White House press secretary Sean Spicer clearly didn't like the suggestion last week from White House communication director Mike Dubke that “there is no Trump doctrine” when it comes to foreign policy. Yes, there is, apparently. And Spicer tried to articulate it at Monday's press briefing.
“I think the Trump doctrine is something that he articulated throughout the campaign, which is that America's first. We're going to make sure our national interests are protected, that we do what we can to make sure our interests both economically and in national security are at the forefront; and we're not just going to become the world's policemen running around the world, but that we have to have a clear and defined national interest wherever we act and that it's our national security first and foremost that has to deal with how we act.”
The second word in Spider's answer—"think"—may be the operative sentiment there. Not in the sense of actual "thinking," but in the sense of not actually "knowing." Spicer went on to explain that increased usage of chemical weapons is a "clear threat" to America's national security interests—a dubious claim to begin with. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find international experts who think Syria’s chemical weapon use amounts to an immediate national security threat for the U.S., even if those same experts supported Trump's strikes in Syria for other reasons. As Greg Jaffe writes: “The attack by Assad’s forces offends America’s values and it violates long-standing international norms of behavior, but it does not present an immediate threat to America’s security or its economic interests.”
Spicer's answer on an issue related to all the White House infighting between Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner elicited a more telling answer about the so-called “Trump doctrine.”
“He doesn’t want a monolithical kind of thought process going through the White House. He wants a diverse set of opinions. He is the decider,” Spicer said.
Ah, back to having a "decider" on things.
Unless people like Defense Secretary James Mattis and national security adviser H.R. McMaster manage to wrangle Trump into some coherent strategy, we can look forward to a foreign policy that's just as searching and impulsive as his domestic policy.
Spicer et al will then frame every international intervention as "vital" to our national security. In other words, instead of something being deemed an immediate threat and us acting, we will know something represents an immediate threat based on when and where Trump "decides" to act.
Watch Spicer below: