With the midterm election cycle coming to a close, it’s important for Republicans and Democrats to make their best efforts to convince the American people that they should be in charge. A large part of what will convince people to vote is foreign policy. Recently, there have been a number of foreign policy issues facing the nation which have taken control of the mainstream media’s news cycles. From constant threats like North Korea and Iran to more unique situations like the Central American migrant caravan and the murder of columnist Jamal Khashoggi, let’s take a look at these issues from both angles.
In the long term, nothing has really changed much over the past few months. North Korea and Iran have remained fairly quiet. North Korea is supposedly working to dismantle its nuclear testing sites but has yet to allow any international inspectors in to check the sites. However, based on comments from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, it appears that talks between the U.S., South Korea, and North Korea continue to improve. At this point, all Trump has to do is keep China in check so North Korea is forced to follow through on its commitments. On the Iranian front, things aren’t looking great. Although President Trump has ripped up the flawed Iran nuclear deal, sanctions have yet to be reinstated on the rogue nation. Iran is continuing to develop nuclear weaponry, and they get closer by the day. In order to stop this, the U.S. must enact sanctions without delay; an additional nuclearized state is never a good thing for the world.
For the short term, there are many conflicting reports, but I’m going to do my best to make some sense out of both situations. As for the migrant caravan that started in Honduras, some reports say the numbers have dwindled as the caravan moves through Mexico, whereas others say the number continues to swell. Many reports say that there are people from the Middle East as well as human traffickers mixed in with the group. Any way you look at this situation, it’s not good. The way Trump is handling the situation now is pretty good. He is working to cut aid to countries that allowed the caravan to pass through, thereby projecting U.S. strength and putting his money where his mouth is. In addition, he already said that the military will be present to intercept the caravan and prevent what is essentially an invasion. Now I know many people will say that calling this an invasion is heartless and wrong, but that doesn’t change the fact that this caravan of people is coming here illegally and trying to skip the line consisting of thousands of people trying to get here legally. Right now, this a winning issue for Republicans as Democrats have remained unusually silent on the issue.
As for the situation with the murder of Khashoggi, this is a very difficult situation to handle. On one hand, we must support freedom of the press both at home and around the world. On the other, we don’t want to ruin our alliance with Saudi Arabia and bolster the unstable Turkish government. The Saudis have denied his murder and changed their story on multiple occasions, but just today, the state-run news source of Saudia Arabia said that the murder of Khashoggi was premeditated. With all of this, President Trump now has to make what is, in my opinion, the toughest decision of his presidency. Will he believe the Saudis and their bad cover-up or will he side with the free press and the Turkish government? Either way, there will be consequences he will have to face.
Overall, Trump has a good handle on foreign affairs on the world stage, but he’s not perfect by any means. His work with North Korea is positive, but his work with Iran could be better. His handling of immigration is good, but his handling of the murder of Khashoggi wasn’t great. The man still has a lot to learn after almost two years since being elected, but to be fair, there has never been a perfect president, nor is it realistic for anyone to ever expect the president to do everything exactly right. Considering all of this, from a conservative perspective, I give Trump a B+ on his foreign policy work, so there is clearly still a significant amount of room for improvement.
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