Trump Cautions About Suicidal US Foreign Policy

Friday, September 30, 2022

Drago Bosnic, independent geopolitical and military analyst

On September 27, former US President Donald Trump appeared on the “Cats at Night Show” and expressed concern for the way the United States has been conducting its foreign policy under the troubled Biden administration. Trump stated that his “biggest worry” is where geopolitical tensions over Ukraine and Taiwan may be headed, adding that he thought “we could end up in World War III” and that the conflict would be a (thermo)nuclear one. When asked what was Trump’s chief concerns and what “kept him up at night,” this was his response:

“More than anything else, I think we could end up in World War III.”

Trump stated that World War III could be sparked by “all of the horrible things that took place in Ukraine,” further adding that it “looks like it’s going to happen in China with Taiwan… …you see what’s going on over there.”

Various US delegations have visited China’s breakaway island province and signed multiple deals, including huge weapons acquisition contracts, despite Beijing’s clear warnings not to do so. This has triggered a massive escalation and what is probably the worst time in Sino-American relations in decades. Although Donald Trump himself holds a lot of responsibility for this, his approach was more geoeconomic and less geopolitical. The Trump administration put a lot of emphasis on the economy, trying to compete with China in terms of production, tariffs, technological rivalry, etc. The trade war with China during Trump’s presidency certainly had a negative influence on the global economy. However, it surely is an acceptable alternative to war between nuclear-armed superpowers.

During the interview, former US President also commented on Putin’s remarks and the threat of a possible nuclear war between Russia and the political West.

“I think we’re at the most dangerous time maybe in many, many years — maybe ever — because of the power of nuclear,” Trump stated. “For a major nation that’s equal with us on nuclear power to be throwing around the word cavalierly, like nuclear, is a very bad time. A very bad time for this country and a very bad and a very dangerous time for the world,” he added.

Donald Trump again reiterated his stance that if he were still the President of the United States, “Putin would not have ordered his troops into Ukraine.”

“I got along with him very well. I spoke to him. I understood him,” he said. “He understood me, probably. But I understood him well, and he would have never done it.”

Trump has been claiming this for years before he even met Vladimir Putin. He claimed that he would “go along well” with Russia’s leader and to a large extent, he was right. Trump and Putin have had a cordial relationship while the former was in the White House. As previously mentioned, during his presidency, Donald Trump was focused on the economy. He never considered Russia an economic rival and was well aware of the Eurasian giant’s massive military power, particularly its strategic arm, deciding to avoid any unnecessary escalation with Moscow. Trump was severely criticized for this, as his foreign policy approach also included trying to de-escalate with Russia in Ukraine, which angered many in the US establishment, as they had a vested interest in keeping close ties with the Kiev regime.

Although Trump’s stance in this regard also had to do with the internal political rivalry in the US, as the Democratic Party was unequivocal in its support for the Neo-Nazi junta, while his own Republican Party was much more divided on the issue, he still realized the dangerous implications of disregarding Moscow’s basic security concerns. He also tried to focus on economic competition with China and (to a certain extent) the European Union. Although this resulted in a significant deterioration in US relations with both Beijing and Brussels, it was still nowhere near the escalation we have nowadays. Trump had enough geopolitical wisdom to realize that pushing Russia and China too close together would be a major challenge for the US, which is why he tried compartmentalizing the US foreign policy.

Although Trump’s track record isn’t perfect, in comparison to other administrations in recent US history (particularly the current one), his realpolitik approach proved to be the only sustainable one in the long run.  By focusing on the economy, Donald Trump managed to reduce tensions in terms of possible direct confrontation with nuclear-armed superpowers such as Russia and China.

And while Beijing was always frustrated by his anti-Chinese policies and regular Sinophobic rhetoric, to say nothing of the trade war Trump launched in order to curb China’s blistering economic growth, it’s clear that the Asian giant would much prefer to deal with that rather than having to contemplate nuclear confrontation over the Biden administration’s Taiwan escalation.

Source: InfoBrics