There has been much speculation about the rationale behind the foreign policy of US President Donald Trump. The key to understanding his actions has been attributed by different commentators to a range of possible factors. Some have identified an obsession about emulating former US president Barack Obama by winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Others focus on a desire to turn international transactions into a profit, allowing him to bask in his self-proclaimed status as a great dealmaker. Others see him as wanting to return to 19th-century isolationist policies, retreating from international commitments and distancing the United States from Europe. Conversely, others see him as wanting to pursue an expansionist policy, emulating his hero, former president William McKinley, by strengthening America’s domination of the Western Hemisphere, as illustrated by his designs on Greenland, Panama and Canada. Others go further, suggesting that Trump’s focus is on creating a new world order in which the interests of smaller, less-powerful states are subjugated to the interests of dominant world powers, each with their own sphere of influence — namely, the US, Russia and China.
All or some of these theories may be correct. Alternatively, the rationale behind Trump’s foreign policy could be that there is no rationale. Individual foreign-policy decisions may be based on stand-alone combinations of pragmatic, financial, populist or personal considerations, rather than being part of some grand scheme or consistent set of principles. This could explain why in one breath, Trump advocates for peace, while in the next breath he’s threatening to unleash military force to create “hell like you’ve never seen before”.
Trump is renowned for his unpredictability and his tendency to portray complex issues in simplistic terms, often seeming to be influenced by his personal feelings toward the people he’s dealing with. This could well be the key to understanding his foreign policy. If so, it is strangely reminiscent of how medieval kings operated. In medieval times, international relations were determined not by democratically agreed principles and national interests, but by narrow personal and dynastic considerations. The power of the king’s personality, his likes or dislikes of other rulers, and an ability to strike deals with them played a disproportionate role in foreign policy.
The American Founding Fathers, for whom the rule of law was sacrosanct, must be turning in their graves. The fundamental principle that no one, including the president, is above the law has, it seems, been abandoned. This may well have emboldened Trump in adopting an approach at home and abroad, which is reminiscent of medieval monarchies. The spoof cover of Time magazine may have been intended as a joke, but this image of “King Donald” is perhaps the key to understanding Trump’s mentality and his approach to both domestic and foreign affairs
Trump’s strong personality, his love of a deal and his very personal pronouncements about other world leaders certainly appear to fit this mold. Rather than focusing on the complexities of international and geopolitical issues, he often seems to prefer to reduce matters to the simplistic question of whom he likes or dislikes. His animosity toward Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was apparent long before the White House ambush of Feb 28, with Trump describing him as a “dictator” who “has done a terrible job”. He has also disparaged Canada’s then-prime minister Justin Trudeau, once branding him a “far-left lunatic”. By contrast, Trump’s warm words about Russian President Vladimir Putin seem to be based on the fact that “I know him very well”, as if this were some sort of logical validation for Putin’s actions. Similarly superficial comments have been made about British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who according to Trump has done a “very good job thus far” and with whom he has a “very good relationship”. Of Britain’s King Charles III, Trump has gushed, “He’s a beautiful man, a wonderful man and … I’ve known him, gotten to know him very well.”
Comments like these give the clear impression that personal relationships and “knowing” the leaders of other countries may hold more sway with him than the accumulated wisdom of seasoned diplomats and international political analysts. This throwback to a very personal, quasimonarchical approach to international affairs has been cemented in our minds by the unseemly sight of Western leaders queuing to pay homage to the American president. The sycophantic demeanor of Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron, for example, in their recent visits to the court of “King Donald”, only reinforces the image of Trump as a medieval monarch receiving homage.
Maybe we shouldn’t be too surprised if Trump’s very personal approach to foreign affairs resembles that of a medieval king. It reflects a similar trend domestically, as exemplified in the recent fake front cover of Time magazine depicting Trump with a crown and the caption “Long live the king”. This supposedly humorous caricature is given credence by the way Trump has acted in his second term. In his first two months in office, Trump has effectively bypassed Congress, preferring to rule through the extensive use of executive orders, the modern equivalent of medieval royal proclamations. He has also emulated the royal prerogative by dispensing presidential pardons liberally. On his inauguration day, he granted executive clemency to over 1,500 of his supporters, all of whom were convicted of federal criminal offenses after participating in the siege of the US Capitol on Jan 6, 2021.
This quasimonarchical approach to the presidency has been supported by the US Supreme Court, which effectively ruled last year that the president is above the law. In its July 1 ruling, the Supreme Court declared that US presidents, just like medieval monarchs, enjoy “absolute immunity” for their “official acts”. The ruling was made in relation to the criminal charges then being faced by Trump over his alleged role in the Jan 6, 2021, insurrection.
The American Founding Fathers, for whom the rule of law was sacrosanct, must be turning in their graves. The fundamental principle that no one, including the president, is above the law has, it seems, been abandoned. This may well have emboldened Trump in adopting an approach at home and abroad, which is reminiscent of medieval monarchies. The spoof cover of Time magazine may have been intended as a joke, but this image of “King Donald” is perhaps the key to understanding Trump’s mentality and his approach to both domestic and foreign affairs.
The author is a British historian and former principal of Sha Tin College, an international secondary school in Hong Kong.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
