Sophisticated Foreign Policy Actors or Ignorant Buffoons? There is, in corners of the dense and befuddled world of national security/foreign policy debate, a persistent yet unproven assertion that the execrable phenomenon of Trump and Trumpism was ushered in by two decades of “adventurous” foreign policy begun in the response to 9-11 and our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. So this story goes, the Bushies screwed everything up and the “establishment” rolled right along with them. In the meantime, the benighted white working class of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio bore unequal sacrifice in pursuit of “forever war”. Trump’s neo-realism, his rejection of primacy, his insulting treatment of friends and allies—all played into the development of a movement within the electorate to embrace a smaller role for the United States in world affairs. In other words, foreign policy was an important determinant in the outcome of the 2016 election.
How We Got Trump, Part MCMXLII
How We Got Trump, Part MCMXLII
How We Got Trump, Part MCMXLII
Sophisticated Foreign Policy Actors or Ignorant Buffoons? There is, in corners of the dense and befuddled world of national security/foreign policy debate, a persistent yet unproven assertion that the execrable phenomenon of Trump and Trumpism was ushered in by two decades of “adventurous” foreign policy begun in the response to 9-11 and our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. So this story goes, the Bushies screwed everything up and the “establishment” rolled right along with them. In the meantime, the benighted white working class of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio bore unequal sacrifice in pursuit of “forever war”. Trump’s neo-realism, his rejection of primacy, his insulting treatment of friends and allies—all played into the development of a movement within the electorate to embrace a smaller role for the United States in world affairs. In other words, foreign policy was an important determinant in the outcome of the 2016 election.