On Monday, President Donald Trump named Russia and China as top rivals. But Laicie Heeley, host of PRI’s new podcast “Things that go boom” says the speech was sometimes inconsistent with the written National Security Strategy document submitted to Congress by his advisors.
We live in confusing times in America and around the world. But President Donald Trump’s new national security strategy (NSS) could leave US allies and adversaries more confused than ever.
While the strategy document itself champions diplomacy, international institutions and even includes a nod toward nation-building, the president has been consistent in his criticism of all three. As a result, Trump’s rollout on Monday made his administration look more chaotic and inconsistent than ever.
Trump presented the strategy with a speech in the tradition of “Glengarry Glen Ross’” advice: “ Always be closing .” The campaign-like speech called out past administrations for their “disastrous” policies and doubled down on Trump’s campaign agenda — which might be fine if the document followed suit. But oddly, despite the occasional “America first” Trumpism, the document reads like it could be from another administration entirely.
The document pledges to combat the spread of weapons of mass destruction, defeat terrorists, strengthen cyber capabilities and promote “American prosperity.” None of these are controversial — who could be against American prosperity or the defeat of terrorism? In fact, as a result, these aims don’t sound like much of a departure from the Obama administration.
But the similarities end there. The document departs from Obama’s strategy of cautious embrace of countries like China and Iran, pursuing a more adversarial track. It also departs from the Obama administration’s classification of climate change as a national security threat — consistent with the president’s decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Accords.
