Cancel the Foreign-Policy Apocalypse

The Atlantic

23 hours ago

Cancel the Foreign-Policy Apocalypse - The Atlantic

A second Trump term probably wouldn’t change U.S. foreign policy all that much.
By Eliot A. Cohen
July 17, 2024

EliotACohen

For all those, left and right, MAGA and Never-Trump who are getting the vapors about this piece: all I say that it MAY not be as bad as one might think.

MAY. Admittedly, Twitter is the wrong place to make the case for uncertainty or nuance.

www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/07/cancel-foreign-policy-apocalypse-donald-trump-ukraine/679038/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-atlantic-am&utm_term=The+Atlantic+AM

21 hours ago

Donald Trump will likely become president again come January 20, 2025. The drama of an aging and diminishing President Joe Biden clinging to office despite the despair of Democrats who can read their candidate’s prospects clearly is not without its Shakespearean elements. As Regan says of King Lear, “He hath ever but slenderly known himself.” Like many a tragedy, Biden’s choice and its consequences were eminently foreseeable.

But if Trump is destined for a second term, it then falls upon us unapologetic and unrepentant never-Trumpers to think about the consequences of one of the most remarkable comebacks in American political history.
The gravest concerns are domestic:
Will Trump attempt to unleash the FBI and IRS on political opponents, or as he might think of them, enemies?
Will he tamper with civil liberties, or undermine institutions, or sow so much bitterness and acrimony that the United States will face years of worsening partisan strife and violence?I will leave those questions to people more qualified to answer them, choosing instead to reflect on the other side of presidential activity - foreign policy. . ."

Eliot Cohen is a contributing writer at The Atlantic.
He is a professor emeritus at Johns Hopkins University and the author of The Hollow Crown: Shakespeare on How Leaders Rise, Rule, and Fall.

BOOK PLUG >