Chapter 2: Trump’s Perception of the American National Capability
2.1 Trump’s Discourse and the “America First” Foreign Policy
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challenges to the U.S. In the second section, the author focuses on the U.S. domestic economy, examining the problems during Obama’s presidency and the changes in Trump’s economic policy. Similarly, the third section aims to study the American military capabilities before and after Trump came to office. The author then explains in the fourth section the role that nationalism plays in the America First program, and how domestic issues are connected to his foreign policy goals. A brief conclusion is drawn in the last part.
2.1 Trump’s Discourse and the “America First” Foreign Policy
President Donald Trump’s statements and rhetoric on his foreign policy sounds anomalous, if not contradictory, to many ears in the fields of both U.S. domestic and international politics. Domestically, Trump appears to be critical of the American values of racial, gender, and economic equalities; internationally, he seems to oppose the bedrock convictions of the U.S. foreign policy to preach the gospel of democratic ideology, and perhaps is even ready to abandon America’s position as a liberal hegemon. Trump’s
“belligerent rhetoric” and his frequent use of social media to forward his ideas are unprecedented among U.S. Presidents.5
Trump’s unorthodox rhetoric and conducts seem to be built on his experiences in business. For example, Trump has repetitively pushed for the renegotiation of trade or strategic deals with not only U.S.’s rivals but also allied nations, and has threatened to withdraw from multilateral agreements should they refuse to comply with his terms. To date, the U.S. has abandoned the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)6, renegotiated the North
5 Stephen Collinson, “This is global Trumpism,” CNN, September 19, 2017, accessed October 1, 2017, http://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/19/politics/donald-trump-united-nations/index.html.
6 U.S. Executive Office of the President. “Withdrawal of the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Negotiations and Agreement,” January 25, 2017, accessed on September 4, 2018,
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American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)7, and dismissed the Iran Nuclear Deal, to name but a few. Trump’s emphasis on striking better deals reflects his dissatisfaction with America’s current position and performances in the world and reveals the goals he aims to achieve. To bring his foreign counterparts to the table, and throughout the negotiation process, Trump has frequently made use of the social and news media to deliver his stances.
His deal-making tactics are revealed in his book The Art of the Deal and represented as the
“Trump cards”8 in the form of metaphors as listed below:
1. Think Big
2. Protect the Downside and the Upside Will Take Care of Itself 3. Maximize Your Option
4. Know Your Market 5. Use Your Leverage 6. Enhance Your Location 7. Get the Word Out 8. Fight Back
9. Deliver the Goods 10. Contain the Costs
How are these business catch phrases reflected in Trump’s policies? For those ordinary ears, “Think Big” may be realized as Trump came to office with the promise to ‘Make America Great Again.’ Trump also claims that he is fully aware of what the “market” of Americans demand and that he is confident in delivering the goods with the leverages he owns. Trump stated that “You can dream great dreams, but they’ll never amount to much if
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/01/25/2017-01845/withdrawal-of-the-united-states-from-the-trans--pacific-partnership-negotiations-and-agreement
7 Jen Kirby, “USMCA, Trump’s New Trade Deal, Explained in 500 Words,” Vox, https://www.vox.com/2018/10/3/17930092/usmca-nafta-trump-trade-deal-explained.
8 Donald J. Trump and Tony Schwartz, Trump: The Art of the Deal (New York: Ballantine Books), 45-63.
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you can’t turn them into reality at a reasonable cost.”9 In brief, as a linguistic study revealed, compared with those of George W. Bush and Obama, President Trump’s discourse is aimed to convey the message of “success” to the American people.10
Why does Trump make a case for identifying the domestic and international challenges that are of threat to the U.S. for his national compatriots to make sense of his promises?
According to the realist logic, states place their primary interest in survival, which includes territorial integrity and political autonomy. Since the disband of the Soviet Union and the rise of the U.S. to global preeminence, the U.S. has been largely removed of the threat to its survival from an aggression of an enemy state. Instead, new types of security threat emerged in the twenty-first century, including terrorist activities, transnational crimes, climate change, etc. Should America maintain the internationalist foreign policy, it would likely find itself bogged deeper down into the ever more multifaceted international affairs.
It appears that Trump had indeed recognized the dangers of an overextended America, so he placed emphasis on prioritizing the American national interests over international cooperation when his policy was made. In the 2017 National Security Strategy (NSS), four economic and strategic pillars were erected to buttress the policy agenda of the Trump administration.11 The first pillar aims to “Protect the American people, the homeland, and the American way of life” against rogue states, Jihadist terrorists, and transnational criminal organizations. It highlights the need to enhance the U.S. border security and defense against the use and proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).
9 Donald J. Trump and Tony Schwartz, Trump: The Art of the Deal (New York: Ballantine Books), 62.
10 “Donald Trump’s Inaugural Speech,” Expert System, January 23, 2017, accessed August 2, 2018, https://www.expertsystem.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/20170120_Trump_inauguraladress_eng-1.pdf.
11 U.S., The White House, National Security Strategy of the United States of America, December 2017, accessed December 20, 2017,
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NSS-Final-12-18-2017-0905.pdf.
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The second pillar intends to “Promote American Prosperity.” Domestically, Trump aims to reinvigorate the U.S. economy and help lift the poor out of poverty. Internationally, Trump seeks to renegotiate international trade agreements on more favorable terms, and his point blank Twitter message stated that “We cannot let our friends, or enemies, take advantage of us on Trade anymore. We must put American worker first!”12
Trump underscores the necessity to “Preserve Peace Through Strength” as the third pillar. As his business tactic, Trump puts much stress on “Fight back” in which he says,
“Much as it pays to emphasize the positive, there are times when the only choice is confrontation”13; correspondingly, his administration agrees with the realist power politics concept that “A central continuity in history is the contest for power.”14 As demonstrated in the recent Sino-U.S. economic and military confrontations in the South China Sea, Trump does not show much hesitation in making use of the leverages he wields. Nonetheless, Trump does follow a hard-headed approach to problems and underscore the importance of cautious actions. In a speech on foreign policy delivered at an event hosted by the National Interest on April 27, 2016, he says, “war and aggression will not be my first instinct. You cannot have a foreign policy without diplomacy. A superpower understands that caution and restraint are signs of strength.”15
12 President Trump has repetitively accused allies and rivals for taking advantage of the U.S. See Holly Ellyatt,
“Trump’s Right on Trade—Europe has been ‘Free-Riding for too Long,’ Fund Manager Says,” CNBC, July 4, 2018, accessed on July 28, 2018,
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/04/trumps-right-on-trade--europe-has-been-free-riding-for-too-long-f.html;
Randy Woods, “Trump Says U.S. to Stop China from ‘Taking Advantage’ on Trade,” Bloomberg, April 6, 2018, accessed on July 30, 2018,
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-05/trump-says-u-s-to-stop-china-from-taking-advantage-o n-trade; “Trump Says Friend, Enemies Can’t Take Advantage of U.S. on Trade,” Voice of America, June 11, 2018, accessed July 27, 2018, https://www.voanews.com/a/trump-on-trade-at-g7-summit/4433232.html.
13 Donald J. Trump and Tony Schwartz, Trump: The Art of the Deal (New York: Ballantine Books), 58.
14 U.S., The White House, National Security Strategy of the United States of America, December 2017, accessed December 20, 2017,
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NSS-Final-12-18-2017-0905.pdf.
15 Donald J. Trump, “Trump on Foreign Policy,” The National Interest, April 27, 2016, accessed on December 27, 2017, https://nationalinterest.org/feature/trump-foreign-policy-15960.
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Finally, having ensured that America is secure and prosperous at home, the fourth pillar of Trump’s NSS goes on to “Advance American Influence” abroad. It stated that “The United States offers partnership to those who share our aspirations for freedom and prosperity” and “encourages those who want to join our community of like-minded democratic states and improve the conditions of their people.” This declaration perhaps indicates that unorthodox as Trump may be, he does not have intent to forsake the American values of democracy, freedom, and human rights, nor will he relinquish the U.S. status of a world leader. Rather, as he has repeatedly emphasized, the purpose of his foreign policy is to “prioritize” American national interests.
President Trump’s rhetoric style was frequently criticized as being “incoherent, inconsistent, and incomprehensible.”16 While it is not uncommon for politicians to go against their own earlier words, Trump claimed to have particularly reasons for him to do so, especially when dealing with enemies. For example, when he vowed to annihilate ISIS, Trump said “We must, as a nation, be more unpredictable.”17 Indeed, James Chace had reminded that:
Consistency in politics is neither particularly desirable nor generally possible. Since foreign policy is ultimately dictated by political considerations, changes in foreign policy, though lagging behind political machinations, are often engineered by men whose public statements at one time can sharply conflict with their later public positions.
1816 See Editorial Board, “Trump’s incoherent, inconsistent, and incomprehensible foreign policy,” The Washington Post, April 28, 2016, accessed May 5, 2016, goo.gl/Mwg1wa.
17 Donald J. Trump, “Trump on Foreign Policy,” The National Interest, April 27, 2016, accessed on December 27, 2017, https://nationalinterest.org/feature/trump-foreign-policy-15960.
18 James Chace, A World Elsewhere: The New American Foreign Policy (New York: Scribner), 11.
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To truly comprehend the goals of Trump’s foreign policy and his plans to achieve them, it is essential to look at both his rhetoric and his actual reactions toward the U.S.
domestic and international challenges.
In the following two sections, the author looks at the Trump’s discourse about U.S.
economic and military powers. The author examined his rhetoric on the major underlying factors that President Trump deemed contribute to the decline of the American power and its global leadership. From the theoretical perspective, the tenets of realism do admonish that the decline of economic and military powers can ultimately tilt the balance-of-power among great powers. Therefore, Trump’s warning rhetoric cannot just come out of thin air.
The decline of economic and military powers may be relatively eroding the basis of U.S.
national capabilities, especially when we turn our focus on the debate of the issues of Sino-U.S. relations.