Trump of the Will: The Donald's foreign policy and his team, it's the best team

[CountDeMoney]

Trump questions need for NATO, outlines noninterventionist foreign policy
By Philip Rucker and Robert Costa March 21 at 4:30 PM

Donald Trump outlined an unabashedly noninterventionist approach to world affairs Monday, telling The Washington Post's editorial board that he questions the need for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which has formed the backbone of Western security policies since the Cold War.

The meeting at The Post covered a range of issues, including media libel laws, violence at his rallies, climate change, NATO and the U.S. presence in Asia.

Speaking ahead of a major address on foreign policy later Monday in front of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Trump said he advocates a light footprint in the world. In spite of unrest abroad, especially in the Middle East, Trump said the United States must look inward and steer its resources toward rebuilding domestic infrastructure.

"I do think it's a different world today, and I don't think we should be nation-building anymore," Trump said. "I think it's proven not to work, and we have a different country than we did then. We have $19 trillion in debt. We're sitting, probably, on a bubble. And it's a bubble that if it breaks, it's going to be very nasty. I just think we have to rebuild our country."

He added: "I watched as we built schools in Iraq and they're blown up. We build another one, we get blown up. We rebuild it three times and yet we can't build a school in Brooklyn. We have no money for education because we can't build in our own country. At what point do you say, 'Hey, we have to take care of ourselves?' So, I know the outer world exists and I'll be very cognizant of that. But at the same time, our country is disintegrating, large sections of it, especially the inner cities."

For the first time, Trump also listed members of a team chaired by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) that is counseling him on foreign affairs and helping to shape his policies: Keith Kellogg, Carter Page, George Papadopoulos, Walid Phares and Joseph E. Schmitz.

Trump praised George P. Shultz, who served as President Ronald Reagan's top diplomat, and was harshly critical of current secretary of state John F. Kerry. He questioned the United States' continued involvement in NATO and, on the subject of Russia's aggression in Ukraine, said America's allies are "not doing anything."

"Ukraine is a country that affects us far less than it affects other countries in NATO, and yet we're doing all of the lifting," Trump said. "They're not doing anything. And I say: 'Why is it that Germany's not dealing with NATO on Ukraine? Why is it that other countries that are in the vicinity of Ukraine, why aren't they dealing? Why are we always the one that's leading, potentially the third world war with Russia.' "

Trump said that U.S. involvement in NATO may need to be significantly diminished in the coming years, breaking with nearly seven decades of consensus in Washington. "We certainly can't afford to do this anymore," Trump said, adding later, "NATO is costing us a fortune, and yes, we're protecting Europe with NATO, but we're spending a lot of money."

Trump sounded a similar note in discussing the U.S. presence in the Pacific. He questioned the value of massive military investments in Asia and wondered aloud whether the United States still was capable of being an effective peacekeeping force there.

"South Korea is very rich, great industrial country, and yet we're not reimbursed fairly for what we do," Trump said. "We're constantly sending our ships, sending our planes, doing our war games — we're reimbursed a fraction of what this is all costing."

Asked whether the United States benefits from its involvement in the region, Trump replied, "Personally, I don't think so." He added, "I think we were a very powerful, very wealthy country, and we are a poor country now. We're a debtor nation."

Trump cast China as a leading economic and geopolitical rival and said the United States should toughen its trade alliances to better compete.

"China has got unbelievable ambitions," Trump said. "China feels very invincible. We have rebuilt China. They have drained so much money out of our country that they've rebuilt China. Without us, you wouldn't see the airports and the roadways and the bridges. The George Washington Bridge [in New York], that's like a trinket compared to the bridges that they build in China. We don't build anymore. We had our day."

Trump began the hour-long meeting by pulling out a list of some of his foreign policy advisers.

"Walid Phares, who you probably know. PhD, adviser to the House of Representatives. He's a counterterrorism expert," Trump said. "Carter Page, PhD. George Papadopoulos. He's an oil and energy consultant. Excellent guy. The honorable Joe Schmitz, [was] inspector general at the Department of Defense. General Keith Kellogg. And I have quite a few more. But that's a group of some of the people that we are dealing with. We have many other people in different aspects of what we do. But that's a pretty representative group."

Trump said he plans to share more names in the coming days.

Kellogg, a former Army lieutenant general, is an executive vice president at CACI International, a Virginia-based intelligence and information technology consulting firm with clients around the world. He has experience in national defense and homeland security issues and worked as chief operating officer for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad following the invasion of Iraq.

Schmitz served as inspector general at the Defense Department during the early years of President George W. Bush's administration and has worked for Blackwater Worldwide. In a brief phone call Monday, Schmitz confirmed that he is working for the Trump campaign and said that he has been involved for the past month. He said he frequently confers with Sam Clovis, one of Trump's top policy advisers, and that there has been a series of conference calls and briefings in recent weeks.

Papadopoulos directs an international energy center at the London Center of International Law Practice. He previously advised the presidential campaign of Ben Carson and worked as a research fellow at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington.

Phares has an academic background, teaching at the National Defense University and Daniel Morgan Academy in Washington, and has advised members of Congress and appeared as a television analyst discussing terrorism and the Middle East.

Page, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and now the managing partner of Global Energy Capital, is a longtime energy industry executive who rose through the ranks at Merrill Lynch around the world before founding his current firm. He previously was a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he focused on the Caspian Sea region and the economic development in former Soviet states, according to his company biography and documents from his appearances at panels over the past decade.

Trump's meeting with The Post was on the record. An audio recording was shared by the editorial board, and a full transcript will be posted later Monday. Trump was accompanied to the meeting, which took place at The Post's new headquarters, by his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, and spokeswoman, Hope Hicks.

One of Trump's foreign policy advisers is a 2009 college grad who lists Model UN as a credential
By Missy Ryan March 21 at 6:33 PM
Washington Post

Republican presidential contender Donald Trump on Monday provided five names on his foreign policy team after months of speculation over who could be advising the businessman front-runner. Here's what we know so far about the advisers named by Trump in a meeting with The Washington Post.

Joseph Schmitz

Schmitz served as inspector general at the Department of Defense during the George W. Bush administration. A Los Angeles Times investigation in 2005 revealed a number of issues with Schmitz's term there.

    Schmitz slowed or blocked investigations of senior Bush administration officials, spent taxpayer money on pet projects and accepted gifts that may have violated ethics guidelines, according to interviews with current and former senior officials in the inspector general's office, congressional investigators and a review of internal email and other documents.

    Schmitz also drew scrutiny for his unusual fascination with Baron Friedrich Von Steuben, a Revolutionary War hero who is considered the military's first true inspector general. Schmitz even replaced the official inspector general's seal in offices nationwide with a new one bearing the Von Steuben family motto, according to the documents and interviews.

He later became a senior official at the Prince Group, the parent company of defense contractor Blackwater. In an article in The Washington Post covering the move, Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, said, "The inspector general is a standard-bearer for ethics and integrity for the Pentagon. To see a person who has been holding that position cash in on his public service and go work for one of their contractors is tremendously disappointing."

In a brief phone call Monday, Schmitz confirmed that he is working for the Trump campaign and said that he has been involved for the past month. He said he frequently confers with Sam Clovis, one of Trump's top policy advisers, and that there has been a series of conference calls and briefings in recent weeks.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Schmitz attended the U.S. Naval Academy and Stanford Law School, and has worked in recent years for two small law firms bearing his name. His father is the late former Republican congressman John G. Schmitz, who was also a member of the right-wing John Birch Society. One of Schmitz's siblings is Mary Kay Letourneau, the ex-schoolteacher who received seven years in prison for child rape after starting a relationship with a 13-year-old student.

George Papadopoulos

Papadopoulos, a 2009 graduate of DePaul University, directs an international energy center at the London Center of International Law Practice. He previously advised the presidential campaign of Ben Carson and worked as a research fellow at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington. According to his LinkedIn profile, he has had meetings with the president of Cyprus and the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates. He obtained a masters's degree from the University of London in 2010.

A biography on Carson's website says Papadopoulos "designed the first ever project in Washington, D.C. think-tank history on U.S., Greece, Cyprus and Israel relations at a symposium entitled 'Power Shifts in the Eastern Mediterranean: The Emerging Strategic Relationship of Israel, Greece and Cyprus.' "

On his LinkedIn page, Papadopolous lists among his awards and honors that he was U.S. Representative at the 2012 Geneva International Model United Nations.

Papadopoulos confirmed on Monday that he was an adviser to Trump but declined further comment.

Walid Phares

Phares is a provost at BAU International University, an institution in downtown Washington that was founded in 2013. According to his LinkedIn profile and his personal website, Phares has taught at various colleges and universities and has advised members of Congress. He has also been an analyst for Fox News. He obtained his PhD from the University of Miami.

Phares attracted attention in 2012 when, as an adviser to Mitt Romney's presidential bid, a Mother Jones story linked him to armed Christian factions blamed for abuses in Lebanon's civil war.

    During the 1980s, Phares, a Maronite Christian, trained Lebanese militants in ideological beliefs justifying the war against Lebanon's Muslim and Druze factions, according to former colleagues. Phares, they say, advocated the hard-line view that Lebanon's Christians should work toward creating a separate, independent Christian enclave. A photo obtained by Mother Jones shows him conducting a press conference in 1986 for the Lebanese Forces, an umbrella group of Christian militias that has been accused of committing atrocities. He was also a close adviser to Samir Geagea, a Lebanese warlord who rose from leading hit squads to running the Lebanese Forces.

He did not immediately respond to attempts by The Post to contact him.

J. Keith Kellogg Jr.

Retired Army Lt. Gen. Kellogg is a former commander of the 82nd Airborne Division. After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, he served as chief operating officer for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad. He has also worked at Oracle, Virginia-based CACI International, a Virginia-based intelligence and information technology consulting firm with clients around the world, and Abraxas, a risk mitigation firm.

Kellogg was interviewed by The Washington Post in 2005 soon after he joined CACI:

    I started my career in the U.S. military. Traditionally in the military . . . you either start with a technical background or a more leadership-focused one. I took the leadership path. The scope of responsibility starts from leading about 30 people to where I finished with 14,000 people that I led and managed. You are responsible for budget, housing, feeding, training, equipping, making sure that the families are taken care of. So it's a huge management responsibility.

Kellogg did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Carter Page

Page, a longtime energy executive, told The Washington Post that he and other advisers have met with the Trump campaign. Page is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and rose through the ranks at Merrill Lynch before founding his current firm, Global Energy Capital. He previously was a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he focused on the Caspian Sea region and the economic development in former Soviet states, Carter told The Post in a phone call. He is also a fellow at the Center for National Policy in Washington and has a PhD from the University of London.

In a September 2014 article, Page appeared to blame NATO in part for provoking Russia.

    While interventionist policies of the Soviet Union might have stood as the pivotal threat in Europe when Thatcher was rising to power as she argued at the time, similar aggressive policies of pushing NATO right to Russia's doorstep have instigated today's predicament.

[11B4V]

Why the hate?

[jimmy olsen]

Trump of the Will?

So what you're saying Money, is that his foreign policy team has a Riefenstahl tinge to it? 

[garbon]

Trump isn't really allike that interesting. I've moved to no longer give ad clicks on articles with his name in the headline.

[Camerus]

To be fair, they'd probably do a better job than either Mission Accomplished or the Nobel Prize winner.   

[CountDeMoney]

Trump isn't really allike that interesting. I've moved to no longer give ad clicks on articles with his name in the headline.

Thing is, this is the first real hint to any semblance of actual policy and declared positions.  it's not just his usual bullshit.  This is really tangible bullshit.

[alfred russel]

"Schmitz also drew scrutiny for his unusual fascination with Baron Friedrich Von Steuben, a Revolutionary War hero who is considered the military's first true inspector general. Schmitz even replaced the official inspector general's seal in offices nationwide with a new one bearing the Von Steuben family motto, according to the documents and interviews."

I can appreciate that. It is kind of cool. 

[Admiral Yi]

I thought von Steuben faked his aristocratic background.

[alfred russel]

I thought von Steuben faked his aristocratic background.

Making a fraudulent seal used to obtain a high ranking government position the emblem of the inspector general's office would be funny in its own way, and something I'd expect from a member of Donald Trump's team.

[grumbler]

Trump of the Will?

So what you're saying Money, is that his foreign policy team has a Riefenstahl tinge to it? 

Seedy knows how to title threads.  You'd do well to just pay him to title yours.

[Valmy]

I thought von Steuben faked his aristocratic background.

I have heard many a scandalous rumor about him but this is a new one. Where did you hear this?

[Admiral Yi]

Making a fraudulent seal used to obtain a high ranking government position the emblem of the inspector general's office would be funny in its own way, and something I'd expect from a member of Donald Trump's team.

I wikied to check, and it looks like von Steuben was legit.  Maybe de Kalb?

Which one was the Kraut that drilled the army at Valley Forge?

[FunkMonk]

"South Korea is very rich, great industrial country, and yet we're not reimbursed fairly for what we do," Trump said. "We're constantly sending our ships, sending our planes, doing our war games — we're reimbursed a fraction of what this is all costing."

Asked whether the United States benefits from its involvement in the region, Trump replied, "Personally, I don't think so." He added, "I think we were a very powerful, very wealthy country, and we are a poor country now. We're a debtor nation."

He always sounds like the crotchety old uncle in the extended family that you let yammer on for hours on Thanksgiving while he's watching football and yearning for the days when brown people knew their place.

It sounds like he read two paragraphs in a Newsweek from fifteen years ago and now he thinks he knows everything there is about the subject and he would fix it if only they'd read his letters he sends from the basement every three or four days.

It's like he's reading the cliff notes version of foreign policy and he has no idea what's hes actually talking about but, hey, I just read what's on the cheat sheet and go with my gut and I'll ace the exam because that's worked before (it hasn't)

[grumbler]

He always sounds like the crotchety old uncle in the extended family that you let yammer on for hours on Thanksgiving while he's watching football and yearning for the days when brown people knew their place.

It sounds like he read two paragraphs in a Newsweek from fifteen years ago and now he thinks he knows everything there is about the subject and he would fix it if only they'd read his letters he sends from the basement every three or four days.

It's like he's reading the cliff notes version of foreign policy and he has no idea what's hes actually talking about but, hey, I just read what's on the cheat sheet and go with my gut and I'll ace the exam because that's worked before (it hasn't)

Yeah, the ROKs have universal conscription, so it isn't like they are not pulling their weight.

My ROK exchange students hate that above all other things.

[Admiral Yi]

I know Japan contributes toward the upkeep of US troops stationed in Japan.  Anyone know if Korea does the same?