Last week, he said that he would target the families of ISIS terrorists: “you have to take out their families.” Mr. Trump—who never served in the military—obviously does not know that targeting civilians not engaged in hostilities is a war crime. The week before, he said he would bring back waterboarding: “Would I approve waterboarding? You bet your ass I would….and even it doesn’t work, they deserve it anyway for what they do to us.” Someone should tell Mr. Trump that in October Congress banned the use of interrogation techniques not authorized by the Army Field Manual.
.. Rebecca Berg, the national security reporter for the right-leaning website RealClearPolitics, recently noted that Trump has been claiming for months that he would announce a team of “highly respected” foreign policy advisers but has not done so. One reason Trump may be having trouble recruiting foreign policy advisers is that he is not interested in receiving advice or listening to anyone else. One source told Berg: “He’s not the kind of guy who’s going to be briefed…It’s not in his personality.”
How Marco Rubio Became the GOP’s Foreign Policy Candidate
One commentator recently dubbed him “the Council on Foreign Relations’ favorite Republican.”
.. Instead of real vision—an incisive analysis of the world today and actual solutions to its complex challenges—Rubio offers attitudes and platitudes. Scratch the surface and it is difficult to identify a single major new idea or overarching strategy beyond reversing what President Obama has done, shifting the tone toward more forthright condemnation of authoritarians with whom the Obama administration has sought pragmatic and targeted cooperation, and projecting “strength” through a more confrontational approach backed by military spending.
.. But Rubio actually voted against authorizing that strike when Obama asked for it. He has said, “I have never supported the use of U.S. military force in the conflict. And I still don’t.” And now he’s calling for the use of military force to support a “no fly zone” over Syria.
.. But then the political winds shifted. The rise of ISIS, the invasion of Crimea, and the mass migration of refugees created a narrative of fear. And Rubio tacked right.
Too Late for Carson to Catch up on Homework
“While he speaks eloquently and passionately about the importance of doing homework in his own life and for children everywhere, it’s not obvious he’s taken those lessons to heart when it comes to politics.”
.. In fairness, Trump’s answers shouldn’t cut it either. But Carson is admiringly honest about his shortcomings and admits when he gets things wrong, while Trump makes up for his shortcomings and ignorance with bluster, bullying, and bombast. Sadly, that continues to work for him.
The Emptiness of the Rubio Doctrine
But what all these doctrines had in common was that they constituted an effort to define, and answer, the specific challenge of a given time. For Monroe, it was hemispheric independence. For Truman, it was communist expansion. For Carter, it was threats to America’s oil supply.
.. Historically, foreign-policy doctrines have been the opposite of “timeless.” They represent efforts to further American interests and ideals by offering a specific response to a specific geopolitical reality. Every president wants the United States to be strong, prosperous, and moral. Doctrines are supposed to outline a strategy for achieving those goals. They are not the goals themselves.
.. Truman’s “containment” doctrine and Reagan’s doctrine of “rollback” each had problems. But at least they were aimed at a specific enemy. Rubio can’t lay out a doctrine like that today because the two enemies he and other Republicans talk about most—Iran and ISIS—are only linked in the conservative imagination. On the ground, they’re at war.