreign policy strategy, but you don’t really get the sense he gave one.”
Trump’s speech was “lacking in policy prescriptions,” and its “strident rhetoric masked a lack of depth,” said Robert “Bud” McFarlane, a former national security adviser to President Ronald Reagan who attended the speech.
Speaking at Washington’s Mayflower Hotel, Trump mostly repeated familiar themes from his campaign, including promises to cut better trade deals with China, swiftly defeat the Islamic State, rebuild the military and reduce the expense America incurs in upholding international security from Europe to Asia.
Trump spoke from a teleprompter and in tones that were subdued by the standards of his raucous rallies. He also unveiled a new theme, saying that the U.S. would “finally have a coherent foreign policy” based on narrow self-interest, economic gain and global stability.
But Trump offered few specifics about his strategy, focusing on the alleged “disasters” created by past presidents and a foreign policy establishment who “frankly don’t know what they’re doing, even though they may look awfully good writing for The New York Times or talking on television.”
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