Thursday, June 19, 2025

Foreign Policy Errors Will Cost America

Imperial President at Home, Emperor Abroad
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/imperial-president-home-emperor-abroad
Political scientists who study autocracies recognize this for what it is: a dictator’s foreign policy. Washington has never been a paragon of virtue in its dealings abroad, but the extraordinary nature of Trump’s second term makes clear that presidents before him were indeed more constrained in their foreign policy. Unrestrained, the president is functionally equivalent to a dictator in the realm of national security—one who can translate any impulse into policy on a whim.


Trump Is Creating a Post-Western World
https://www.project-syndicate.org/magazine/trump-foreign-policy-damage-to-west-opens-door-for-the-rest-by-amitav-acharya-2025-06
Some might hope that Donald Trump’s alienation of US allies can be reversed under the next administration. Yet regardless of how his trade wars, territorial claims, and coercive tactics play out, the damage to the West as an idea and organizing principle of world order has already been done. 




Will Trump Lose India?
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/will-trump-lose-india-alienating-allies-when-he-doesnt-need-to-4398709c
An ally that welcomed his return to office has serious problems with his policies. 

The Costs of Victimomics by Raghuram Rajan
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/victimomics-the-costs-of-vilifying-immigrants-and-foreign-production-by-raghuram-g-rajan-2025-06
It is all too easy for politicians to tell their voters that they are the victims of foreigners, elites, or other groups that have little to no influence on elections. But acting on this narrative almost always makes conditions worse for their constituents, because it means that merit and efficiency must be sacrificed.