The assumption that we have to fight Russia because they’re the “bad guys” is grounded in this idea of “idealist interventionism,” that American foreign policy is motivated by benevolence and promoting freedom and democracy. There was a time when that was politically hegemonic in both parties but the complete failure of the War on Terror has broken that down and bred more skepticism of those assumptions. That skepticism goes in all sorts of directions, from leftists who correctly identify that US foreign policy is motivated by the material self-interest of the ruling class, to nationalists who think that it’s motivated by idealism but should be self-interested, to libertarians who see it all as “the government doing stuff.”
Trump’s approach to foreign policy is built on appealing to nationalists and libertarians. Any ideological differences between the two are easily papered over by the democrats screaming “Russian bot” at anyone who doesn’t want to kill a bunch of people halfway around the globe for the sake of “freedom,” and by parading around the Cheney’s, who are emblematic of that ideology (and it’s failures). When Trump persued an exploitative mineral deal with Ukraine, that’s red meat to the nationalists who are just as warmongering as the liberals but think the problem is the veneer of idealism, in reality, Trump is likely to keep the Ukrainian meat grinder running but he’s selling it to his base with, “We’re doing this for our own material benefit” because they respond better to that than, “We’re doing this to uphold international norms and promote democracy.”
Trump once bragged about sending “offensive weapons and tank killers” to Ukraine when Obama only sent, “pillows and blankets,” and that’s true. All that really matters is Trump being able to distinguish himself as an “outsider,” as an alternative to the status quo everyone’s fed up with. It’s kinda similar to how Trump promoted COVID vaccines while trying to take credit for them and his supporters booed him for it, because if the Democrats are saying one thing, his base wants and expects him to say the other.
The assumption that we have to fight Russia because they’re the “bad guys” is grounded in this idea of “idealist interventionism,” that American foreign policy is motivated by benevolence and promoting freedom and democracy. There was a time when that was politically hegemonic in both parties but the complete failure of the War on Terror has broken that down and bred more skepticism of those assumptions. That skepticism goes in all sorts of directions, from leftists who correctly identify that US foreign policy is motivated by the material self-interest of the ruling class, to nationalists who think that it’s motivated by idealism but should be self-interested, to libertarians who see it all as “the government doing stuff.”
Trump’s approach to foreign policy is built on appealing to nationalists and libertarians. Any ideological differences between the two are easily papered over by the democrats screaming “Russian bot” at anyone who doesn’t want to kill a bunch of people halfway around the globe for the sake of “freedom,” and by parading around the Cheney’s, who are emblematic of that ideology (and it’s failures). When Trump persued an exploitative mineral deal with Ukraine, that’s red meat to the nationalists who are just as warmongering as the liberals but think the problem is the veneer of idealism, in reality, Trump is likely to keep the Ukrainian meat grinder running but he’s selling it to his base with, “We’re doing this for our own material benefit” because they respond better to that than, “We’re doing this to uphold international norms and promote democracy.”
Trump once bragged about sending “offensive weapons and tank killers” to Ukraine when Obama only sent, “pillows and blankets,” and that’s true. All that really matters is Trump being able to distinguish himself as an “outsider,” as an alternative to the status quo everyone’s fed up with. It’s kinda similar to how Trump promoted COVID vaccines while trying to take credit for them and his supporters booed him for it, because if the Democrats are saying one thing, his base wants and expects him to say the other.