The Hawkish Would-Be Emperor

If Trump isn’t a straightforward hawk, he has been doing a remarkably good impression of one.

Stephen Wertheim has written an interesting essay on Trump’s foreign policy, but here I think he is giving the president a bit too much credit:

Mr. Trump is not a straightforward hawk, either. He does seek to avoid long, costly wars and bring existing conflicts to a close.

The president says that he wants these things, but in practice he pursues policies that make new wars more likely and ensures that existing conflicts continue. If Trump isn’t a straightforward hawk, he has been doing a remarkably good impression of one. If he isn’t as aggressive as some of the other hawks in his party, he is almost always on their side on every major issue. To the extent that there are internal debates inside Trump’s administration, the president gives the hawks what they want far more often than not. Most of the time, there isn’t much of a debate since virtually everyone around Trump is a conventional hawk, too.

Put another way, if we had had a “straightforward hawk” as president instead of Trump, what would have been different in the last six months?