The neocons have been out in force ever since anti-government protests erupted in Iran this week, giving advice to Donald Trump on how he should handle things. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham took his turn playing the "if I were president" game on this Sunday's Face the Nation doing exactly that, agitating for Trump to be more aggressive with both Iran and North Korea. (What could possibly go wrong with either of those scenarios, Lindsey?)
Prior to UN Ambassador Nikki Haley's presser, Fox's Harris Faulkner hosted a panel segment, and asked her guests about Graham's appearance over the weekend. While discussing how Trump will respond, Faulker seemed to suggest that all we need to know about the so-called "Trump doctrine" when dealing with hostile regimes, is that it was going to be "America first."
FOWLER: I think what's interesting here as we discussed on the couch in the last hour, is how the president will react and this will be the beginning of what will be the Trump doctrine, right? How we deal with foreign countries and how we deal with rogue states. But beyond that...
FAULKNER: Don't you think we already know that it's put America first? Or am I (inaudible) on that?
FOWLER: Well, if it's put America first, then are we interventionists? Do we get involved? Do we send our military troops to support these protesters? These are all the big questions that we will answer, that the president will have to answer, which is why Lindsey Graham was calling for him to lay out a strategy and just not Tweet, because it's more than that. Are we going to support these protesters and how are we going to support them.
Sorry Harris, but campaign slogans are not the equivalent of having foreign policy positions.
If we had to sum up what we've seen from Trump so far, I'd say rather than "America first," it's been "Trump first." That and undo everything the black guy before me that I hate with a red hot passion did, whether it makes any sense or not.
If he can line his pockets and undo President Obama's legacy while he's at it, Trump is interested in foreign policy. The rest of his so-called "doctrine" is reading off of a teleprompter whatever his advisers tell him to say.
