Emma Ashford
Appearances
Consider This from NPR
Is there a Trump Doctrine for Foreign Policy?
I mean, I think this was a problem we had all the way through the first Trump term. He would often say one thing, it would get walked back by his advisors within a couple of hours, it would turn out he meant something a little different. So, you know, it's important not to get too bogged down in any one specific issue.
Consider This from NPR
Is there a Trump Doctrine for Foreign Policy?
I think when it comes to Trump's bigger foreign policy, people have often been very willing to sort of paint him as come home America isolationist. He's going to withdraw the US from the world. But that's not what we've seen in practice. What we've seen in practice is that Trump, as you say, doesn't want to do nation building.
Consider This from NPR
Is there a Trump Doctrine for Foreign Policy?
He doesn't want to reshape the world or transform it in America's image. But he's perfectly happy to use force or tariffs when he thinks it will get him what he wants. So I think what's confusing everyone is that he's falling behind.
Consider This from NPR
Is there a Trump Doctrine for Foreign Policy?
somewhere between these extremes that we often think about, which is like America as the indispensable nation running the world and America doing nothing, he's somewhere in the middle doing his own thing.
Consider This from NPR
Is there a Trump Doctrine for Foreign Policy?
I mean, I think Trump himself gave us the best description of his policy years ago, and it was America first. Now, I'm not always sure that he ends up getting the best deal he can because he construes US interests very narrowly. But I think, I mean, if you look at what he was demanding from Canada...
Consider This from NPR
Is there a Trump Doctrine for Foreign Policy?
If you look at what he was demanding on Greenland, right, he wanted border enforcement from the Canadians and the Mexicans. They want basing access in Greenland. They want the Danes to give the folks in Greenland more autonomy. His staff, his national security advisor, says that his Gaza comments were designed to bring Arab states to the table with solutions.
Consider This from NPR
Is there a Trump Doctrine for Foreign Policy?
So I think a lot of what he tries to do is tries to push other states to give him what he wants, what he thinks are in American interests, I don't think he always gets that right, but it's a very clear frame for his foreign policy.
Consider This from NPR
Is there a Trump Doctrine for Foreign Policy?
I think so. Certainly, unlike previous administrations, he's much less focused on ideas and norms and values, right? It's really not about, you know, America as the leader of some liberal world order, but It's about concrete interests like migration or trade.
Consider This from NPR
Is there a Trump Doctrine for Foreign Policy?
Absolutely. I mean, and I think one of the most interesting speeches of the last couple of weeks has been actually an interview that Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave to Megyn Kelly in which he talked about, you know, the U.S. operating in a multipolar world.
Consider This from NPR
Is there a Trump Doctrine for Foreign Policy?
There was this time when America could do everything, could solve every problem, and that we have left that time period. I can't think of a stronger contrast with Biden than that statement.
Consider This from NPR
Is there a Trump Doctrine for Foreign Policy?
I genuinely do think that, you know, people in D.C. always say personnel is policy. I genuinely do think that the different personnel this time are going to play a role, if only because they are more willing, I think, to let Trump express his own opinions. If you look back at the first administration, what you see is all these folks like, you
Consider This from NPR
Is there a Trump Doctrine for Foreign Policy?
saying that they were there to help Trump, you know, talk some sense into him, curb his wildest impulses. There is none of that this time. All of Trump's advisors are very much on board with what he says. And a number of them also have just very interesting experiences and thoughts of their own in foreign policy. I think You can't underestimate J.D. Vance, for example.
Consider This from NPR
Is there a Trump Doctrine for Foreign Policy?
There is an actual veteran of the war on terror on this ticket. And that does shape, I think, how the administration thinks about, you know, nation building and wars of conquest.
Consider This from NPR
Is there a Trump Doctrine for Foreign Policy?
Yes. And there are some folks in the new administration who I think want to take a much harder line on Iran. We saw the Trump administration, you know, say they're going to go back to maximum pressure on Iran. But I don't think we're necessarily headed for conflict in that case.
Consider This from NPR
Is there a Trump Doctrine for Foreign Policy?
You know, last time around, there were huge fears that John Bolton and others would push the president into a war with Iran. This time, it really does seem like the pressure is a means to an end. It's dealmaking. It's trying to find a nuclear deal solution. with Iran, whether they can do it or not, totally different question. But I don't think the plan here is to get in some kind of conflict.
Consider This from NPR
Is there a Trump Doctrine for Foreign Policy?
I mean, this is very difficult because I think we all know that the president, you know, maybe he does some things that are good and then he does 10 things that are bad and it might outweigh that. I do think, though, that what has become increasingly clear in recent years is that, US foreign policy probably needs some kind of complete upheaval.
Consider This from NPR
Is there a Trump Doctrine for Foreign Policy?
If we look at every administration for the last 15 years, they all came into office looking for some kind of change, right? We were going to pull back from Afghanistan under Obama. We were going to be this gentler superpower under Biden. None of it really panned out. We kept getting dragged back into the Middle East. We've never managed to effectively pivot to Asia.
Consider This from NPR
Is there a Trump Doctrine for Foreign Policy?
And so I think one of Trump's biggest virtues is that he seems to be someone who is willing to just break with the status quo, even if he doesn't necessarily have... a good idea of what is going to replace it.
Consider This from NPR
Is there a Trump Doctrine for Foreign Policy?
But I do think in terms of if you want wholesale change in US foreign policy, this administration probably offers a better chance for it, whether it's things like some grand bargain in the Middle East or, you know, getting the US to pull back somewhat from European security and getting Europeans to step up in their own defense, right?
Consider This from NPR
Is there a Trump Doctrine for Foreign Policy?
These are areas where I think you could see progress in this administration that you just couldn't under Biden.