Trump’s Foreign Policy Speech to Target World Audience

Rebecca Berg writes in Real Clear Politics:

Donald Trump will signal another phase in his metamorphosis from unpolished political neophyte to the would-be Republican nominee for president with a foreign policy speech Wednesday, which he will target not only to voters but to an international community wary of his rise.

The remarks, which Trump will deliver in Washington, D.C., will expand on an “America first” doctrine he has recently begun to sketch out, beginning with an extensive interview last month with The New York Times. But the celebrity businessman likely won’t delve into wonky details or offer groundbreaking policy prescriptions, which he has avoided throughout the campaign; rather, his remarks will be wide-ranging, discussing U.S. foreign policy dating back as far as the Cold War.   

Trump will hone in on a few key issues, however, including the fight against ISIS; President Obama’s deal with Iran, which Trump has insisted he would re-negotiate; and the outlook regarding Russia, including his view on NATO’s role as a check on its power.

He will deliver the speech in the nation’s capital “to begin this dialogue or interaction with the diplomatic and international media and academic core,” said Walid Phares, one of Trump’s advisers on foreign policy. But Trump’s remarks will also target conservative Republicans who have recoiled at his candidacy, as well as voters who might question how he would act, in style and substance, as president.

“He wants the American people to know that, despite what we see in the primary cycle, the kind of exchanges, a Trump administration would look like what you will see [Wednesday],” Phares said. “It would be very serious on national security, on defense, and on counterterror.”

(…)

His remarks Wednesday, as well as other policy speeches to follow, will mimic this more subdued tone, and Trump will again read from prepared remarks. And, as at AIPAC, Trump will seek to refine some controversial comments he has made, with plans “to clarify the point that he’s not going to dismantle NATO or let go of Western alliances. He’s going to readjust them to the new challenges,” Phares said. Trump recently called NATO “obsolete.”

(…)

World leaders have been watching these developments closely and with some evident skepticism, particularly some key U.S. allies. During a recent meeting with congressional lawmakers, according to one Republican who was present, King Salman of Saudi Arabia said of Trump, “Is that the best you can do?”

In December, in the aftermath of Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims coming into the United States, British Prime Minister David Cameron said, “If he came to visit our country, I think he would unite us all against him.”

Trump supports Brexit.

(…)

“It is a challenge, there’s no doubt about it, and Mr. Trump knows that,” said Phares. But, he added, “Mr. Trump is confident that he knows the world, and he is learning. Everybody learns over time, even presidents.”

His speech Wednesday, his team hopes, will be a first step — and an attempt to bring some definition to the foreign policy views of a candidate who told the Times: “I don’t want to say what I’d do because … we need unpredictability.”

“There are many who are trying to portray Mr. Trump and put him in one of the boxes that we are used to in international narrative. He has a new box,” Phares said. “Some are saying he’s going to go overseas and interfere with energy, and others are saying he’s going to be in isolation. It’s not one or the other. He does not belong to these traditional schools.”

Trump spoke this morning of the need for fresh thinking. Walid Phares is the perfect choice.