Editors: John Dixon and Max J. Skidmore
Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the U.S., will be remembered because of his observed flawed personality and limited cognitive processes. His arrogance, unpredictability, overhastiness, and changeableness told America’s allies and rivals alike that they had to accommodate a non-traditional U.S. president, one who does not abide by—even rejects—the traditional principles of diplomacy. His primary foreign policy focuses were American isolationism and economic nationalism. While he never bothered to delve too deeply into substantial issues of international politics, he did intervene, without much success, in some of the prevailing conflicts and issues in the Middle East and North Africa (Israel-Palestine (peace deal), Iran (nuclear weapons), Saudi Arabia-Yemen (civil war), Syria-Daesh (terrorism), Egypt-Sudan (water), and Libya (civil war); in Europe (EU (unification), NATO (cost sharing), and East Central Europe (trade and security); in East Asia (China and Japan (unfair trade) and North Korea (ballistic missile threats); and in North America (Canada and Mexico (multilateral trade deal)). The reality is that throughout Trump’s presidency, there was a clearly perceptible decline of his—and America’s—global standing, which accelerated as an upshot of his mishandling of both the Corvid-19 pandemic and his 2020 presidential election loss.
Companion volume: John Dixon, Fathoming Donald J. Trump; “It’s all about my Mind, not my Politics” (Westphalia Press, Washington, DC, 2022).
John Dixon is Emeritus Professor of Public Management and Policy at the University of Plymouth, UK. Until his retirement he was a fellow of the British Academy of the Social Sciences (2004-2017), and is an honorary life member of the American Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars (since 2006).
Max J. Skidmore is University of Missouri’s Curators’ Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Thomas Jefferson Fellow at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He has been Distinguished Fulbright Lecturer to India, and Senior Fulbright Scholar at the University of Hong Kong.
Westphalia Press 