This is the third in a series of articles detailing the terrible job Donald Trump has done as President. This one is focused on the ways in which he has undermined our national security, both on the international scene and domestically. As Trump has intentionally caused or stumbled into one fiasco after another, it has been too easy to forget the breadth of his national security failures over the past 3–1/2 years.
On the domestic front, terrorism has increased during Trump’s term. The leading threats are white and right-wing, and he has encouraged them both by some things he has said and many other things he has avoided saying. As the previous link explains, “Right-wing extremists perpetrated two thirds of the attacks and plots in the United States in 2019 and over 90 percent between January 1 and May 8, 2020.”
Trump isn’t calling out the white, right-wing, home-grown nature of terrorism in the US, because those are some of his supporters. He’s emboldened and encouraged militia and conspiracy groups, and worst of all he won’t even tell white supremacists to stand down, instead telling white supremacists like the Proud Boys to “stand by.”
Instead, Trump makes up lies to paint a different picture. He lies about the relationship of terrorism and immigration across our southern border. He interferes in the work of government agencies to try to get them to support his lies with fake data. He has variously tried to paint Islamists, immigrants, antifa, and even black lives matter sympathizers as the threat.
On the international front, Trump handed the Taliban victory in Afghanistan, restarted the nuclear arms race, undermined nuclear arms control, weakened relationships with allies, abandoned allies at war, isolated the United States in the global community, and undermined our diplomatic corps.
Regarding nuclear arms:
- Trump restarted the nuclear arms race that so many administrations, Republican and Democrat, worked to contain and de-escalate for so many years. He has done this by withdrawing the U.S. from arms control deals and even discussed restarting U.S. nuclear weapons testing, which has not been done in decades.
- Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from the arms control deal with Iran. Since that ineffective move they have begun enriching uranium again.
- He embarrassed the US on the world stage with North by cozying up to brutal dictator Kim Jong Un, and failing to make any progress in containing their nuclear arms tests. Donald Trump was played, and reportedly North Korea’s arsenal is now more powerful than ever.
- He has undermined the US agency responsible for our international arms control efforts.
Trump’s Iran failure is one of many ways in which Trump is no longer working with our closest allies. Instead:
- He has weakened NATO, a previously unshakable alliance, which is primarily to Russia’s benefit.
- He abandoned the Kurds, who were our primary ally and largest contributor to winning the ground war against ISIS.
- He has damaged our foreign policy so badly that the world feels sorry for us.
- He has largely isolated the United States in the global community, with the exception of the dictators with whom he has cozied up. Did some of them loan him money?
Trump has undermined our diplomatic corps:
- He has driven out career diplomats who are tired of trying to do their job in the absence of a coherent strategy.
- He has had complete lack of a coherent foreign policy, which can change with a tweet.
- Diplomatic staff have been subject to personal attacks from a President who never admits or takes responsibility for his own failures.
- Giving a record number of ambassador jobs to his own backers, another indication that for Trump it’s all about what’s best for himself, not the U.S.
Many people think Putin and the Russians have Trump in their pocket, and his behavior has done little to dissuade this view. Who knows whether it’s undisclosed business interests, videos of Trump with Russian prostitutes, or indebtedness to Russia or Russian banks. But in his praise for Putin, his unwillingness to condemn Russian bounties on US soldiers, his unwillingness to confront them on election interference, and abandoning allies in Syria, he has played into Russian interests more than any President since WWII.
The recent revelation that Donald Trump is over $400 million dollars in debt to undisclosed lender(s) suggests that someone owns Donald Trump. Or is it over $1 Billion? Based on Eric Trump’s comments in 2014, it’s likely some or all of that money is Russian. That would explain Trump’s reluctance to confront our country’s top adversary of the past 75 years, and welcoming their assistance in winning the 2016 election. Honestly, who better than the former National Security Advisor — whom Trump hand-picked — to confirm that Trump serves Putin.
From start to finish, at home and abroad, Trump has been an unmitigated disaster for our national security and our authority in the world.
