Category: Policy Novice

Trump Gets Foreign Policy Advice From TV Shows

Donal Trump on Meet the Press

In an August 16 appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Chuck Todd grilled Trump on who he turned to for foreign policy advice.

“Well I really watch the shows. You really see a lot of great, you know, when you watch your show and all of the other shows, and you have the generals and you have certain people that you like,” Trump said.

“But is there somebody — a go-to for you?” Todd pressed. That’s when Trump made his next mistake…

“Probably there are two or three. Yeah, probably there are two or three I mean, I like [former U.N. Ambassador John] Bolton. I think he’s, you know, tough cookie, knows what he’s talking about. [Ret. Col. Jack] Jacobs is a good guy… and I see him on occasion,”

In an interview with Mother Jones later that week, retired colonel Jack Jacobs said that while knew Trump, the two had never discussed military policy.

“He may have said the first person who came to mind,” Jacobs said. “I know him. But I’m not a consultant. I’m not certain if he has a national security group of people. I don’t know if he does or if he doesn’t. If he does, I’m not one of them.”

Links

http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/full-interview-trump-on-immigration-hillary-clinton-and-his-controversial-campaign-505901123767

http://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trumps-11-worst-foreign-policy-gaffes-us-election-syria-mexico-iraq/

 

Trump’s ISIS Foreign Policy Isn’t All That Great

Chuck Todd

Donald Trump on MSNBC’s Meet the Press answered questions about his foreign policy.

Well, I want to take away their wealth. And, as you know, for years I’ve been saying, “Don’t go into Iraq.” They went into Iraq. They destabilized the Middle East. It was a big mistake. Okay, now we’re there. And you have ISIS. And I said this was going to happen. I said, “Iran will take over Iraq,” which is happening as sure as you’re sitting there. And ISIS is taking over a lot of the oil and certain areas of Iraq. And I said you take away their wealth, that you go and knock the hell out of the oil, take back the oil. We take over the oil, which we should have done in the first place.

Reality

Dumbing a complex situation like ISIS down into a simple catchphrase may play well to a riled up crowd, but we will never know how effective it will be until Trump becomes President and can take action. Except the military already analyzed his plan and found it to be just plain bad. Whoops!

Links

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/08/17/donald-trump-on-meet-the-press-annotated/

Trump Fails Again on Iran Deal Details

Donal Trump on Meet the Press

In his interview with Todd, Trump stated that Iran would get to keep its $150 billion from the deal even if it does not live up to it. As Politifact noted, that figure is in line with, but very much on the very highest end of evaluations of the value the regime’s frozen assets as a result of international sanctions. (The general consensus is somewhere in the ballpark of $100 billion, according to experts interviewed by Politifact, though without U.S. participation, the maximum amount Iran could recover is $40 billion.)

“No sanctions relief?” Todd asked.

“‘We will never give you back your money. We will never … give you back your $150 billion. You’re never getting that money back,’” Trump said he would say in negotiations with Iranian leaders.

Links

http://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trumps-11-worst-foreign-policy-gaffes-us-election-syria-mexico-iraq/

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/aug/16/donald-trump/donald-trump-iran-gets-keep-150-billion-even-if-us/

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