After North and South Korea sat down for talks without U.S. involvement, one must contemplate the profound and potentially catastrophic consequences of Donald Trump’s unilateral, isolationist approach to our nation’s foreign policy, particularly in Asia.
In retrospect, it is amazing how the U.S.—in spite of significant cultural and geographic differences with Asia—has maintained tremendous economic, political, social and diplomatic influence in the region since the end of World War II. This in spite of the fact that the United States’ greatest foes (Russia and China) are much closer to the region geographically and culturally.
The benefits this has provided our nation over the decades are tremendous, impacting virtually every aspect of U.S. economics and security. This is the result of thoughtful, consistent and intrepid action on the part of every U.S. presidential administration—Republican and Democratic alike—since the end of WWII.
Yet in less than a year, Mr. Trump’s bombastic rhetoric, erratic tactics and generally oafish behavior on the international stage leave us on the brink of squandering the influence that 12 previous administrations toiled so hard to carefully nurture.
It is astounding how much goodwill one bad president can squander in such a short time. How will the U.S. recover from the tremendous damage the Trump administration is doing to U.S. interests under the sadly ironic mantra of “Making America Great”?
MICHAEL HALPERIN
Cranberry
