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In an essay, former diplomat and current President of the Council on Foreign Relations discusses the foreign policy implications of the Trump Insurrection. Just as President Trump's foreign policy--withdrawal from agreements, disrespect for and verbal assaults on allies, borderline appeasement of North Korea, protectionist attacks on a global scale, and broad retreat from world affairs--was, by and large, destabilizing and damaging to U.S. interests and those of its allies, Haass suggests that the terrible events of January 6, 2021 will have a profound adverse impact on the American global position.
Haass explained:
But the damage wrought by the events in Washington on January 6—the lawlessness and violence at the U.S. Capitol and the refusal, by Trump and dozens of Republican members of Congress, to accept the results of the November presidential election—will be even greater, on U.S. foreign policy as well as on U.S. democracy... What took place last week was a distinctly American failure, but the consequences go far beyond American shores. A post-American world, one no longer defined by U.S. primacy, is coming sooner than generally expected—less because of the inevitable rise of others than because of what the United States has done to itself...
The images reinforced the sense among fellow democracies that something is seriously wrong in and with the United States. How was it, they asked, that so many Americans could vote for a leader who had, even before last week, attacked independent judicial and media institutions, refused to set a strong example in the face of a highly lethal pandemic, and violated many of his country’s oldest political norms? Their fear is that even after Trump leaves the Oval Office, he will remain on the political scene, influencing American politics and dominating the Republican Party for some time to come; the restoration of more traditional American behavior under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris could, from the vantage of most U.S. allies, prove only a limited and temporary respite.
These are important points. One cannot understate the damage inflicted by the election of Donald Trump and the policies of the outgoing Trump Administration. The credibility and sustainability of American commitments have been damaged. International leaders will need to be wary that American commitments are just one quadrennial election away from possibly being overturned. They will also need to be wary of the existence of a toxic, neo-isolationist, protectionist, right-wing populist movement of sufficient scale to disrupt U.S. policy and influence the outcome of elections. Added to that will be legitimate questions about governance stability.
Where does this leave U.S. allies such as South Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand among others who live at the periphery of a shrinking or weakened American role and a rising China? Even worse, the myopic policies of the outgoing Trump Administration have turned what would already have been a challenging task of managing the implications from the onging shift in the balance of power resulting from a rising China onto a more hostile trajectory--maybe not a new "Cold War" but certainly nothing like a partnership over shared interests that otherwise might have been attainable.
Haass explained:
But the damage wrought by the events in Washington on January 6—the lawlessness and violence at the U.S. Capitol and the refusal, by Trump and dozens of Republican members of Congress, to accept the results of the November presidential election—will be even greater, on U.S. foreign policy as well as on U.S. democracy... What took place last week was a distinctly American failure, but the consequences go far beyond American shores. A post-American world, one no longer defined by U.S. primacy, is coming sooner than generally expected—less because of the inevitable rise of others than because of what the United States has done to itself...
The images reinforced the sense among fellow democracies that something is seriously wrong in and with the United States. How was it, they asked, that so many Americans could vote for a leader who had, even before last week, attacked independent judicial and media institutions, refused to set a strong example in the face of a highly lethal pandemic, and violated many of his country’s oldest political norms? Their fear is that even after Trump leaves the Oval Office, he will remain on the political scene, influencing American politics and dominating the Republican Party for some time to come; the restoration of more traditional American behavior under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris could, from the vantage of most U.S. allies, prove only a limited and temporary respite.
These are important points. One cannot understate the damage inflicted by the election of Donald Trump and the policies of the outgoing Trump Administration. The credibility and sustainability of American commitments have been damaged. International leaders will need to be wary that American commitments are just one quadrennial election away from possibly being overturned. They will also need to be wary of the existence of a toxic, neo-isolationist, protectionist, right-wing populist movement of sufficient scale to disrupt U.S. policy and influence the outcome of elections. Added to that will be legitimate questions about governance stability.
Where does this leave U.S. allies such as South Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand among others who live at the periphery of a shrinking or weakened American role and a rising China? Even worse, the myopic policies of the outgoing Trump Administration have turned what would already have been a challenging task of managing the implications from the onging shift in the balance of power resulting from a rising China onto a more hostile trajectory--maybe not a new "Cold War" but certainly nothing like a partnership over shared interests that otherwise might have been attainable.
