GOP Concerns Grow Over Trump’s Foreign Policy Plans

(AP)

Some Republican lawmakers are expressing concern about what foreign policy could look like if former President Donald Trump returns to the White House.

Trump has said he quickly would help negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war and has criticized NATO members for not paying their fair share.

His choice of Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, as a running mate does not bode well for Ukraine. Vance led the opposition to the eventually approved assistance package for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s country.

In another potential anti-Ukraine sign, Trump earlier this month welcomed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a Putin supporter, to Mar-a-Lago after the NATO summit in Washington.

Then there’s China and the threat it poses in Asia. The former president has said Taiwan should pay more for its defense and has refused to commit to defending the island.

“I don’t think he [Trump] desires to be in conflict or to pay for conflicts around the world,” one GOP senator told The Hill.

“His instinct is always toward nonintervention, caution,” another senator told the outlet. “I don’t know that there’s well-formed philosophy about this is. It’s just his gut. He kind of does this by gut, and his gut is nonintervention.”

Lawmakers are not the only ones trying to understand what a second Trump administration would do regarding foreign policy.

“He [Trump] himself does not fit neatly into any of the three camps that divide the party — traditionalists who want the US to be more assertive globally, isolationists who prefer to pull back, and China-focused hawks who argue resources and attention should shift to Asia. Trump remains preoccupied with flashy deals that might burnish his reputation and ratings,” Bloomberg’s editorial board wrote.

Trump’s insistence that he could quickly end the Russia-Ukraine war worries some lawmakers.

“I think Trump goes in and tries to negotiate a deal [to end the war in Ukraine] where they cede certain territory to Putin knowing that Putin can’t walk away a loser. Putin’s only graceful exit from this is Zelenskyy and company ceding some territory, the Russian-speaking parks of Ukraine,” one Republican senator said, The Hill reported.

Others support the view of no more financial assistance to Ukraine.

“JD is probably one of the most outspoken individuals about continuing to fuel the flames of that bloody stalemate. I happen to agree with him. I think President Trump does as well,” said Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., The Hill reported.

One lawmaker blamed the influence of conservative media personality Tucker Carlson in pushing Trump toward both Vance and Orbán.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has had a rocky relationship with Trump, warns about being soft with China.

“We don’t know yet who’s going to be the new administration. But it’s pretty clear that our allies in Asia, and now you can add the Philippines to the group, are all concerned about Chinese aggression. They are watching what happens to Russia in Ukraine carefully,” McConnell said, The Hill reported.

“This is the clearest example of the democratic world needing to stand up to these authoritarians. [Former President Ronald] Reagan had it right. There’s one thing that works. Peace you get through strength.”