The World According to Trump

Forget the Islamic State group. Forget climate change. “Donald Trump represents the No. 1 security threat to the United States today.” The man who said this is called Max Boot, a foreign policy expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, one of America’s foremost research institutes in the field.

He is not neutral; he was an adviser for failed White House candidate Marco Rubio. His comments, however, do not come as a surprise. Over the past 72 hours, several other American experts have sounded the alarm about Donald Trump’s foreign policy.

For the first time, the controversial politician has provided more details about it. He did so by giving a lengthy interview to two journalists from The New York Times.

Donald Trump’s conception of the international role of the U.S. is hard to summarize. His statements are “incoherent,” lamented former CIA Director Michael Hayden, who also called the Republican politician a threat.

What is clear is that the billionaire’s main focus can be boiled down to a few words: “America first.” Among other things, this line of thinking has led him to believe that America’s role as world leader should be monetized.

For example, Japan and South Korea, which are both protected by the United States, should give the world power “billions of dollars” in exchange for this service. (I wonder what he would ask from Ottawa, since our defense budget is drawn up on the assumption that our powerful neighbor will come to our rescue in case of need.)

Following this logic, he seems ready to start a new nuclear arms race. According to him, Japan and South Korea should think about stocking up so they don’t have to depend on Washington. It’s troubling.

He believes the United Nations also costs the United States too much money, and NATO too. He thinks this alliance is “obsolete.” Someone should remind him that it’s more useful than ever now that Russia — which NATO is trying to contain — seems eager to conquer.

His attitude toward China is clearly more belligerent — but just as worrying — than his policy toward Russia. Could he wage war against them? He refuses to say. “We need unpredictability,” he said.

The only good thing about Trump’s statements is that he has finally been forced to take a position on real issues.

One hopes that by hearing this, even more Americans will become worried — like the rest of the world — about Trump becoming the most powerful man on Earth.