Donald Trump has delivered quite a shock to the elite in both political parties and the main stream media not just in how he verbally blasts his political opponents at home, but his willingness to jettison the genteel nuances of foreign diplomatic-speak. It’s not just that he has repudiated the Obama Administration’s World Apology Tour, the premise of which is that all of the world’s ills have their roots in America’s rapaciousness. Even Republicans in Congress and past administrations are stricken by his “bumptiousness”.
Bumptious is the term used by National Review writer Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr., in his recent piece “Kick Me No More”. Ehrlich’s premise is that however uncouth Trump may seem to the more cultured elites of foreign policy, he is doing what should have been done decades ago: not allowing America to be walked over by every low brow thug in the world arena.
Both words and substance
The financial markets swoon when trade war rhetoric and policy thunders from the White House. Trump has put world trading partners on notice that the U.S. will not accept the rump end of trade deals any longer. On foreign policy he has played hardball with gangsters like Kim Jung Un, Vladimir Putin and the Iranian mullahs.
Ehrlich says Trump has dared to ask why and why not on a host of conventional wisdoms:
Indeed, how many of these widely accepted (sometimes downright cherished) assumptions can one man challenge (disrupt) in such a brief period of time? The answer is plenty. He does it by questioning what often goes unquestioned in Washington, D.C. He simply asks “Why?” Why help fund a Shiite crescent in the Middle East? Why send tax dollars to a terrorist-friendly PLO? Why support anti-American programs at the U.N.? Why a “One China” policy? Why placate deadbeat NATO partners? Why pay premium prices for the F-35 and a new Air Force One? Why force nuns to provide birth-control coverage? Why tolerate sanctuary cities and a porous border?
Similarly, Mr. Trump asks, “Why not?” Why not support nascent democratic movements in Iran? Why not revisit aging trade deals? Why not activate the Congressional Review Act? Why not count everyone in the census? Why not energy independence? Why not move the embassy to Jerusalem? Why not say “Merry Christmas”?
The Art of Getting a Better Deal
Most of the items on Ehrlich’s list represents tens of billions in tax dollars paid to underwrite policies that many Americans find antithetical to our values as a nation. Yet for decades, through Democrat and Republican Administrations alike, we have often kowtowed to actors on the world and domestic stage that mean us harm. Trump has been brazen enough to say: no more.
Even imposing stiff tariffs on America’s closest trading partners…Canada, Mexico, Europe…is not sacrosanct in Trump’s world.
What may be likely is that Trump is applying a full court press on these actors to wring concessions from their hands for a better U.S. position. He probably knows that tariffs are not a good long term policy. But when concessions are made, he may dial them back.
Watching the Big Wave
At Cornerstone Financial Services, we watch the large movements of markets, trends and forecasts, government and Federal Reserve policies, looking for what we believe will shape your investment and retirement future. We call it Big Wave Investing.
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