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Vance Explains the Trump Doctrine

If you paid attention in high school history class, you know all about the Monroe Doctrine. Actually, a few other presidents have had "doctrines," as well. These include Harry Truman, ("stop the spread of Communism"), Dwight Eisenhower ("protect friendly countries"), Jack Kennedy ("block Communism in Latin America"), Lyndon Johnson ("no domestic revolutions in Latin America on my watch"), Richard Nixon ("we will help friendly countries in need but it has to be their boots on the ground"), Jimmy Carter ("we will protect our interests in the Persian Gulf region"), and Ronald Reagan ("full support for insurgent movements in Communist countries").

Is there a Trump doctrine? At a sold-out dinner for the Ohio Republican Party, J.D. Vance tried to explain the Trump Doctrine to the attendees. It has three parts:

  1. The president articulates a clear American interest somewhere (e.g., Iran must not develop nuclear weapons).
  2. The president first tries diplomacy to solve the problem.
  3. If that fails, he uses overwhelming military power to solve it and then gets the hell out.

So far, so good, with respect to Iran. But what happens if step 3 fails—for example, if the bombing raid on Iran didn't actually damage Iran's nuclear program very much? In particular, what about the "gets the hell out" part if the military power doesn't do the job? Vance didn't answer that part. Maybe there will be an addendum some day. (V)



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