h/t Instapundit
Will newly appointed National Security Adviser John Bolton help feed Donald Trump’s foreign policy instincts? Let’s hope so.
The established narrative from the president’s critics has been that President Trump lacks the knowledge, experience and temperament to successfully manage America’s national security affairs. By this reasoning he had to be surrounded by an "axis of adults" to restrain his impulsiveness, lest the U.S. blunder into global conflict based on a stray Tweet or sudden tantrum.
...But the Trump administration’s foreign policy has been successful because of the president, not despite him. His "blunt, hard edge" style is better suited for the dangerous world we live in than the cool detachment of Obama-era "leading from behind." And if President Trump has disrupted the old way of doing things, it is only because the status quo was failing. He is winning in ways the old model would never have predicted.
...With respect to North Korea, critics feared that President Trump’s tough, almost contemptuous exchanges with "Rocket Man" Kim Jong Un, and veiled threats of preemptive military strikes might lead to devastating conflict. John Bolton and Mike Pompeo have taken similarly hawkish stances on dealing with Pyongyang. Yet instead of going to war, Kim reached out to the president, saying he is "committed to denuclearization."
...Previous presidents kept the China trade and North Korean issues separated, but trade is Washington’s primary point of leverage in the Sino-American relationship. If the president can get a better trade deal for American workers while also encouraging Beijing to make Pyongyang see reason and abandon its nuclear weapons, he could be in the running for a Nobel Peace Prize. And Bolton and Pompeo are likely to help him get there. |