In his first year in office, President Donald Trump has taken actions that undermine the anti-interventionist foreign policy positions he campaigned on, raising questions about whether opposition Democrats can effectively capitalise on this apparent contradiction.
During the 2016 presidential election, Trump positioned himself as a political outsider who would break from the hawkish foreign policy consensus that had dominated both parties for decades. He criticised the Iraq War, expressed scepticism about America’s commitments to NATO and other alliances, and vowed to avoid costly and open-ended military entanglements abroad.
However, as president, Trump has presided over a foreign policy that in many ways resembles that of his more traditional Republican predecessors. He has continued US military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, dispatched additional troops to the Middle East, ratcheted up tensions with Iran, and taken a hard line against Venezuela’s socialist government.
“It’s a bit of a mixed bag,” said Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “Trump has been more conventional than many expected in some areas of foreign policy, but he’s also taken some unorthodox positions that have shaken up the status quo.”
Democratic leaders have seized on this apparent contradiction, vowing to make Trump’s foreign policy a key campaign issue in the months leading up to the 2020 presidential election. They argue that the president’s actions have undermined American credibility abroad, increased the risk of conflict, and done little to address the economic anxieties that drove many working-class voters to support him in the first place.
“Trump campaigned as an anti-interventionist, but he’s governed as more of a traditional Republican hawk,” said Senator Chris Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “That’s something we’re going to hammer him on relentlessly.”
The Democrats’ strategy is twofold: first, to portray Trump as a hypocrite who has betrayed his populist, America First rhetoric; and second, to position the party as the true champions of a more restrained and cost-effective foreign policy.
“Voters want leaders who will focus on the kitchen-table issues that matter most to them, like healthcare and the cost of living,” said Representative Ro Khanna, a progressive Democrat. “Trump’s foreign policy adventures are a distraction from those priorities, and we need to hold him accountable.”
However, some analysts caution that this line of attack may not be as effective as the Democrats hope. Trump’s base remains largely supportive of his hawkish stance on issues like Venezuela and Iran, and the president has shown a willingness to double down on his unorthodox approach to foreign affairs.
“Trump has a knack for defying political gravity,” said O’Hanlon. “The Democrats will need to be very strategic and disciplined in how they go about this if they want to make it stick.”
