How to predict Donald Trump’s foreign policy
He may be inconsistent, but his advisers offer some clues
JOHN BOLTON, Donald Trump’s national security adviser in 2018-19, has simple advice for anyone trying to understand his former boss’s philosophy on foreign policy: don’t bother. Mr Bolton, who fell out with Mr Trump, says the former president has no consistent principles, only moods, grudges and an obsession with his image. Thus he could both threaten North Korea with “fire and fury” and hold three chummy summits with Kim Jong Un, for example, or both talk about leaving the NATO alliance and then reinforce its eastern flank.
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This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline “Stranger danger”
Briefing March 30th 2024
From the March 30th 2024 edition
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