Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Fountain Hills, Arizona, March 19, 2016 (Ralph Freso/Getty)
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I joined Al Jazeera English’s Inside Story on Monday, in advance of Donald Trump’s inaugural address, to assess how his return to the White House will affect US foreign policy and its standing in the world.
The other panellists are Professor Natasha Lindstaedt of the University of Essex and Einar Tangen of the Taihe Institute in Beijing. The host is Elizabeth Puranam.
I summarize Trump’s executive orders threatening rights and an international approach to issues such as climate change and health, and assess the prospect of tariffs on countries such as China, Mexico, and Canada.
I review the post-election Biden Administration effort, using Trump’s ego, to belatedly achieve a Phase 1 ceasefire — and note “we are unlikely to get a Phase 2 ceasefire” because of Israeli domestic politics.
I note the uncertainty over Trump’s position on Russia’s 35-month invasion of Ukraine, looking towards what significance Trump’s advisors might have in a resolution of that invasion.
Asked if Trump will “act like a dictator”, I respond:
Donald Trump’s a wannabe autocrat. He admires those who are autocrats: Vladimir Putin in Russia, Xi Jinping in China, and Viktor Orbán in Hungary.
Donald Trump does not believe in the system. He sees the American system as a threat to him, and he sees human rights as a threat to him.
Donald Trump is a convicted felon. He is a convicted fraudster. He has been convicted of defamation of a woman who he sexually abused.
So rights don’t matter to Donald Trump personally. He doesn’t think of rights with respect to America and abroad.
If you have a President who absolutely is not just against human rights but tearing them apart, then other countries who are suppressing human rights — they feel like they have a free pass.
Tangen, working for a Chinese State-linked institution, proves the point by setting off on a diatribe about “America as a rogue nation”.
Lindstaedt renews the productive discussion by noting that the Biden Administration pursued multilateralism but Trump “does not understand how international politics works, he doesn’t have any moral authority, he lies more than he tells the truth, and he sees his allies as the problem”.
[Editor’s Note: The commenter is advised to read about the domestic situation in Hungary — with limits on political, cultural, media, and social space — before his next attempt.]
Note to Editor:
Why did Professor Lucas call Viktor Orban an autocrat? Everybody knows he’s not an autocrat. Lucas is critical of Orban because he has pursued a balanced foreign and security policy. Armchair warrior academics are constantly beating the war drums on numerous news networks, agitating for colour and flower revolutions in and around the Caucasus. They’re angry because NATO didn’t get its way in Georgia; they’ve now set their sights on Armenia. Lucas doesn’t think that these countries should have balanced foreign and security policies, and I suspect that Lindstaedt feels the same.
[Editor’s Note: It is apparent that the commenter doesn’t understand the meaning of “autocrat”.]
Lindstaedt renews the productive discussion by noting that the Biden Administration pursued multilateralism but Trump “does not understand how international politics works, he doesn’t have any moral authority, he lies more than he tells the truth, and he sees his allies as the problem”.
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Professor Lindstaedt: When Prime Minister Starmer is working to prolong the conflict in Ukraine, and Trump is working to end it, that is a problem for Trump and US allies.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgem31jekvo
As for Professor Lucas’s remark on Trump’s feelings about autocrats: These heads of state that Prof. Lucas calls “autocrats” want the US to treat their countries with respect and as equals. Is that too much to ask? Biden called Xi Jinping a dictator. Did Nixon call Mao Zedong a dictator? No, because he knew how to talk to his counterparts. I think Trump understands this. Biden wouldn’t talk to heads of state he didn’t like because American exceptionalism got in the way. Maybe things will be different with the Trump administration.