Donald Trump unveiled much of his foreign policy positions today and unleashed an avalanche of questionable ideas that bear closer scrutiny. Most of his views range from delusional to outright lies. Let's take a look at 15 direct quotes from his foreign policy speech that are all kinds of terrible.
1. We went from mistakes in Iraq to Egypt to Libya, to President Obama’s line in the sand in Syria. Each of these actions have helped to throw the region into chaos, and gave ISIS the space it needs to grow and prosper.
There are two points here that must be addressed. First, the "line in the sand" is something conservatives will use to bash Obama but the reality of chemical weapons use in Syria is a bit more murky than it seems. According to the early reports, there was testimony rebels were using chemical weapons in the fight against the Assad government. In more recent incidents, it has been confirmed ISIS has been using chemical weapons on multiple occasions. These facts would confirm the likelihood the U.S. was "being set up" by the rebels in an attempt to force Obama's hand and have the might of America's armed forces come down on Assad. While it seems clear Assad has used chemical weapons, the situation is certainly not as black-and-white as Trump suggests.
Second, all indications are that ISIS is not growing or prospering at the moment. ISIS has been losing ground for quite a while and recently discovered internal ISIS documents note the group is barely able to pay its fighters and is dealing with a newfound desertion problem. At least for now, the fight against ISIS is going in the right direction.
2. Ending the theft of American jobs will give us the resources we need to rebuild our military and regain our financial independence and strength.
Rebuild? There really isn't a list of military power you can find that won't have the United States at numero uno. The details inside the numbers are even more staggering. In fact, the Army repeatedly told Congress to stop building tanks it didn't need to no avail. It's pretty clear a rebuild is not needed in any way, shape or form. And the GOP candidates' attacks on the military under Obama during the Republican debates were thoroughly shredded when they spouted those delusions.
3. He (Obama) negotiated a disastrous deal with Iran, and then we watched them ignore its terms, even before the ink was dry.
(Much later in the speech.)
The world must know that we do not go abroad in search of enemies, that we are always happy when old enemies become friends, and when old friends become allies.
While Iran has done some missile testing since the signing of the deal, there is no indication the tests were violations of the new terms. The deal lifted a missile ban the U.N. imposed on Iran in 2010 and those missile tests are now open to Tehran.
Then there is the point of "old enemies" becoming "friends." If Trump is so keen on that, he should be praising the idea of negotiating Iran to a non-nuclear weapon future. To avoid an armed conflict, we need to talk with Iran at some point and that has already happened. While the situation isn't perfect for either side right now, it's better than it was and is certainly looking like it's headed for a brighter future. Trump is suggesting he'll step in and ruin that progress, which helps nothing.
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