Trump’s Grand Strategic Train Wreck

Believe it or not, the president has a grand strategy. But it's a nightmarish mess.

By Colin Kahl, Hal Brands

January 31, 2017 | Foreign Policy | http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/01/31/trumps-grand-strategic-train-wreck/

Believe it or not, President Donald Trump has a grand strategy. According to some analysts, Trump’s endless streams of erratic and apparently improvisational ideas don’t add up to anything consistent or purposeful enough to call a grand strategy. We see it otherwise. Beneath all the rants, tweets, and noise there is actually a discernible pattern of thought — a Trumpian view of the world that goes back decades. Trump has put forward a clear vision to guide his administration’s foreign policy — albeit a dark and highly troubling one, riddled with tensions and vexing dilemmas.
Grand strategy is the conceptual architecture that lends structure and form to foreign policy. A leader who is “doing grand strategy” is not handling global events on an ad hoc or case-by-case basis. A grand strategy, rather, represents a more purposeful and deeply held set of concepts about a country’s goals and orientation in international affairs.http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/01/31/trumps-grand-strategic-train-wreck/