Curt Mills: Is Trump Still 'America First'?

The executive director of The American Conservative discusses Trump's meeting with Netanyahu, support for Ukraine, MAGA schisms, and the president's "grand strategy" on the latest episode of Just Asking Questions.

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Curt Mills: Is Trump Still 'America First'?

What is the "Trump doctrine"? Just asking questions.

President Donald Trump won his first term in office after breaking with the Republican establishment on a few fronts. One notable example: On the debate stage in 2016, he embarrassed Jeb Bush for his family's role in the disastrous Iraq War. 

Trump didn't start any new wars in his first term, though he didn't end any either. This time around, he joined Israel's attack on Iran by dropping bombs on its uranium enrichment facilities. Although his vice president has said he does "not think that it is in America's interest to continue to fund an effectively never-ending war in Ukraine," Trump announced this week that the U.S. will ship more weapons to Ukraine, with his Defense Department describing the move as "integral to our America First defense priorities."

Curt Mills, executive director of The American Conservative, understands the contours of the foreign policy landscape on the right better than most, and he joined the show today to discuss Trump's latest foreign policy moves, the growing schism within the MAGA movement over the continued support for Israel and Ukraine, Trump's hostile dismissal of a question about the Jeffrey Epstein case, and what Trump's foreign policy "grand strategy" might be. 

Timecodes:

0:00 - Trump ran against the Iraq War, and Vance against funding Ukraine

2:00 - What is the 'Trump doctrine'?

6:57 - What does Curt think of Netanyahu nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize?

8:58 - Are Netanyahu's demands reasonable?

11:40 - What do Trump and Netanyahu plan for the Palestinians?

15:58 - Were the Iran strikes a success?

25:59 - Can Iran rebuild its nuclear program?

26:30 - What is JD Vance's role in Trump's foreign policy?

30:10 - Why is Trump giving more weapons to Ukraine?

41:06 - Why doesn't Trump want to talk about Jeffrey Epstein anymore?

 

Comments

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Trump has never been America first, he's always been Trump first, and equated himself with America.

So does every other politician. I'll give Massie and Paul some slack, but not any President.

What I want is a President who doesn't put anybody in government first. I want every individual to put themselves first, and for government to just butt out.

[minus the clever name]

You sound like 'you first', which would make you a hypocrite.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

I've never heard of Curt Mills. But if my memory serves I've heard about The American Conservative before.

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIkvQHk_sWM

[Chumby]

Trump should stop funding Biden’s war against Russia.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Hey! Welcome back!

[GOD OF PENGUIN ISLAND]

Agree.

[Your Therapist]

Holy shit, you mean we all agree on something?

[AT]

I think you're overthinking it.

I have my house. I pretty much just want to be left alone in it. But I won't hesitate to stomp on a cockroach (either inside OR outside my house; but especially inside - which I'll go to great lengths to prevent in the first place), I'm still going to give a cup of sugar or milk or whatever to my neighbor if she knocks on my door in the middle of making a meal, and if anyone comes asking me about the fate of a dead LGBT Pedo that may or may not have my fingerprints on it - I'll probably demur (unless there were some guaranteed upside to me not doing so).

[minus the clever name]

Then why are you posting mega-stupid inflammatory posts. Self-deception 🙂

[minus the clever name]

This column reminds me of that great logic story.

Waiter says, "we only have chocolate ice cream or pie"
Customer "Okay I'll have the ice cream'
Waiter comes back "Oh, I forgot, we also have fudge"
Customer says "In that case I'll have the pie"

Does the writer see what he is saying about Biden by talking about Trump that way ????

[[e-mail]]

I was going to send a long email, but I'll leave it here. Incredibly unimpressed with this analysis.
--
There’s two really major points you all are leaving out about the Iran and Russia situations:All of the terrorism the dictators in Iran have inflicted on the world since 1979 (and especially since the 1980s), and;The Russians have manpower problems of their own, and they’re filling their shortfalls with North Korean slaves. 
On the first, I strongly recommend Michael Moynihan’s interview on 7/9 on TFC members-only. No, the Shah wasn’t a good guy. Yes, SAVAK was horrible. The people in charge now are far worse. Ask Masha Amini’s family if the Morality Police are better. Ask the Jews in Argentina affected by the AMIA Bombing. Do the AntiWar people have any idea what happened with Khobar Towers?  How, exactly, was that the result of American Intervention?
The Russians have lost more than 100K men in the “special military operation.” This is all Putin’s fault. Claims of NATO provocation have shown to be of questionable, at best, veracity. What it did do was prompt Sweden and Finland to join NATO to fend off Russian aggression.
The amazing Russian, Iranian, and Chinese military technology has proven to be amazingly-ineffective in actual use. The Russian weapons are being taken out with 1970s (F-16) and 1980s (Patriot Missile) US technology. And, as I mentioned before, the Russians are backfilling their ranks with North Koreans (who are, by any reasonable definition) prisoners or slaves. 
I do agree that US force should be used judiciously, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be used at all. 
Economic pressures and blockades also do work. I don’t have a problem that almost nobody trades with the Notch Koreans, or that the Russians are having problems exchanging the Rupees from their oil and natural gas sales. Or that the Chinese built a wall on their southern border to keep North Koreans out.  
The analysis at the end is solid if, and only if, you omit things that happened in the Reagan, Bush 41, and Clinton Administrations. 
Was the US wrong to intervene in Grenada?How about Panama?Desert Shield/Storm?Haiti?Yugoslavia?
Further, if you adhere to the views so often stated by the “AntiWar” contingent, how were those intended to enrich US defense suppliers?
(And there was a Political Orphanage ep. where the guest, one of the most prolific AW authorities, tried to pin what happened in Rwanda in 1993 on the US defense industry.)
I planned to support Biden so he’d get his appropriate share of the blame for the fiscal situation currently facing the US. (Yes, I’m aware that Trump would have been blamed anyway in MSNBC. CNN, NPR, et. al, but the catastrophe would have gotten somewhat-more correct attribution. See Senator Paul’s objections to OBBBA….) I voted for Chase Oliver after it became apparent that VA was going to stay Blue despite Officer Harris topping the ticker. 
I think she would have been more interventionist than Trump, with even more reckless spending. 
Very frustrating situation. 
There are many ways in which Trump’s foreign policy is similar to the sort of policy promised by Bush 43 in 2000. Perhaps try examining it from that perspective?
The 1998 strikes in Sudan weren’t “Wag The Dog.” We’d learn that in 2001. 
Many of the things Trump has done aren’t that far off from what someone would have expected from an American President between the fall of The Wall and 9/11. 

[minus the clever name]

You know why the Founders wrote anonymously ? So personality wouldn't displace discussion. Too many answers seem automatic. I don't like Trump, everybody knows I don't like Trump, I better say something 'anti-Trump' to maintain my standing as an anti-Trumper