Richard Haass, the President of the Council on Foreign Relations, had a classic tweet today that gave a name to Trump's foreign policy, calling it the "Withdrawal Doctrine". He even provided a nice slogan to go along with it, "Leaving From Behind". Trump has withdrawn from the Trans-Pacific partnership, ceding economic power in Southeast Asia to the Chinese. He has withdrawn from the Paris Climate Agreement, putting the health of the planet at risk and ceding leadership in technologies related to renewable energy and climate change mitigation to others. Yesterday, the US announced it was withdrawing from UNESCO, the UN's world heritage protector because of its "anti-Israel bias". That bias is the simply fact the UNESCO recognizes Palestine, the representative of 4.5 million Palestinians, as a member.
Today, Trump decertified the Iranian nuclear deal over the objections of his own Secretary of State and Defense. All independent observers recognize that Iran is abiding by the deal, but that fact did not stop Trump from decertifying the deal. While decertification leaves the deal in place for now, it essentially kicks the decision to Congress about whether, but more likely how, to renegotiate the deal. All of our allies in Europe, who are also signatories to the deal, want to keep it in place. Less likely but still possible is that the Iranians may look at decertification or an attempt to renegotiate the deal as essentially the US and its allies breaking yet another agreement and begin to restart their nuclear program unilaterally. There are certainly hardliners within the Iranian leadership who would want that.
In addition, Trump is also threatening to withdraw from NAFTA if he does not extract concessions from both Mexico and Canada, concessions that are essentially non-starters for both those countries. As one former Obama official said, the US is taking proposing some extreme positions in order to give "Trump cover to do what he really wants: withdraw from the agreement."
And, of course, there is the constant escalation of rhetoric regarding North Korea from Trump, prompting the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to warn that Trump is setting us on "a path to World War III".
None of this is "America First". This is just taking the ball and going home. Withdrawal from these agreements while proposing nothing in their place does nothing but isolate America, lose the support of our allies, and give us less influence in the world. And we get nothing in return. Does refusing to negotiate with North Korea lessen the chance of nuclear war? No. Will Mexican labor be significantly more expensive with no NAFTA in place? No. Will a nuclear Iran make the world a less dangerous place? No. Will ceding economic influence in Southeast Asia and advances in the technologies of the 21st century to the Chinese help the American economy? No. It is all just cutting of our nose to spite our face.
On the home front, things are perhaps even worse. When it comes to non-white Americans, the attitude of Trump and his Republican allies in Congress is just "simply die". The disgraceful response in Puerto Rico, where people are dying of easily treated disease, desperate for fresh water, and scrounging for food, is criminal. The intentional sabotage of Obamacare by not paying the CSRs and creating these AHPs will force millions to lose health insurance, thousands to die, and still cost more money. The reason for the sabotage is that Republicans in Congress, by a single vote, could not pass a bill that would gut Medicaid as well as killing Obamacare, a bill that was opposed by 85% of the country, Again, there are no efforts or proposals to mitigate any of the President's actions or, in the case of Puerto Rico, the lack of it. The message is simply "die".
Over 50 American can get gunned down and over 500 injured at a concert in Las Vegas. Dozens of young schoolchildren can get massacred simply by attending school in Newtown. Innocent black men and women are gunned down, often shot in the back, by police on a regular basis. The message from Trump and Republicans is that the 2nd Amendment means they must die and the police are always justified. White nationalists can gather as a paramilitary force in the middle of a large city but black activists are designated as terrorist threats by the Justice Department. States pass laws allowing motorists to run over protesters in the street, and a white nationalist exercises that option. American Indians are tasered and beaten by corporate-hired thugs for simply protesting the taking and despoiling of their sacred land.
This is Donald Trump's America, aided and abetted by a Republican party. And their message is simple; We've got the power, so screw you and die.
Rant over.
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