The Trump Doctrine: Bash Our Friends, Cozy Up to Our Enemies

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.

The Trump Doctrine, our president’s unique brand foreign policy, is alive and well:

President Trump, arriving in Japan on Thursday, opened his latest foreign trip much as he did his last one, lashing out at America’s allies, including his hosts, just before sitting down with them to talk through differences on issues like security and trade. In the hours before and after leaving for an international summit meeting, Mr. Trump assailed Japan, Germany and India.

….By contrast, Mr. Trump said nothing critical about the fourth leader on his diplomatic schedule for Friday, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia….Nor did he say anything negative about his breakfast date for Saturday morning, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia.

For years, Republicans insisted that President Obama was harsh toward our friends and friendly with our enemies. This was nonsense driven mostly by Obama’s neutral attitude toward Israel, but now we have a president who really and truly does this. But Trump likes Israel, so I guess it’s all OK.

And speaking of Israel, I’ve noticed some befuddlement over the fact that Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar were lukewarm toward the Iran deal at last night’s debate. This was one of President Obama’s premier achievements, so why the shade? The answer, I think, is that Booker and Klobuchar are both strong supporters of Israel, and Israel never liked the Iran deal. Does anybody have a better explanation?

PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

payment methods

PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate