The Trump Doctrine Is To Have No Doctrine

Donald Trump’s foreign policy morphs into something very different from its isolationist caricature.

On Friday, he meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss, among other topics, whether Tomahawk missiles, whose long range would allow for strikes deep into Russia, might help Vladimir Putin see the virtues of peace.

On Thursday, he announced talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, to occur later this month in Budapest, designed to hasten the end of what Trump calls “the Inglorious War” in Ukraine.

On Wednesday, the president confirmed his authorization of CIA covert operations in Venezuela.

“I authorized for two reasons, really,” Trump explained. “Number one, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America. And, the other thing, the drugs, we have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela.”

Last week, he brought together about three dozen nations to impose a peace on the Israelis and Palestinians. Like the “isolationist” caricature, the longstanding Hitler caricature made those depicting the Donald as the Fuhrer into the caricature, as Jews erected a giant “thank you” sign in Tel Aviv, distributed “President of Peace” hats in the Knesset, and elsewhere in Israel chanted “Trump!”

In July, he banged heads together and brokered a ceasefire in the brief war between Cambodia and Thailand that killed 43. Later this month, Trump will preside over the formal signing of the peace treaty between the neighbors at the Association of South East Asian Nations in Kuala Lumpur.

Can one call it America First? Surely Smedley Butler would not approve of billions for Argentina just because its president seems so swell and Robert Wood would look askance at the president authorizing covert operations in Venezuela. What word describes Trump’s foreign policy? Unpredictable.

That seems its strength. It also seems to undermine its connection with any “doctrine.”

James Monroe’s doctrine told Europe to stay out of the Western Hemisphere. Ronald Reagan’s doctrine supported the rollback of Communism anytime, everywhere. Donald Trump’s doctrine is to have no doctrine — at least about the methods he uses and where he thinks he can do some good.

Trump’s foreign policy hails neither George Kennan nor Henry Kissinger as its intellectual forefather but Bruce Lee. As one who watches up to eight hours of television daily, Donald Trump, one guesses, caught Enter the Dragon or Fists of Fury on one of his sets at some point.

The Chinese-American film star and founder of the Jeet Kune Do martial art famously advocated using no way as the way. In other words, do not allow doctrines to straitjacket one into ineffectiveness. Further buttressing Lee’s status as the greatest influence on Donald Trump’s foreign policy outlook, Jeet Kune Do roughly translates to the way of intercepting fist. Trump’s foreign policy art, like Lee’s martial art, seems preoccupied with turning punches into handshakes.

Whereas the means of the Trump Doctrine appear manifold, the ends appear twofold.

First, Trump wishes to advance America’s interests, which helps explain actions against the longstanding nuisance Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela. Second, Trump looks to act as a peacemaker abroad, which helps explain why he inserted himself into the conflict between Cambodia and Thailand.

The Trump Doctrine means using no way as the way to advance both peace and America’s interests. The president likely sees the former as vaguely synonymous with the latter.

Caricaturists paint public figures into fictional boxes that exaggerate truth into falsehood. It’s a rigid business without room for epiphanies, course changes, or shades of gray. The Trump Doctrine is everything that is not.

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