Delegation fears impact of Trump’s speech on U.S. allies
President Donald Trump’s campaign mantra of “America First” was the centerpiece of his speech Monday after his administration unveiled its new National Security Strategy, which calls for “a great reawakening of America, a resurgence of confidence, and a rebirth of patriotism, prosperity and pride.”
In a statement issued a few hours after Trump’s speech, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said the strategy “calls for an aggressive and confrontational military and economic approach, while virtually ignoring foreign assistance, diplomacy, and development programs.”
Murphy has been critical of what he calls the Trump administration’s “open warfare” against the State Department, which still has many unfilled positions. In the spring, Murphy pitched his own national security strategy for the U.S. called “Rethinking the Battle-
field,” in which he called for nearly doubling the U.S. foreign affairs budget.
“Using every tool at our disposal — both military and diplomatic — is the only smart way to forge a world that is safe for Americans,” he said.
Connecticut’s lawmakers in Washington, all Democrats, largely were silent in the immediate aftermath of the strategy’s unveiling, and instead were focused on speaking out against the major tax overhaul bill.
The National Security Strategy document itself is “unobjectionable in a lot of ways,” U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, said by phone early Tuesday evening. The question is how, or whether, the strategy will be executed in subsequent budgets and “the day to day blocking and tackling of things like diplomacy and promoting commerce,” Courtney added.
The “very transactional” way that Trump talks about American foreign policy — “there has to be an immediate quid pro quo for him to view it as in our national interest” — is a worry for U.S. allies, he said.
When delegations from other countries visit his office, and in trips overseas, “that is the dominant topic,” Courtney said. “‘Is this president really radically changing America’s posture in terms of how an alliance really works?’”
In his speech, Trump criticized past administrations for failing to put America first, engaging in nation building abroad “while they failed to build up and replenish our nation at home.”
“On top of everything else, our leaders drifted from American principles. They lost sight of America’s destiny. And they lost their belief in American greatness,” he said.
Trump’s attacks on his predecessors, both Democrat and Republican, are unprecedented, said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., by phone Tuesday evening.
“What struck me initially is that he seemed not to have read the document. They were almost two different policies,” he said. “The document addressed the Russian threat to our democracy, a threat that he completely and inexplicably ignored in his speech.”
Trump described Russia and China as rival powers “that seek to challenge American influence, values and wealth.” However, he said the U.S. would try to build a great partnership with the two countries. As example, he said, he recently received a call from Russian President Vladimir Putin thanking the U.S. for providing “vital intelligence” regarding a terrorist attack planned in St. Petersburg.
“They were able to apprehend these terrorists before the event, with no loss of life. And that’s a great thing, and the way it’s supposed to work,” Trump said.
Adrian Bonenberger, 40, of Branford, who served as an Army infantry officer from 2005 to 2012, including two combat tours in Afghanistan, said his “very initial reactions” are that the strategy marks “a very disturbing new direction in American foreign policy.”
Trump described the strategy as being based on principled realism, “guided by our vital national interests, and rooted in our timeless values.”
Bonenberger sees it differently.
“What realism really says is we’re going to look out for our interests and we’ll help people whose interests align with ours, but we won’t help people whose don’t,” he said.
And if we embrace such a policy, he added, “we’re going to see a lot more cynical business done by the U.S. and we’re going to abandon, with no good reason, the things that have always made America the most compelling to people inside and outside of the country, which is not that it’s easy for businessmen to do business here, but that the government doesn’t hassle you here. You have rights here.”