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It's getting tiresome to read: unlike his predecessors, at least Donald Trump hasn't started any wars. This article even says he's the first POTUS since Jimmy Carter who hasn't started a war in his 1st term. This is exaggerated & distorted, at best. THREAD https://twitter.com/PabloPardo1/status/1303924355886391297?s=20
I assume “started wars” [in 1st term] means US taking the lead in starting a new conflict / launching sustained military action. This would include not only large scale invasion & occupation (Iraq in 2003) but also smaller interventions (Grenada in 1983) and air strike campaigns.
Trump didn't invade a country, but that's a *very* low bar. On the other hand, did Bill Clinton start a war in 1995 with NATO's air strikes over Bosnia (hint: no)? GHW Bush sent US forces to Somalia in 1992 (UNITAF), is the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu Bill Clinton's 1st term war?
As for Obama, Trump's biggest source of insecurity, to say that he 'started the Libya war' is not the same as the GW Bush invasion of Iraq; NATO's op in Libya wasn't a US-led project; France & UK led the push, Obama presented it as “leading from behind” https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/19/world/africa/19europe.html
Obama significantly expanded the use of armed drones in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen. Trump made their use less transparent regarding civilian casualties - doesn't mean they were accurately reported in Obama's days. In any case, Trump carried on. https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/obama-trump-drone-strikes/
Trump did launch air strikes against Syrian regime forces and their allies throughout 2017 and 2018 – Obama carried out air strikes against Daesh forces; Trump targeted Assad's forces. Again, Trump expanded his predecessor's policy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_attacks_on_Syria_during_the_Syrian_Civil_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_attacks_on_Syria_during_the_Syrian_Civil_War
As for Trump's maximum pressure on North Korea in 2017, it significantly raised the risk to unnecessarily dangerous levels. Trump's 2018-19 meetings w/Kim Jong-un produced no results, Pyongyang's nuclear deterrent isn't going anywhere. Lies and photo ops. https://thediplomat.com/2019/01/van-jackson-on-dealing-with-a-nuclear-north-korea/
What to say of Trump's unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA? 2.5 years later, Iran has increased its stockpile of enriched uranium by 10 times, while the Trump admin insisted Iran still needed to abide by the agreement that the US was now out of. 
https://twitter.com/Nick_L_Miller/status/1301930210208763912?s=20
https://twitter.com/Nick_L_Miller/status/1301930210208763912?s=20
Then there's the January 2020 raid that killed Qassem Soleimani and subsequent Iranian retaliation, which forced the US to focus more on protecting its troops: https://twitter.com/brett_mcgurk/status/1303571723795611650
Oh, and the coddling to Saudi Arabia's bombing in Yemen plus arms sales. Bloody pacifist...
Oh, and the coddling to Saudi Arabia's bombing in Yemen plus arms sales. Bloody pacifist...
When it comes to instruments of disarmament, things aren't much better. The INF treaty is gone because the Trump admin thought the best way to handle Russian violations was for the US to get out of the treaty altogether.
https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2019-09/news/us-completes-inf-treaty-withdrawal
https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2019-09/news/us-completes-inf-treaty-withdrawal
As for renewing (Obama's) New START, the Trump admin's demand that China should also be involved, include non-strategic weapons, and “dissatisfaction” with verification measures mean the whole instrument can collapse by February. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/07/01/unattainable-conditions-for-new-start-extension/
Then there's the idea that the US might have something to gain from resuming nuclear testing (!), albeit on a low-yield level. Not to mention his significant increase in defense spending, including Trump's beloved nukes. https://warontherocks.com/2020/07/trumps-nuclear-test-would-risk-everything-to-gain-nothing/
Can't forget: Trump's views of alliances as racketeering schemes - would we ever say someone like Al Capone, Pablo Escobar or [other notorious mobster] was not 'that bad' because he did not start new gang/cartel wars? https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2019/12/18/trump-shakedowns-are-threatening-two-key-u-s-alliances-in-asia/
So, Trump's foreign policy: recklessness with Iran & North Korea; make use of armed drones even more opaque; Syria strikes; degradation of multilateral disarmament & arms control instruments; terrible alliance management; bloating defense spending. Damned orange peacenik hippie!
Oh and of course, his lauded reconciliation between Israel & UAE, two countries not in a conflict and which already had a de facto growing relationship. Never mind the F-35 sale to UAE, it's Israel's fault they didn't realise Trump is only after money. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/03/us/politics/israel-uae-weapons.html
Obviously, since the election is less than 60 days away, Trump suddenly remembered to announce a withdrawal from Afghanistan & Iraq. Again, he'll present himself as the peace candidate for his audience – that's irrelevant. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-troop-withdrawal-is-a-disingenuous-election-year-ploy-officials-say
Did World War 3 start? No. Does “WW3” imply a conflict based on the WW1 & WW2 total war models that we hold as a benchmark? No. Do opinion pieces saying Trump would bring WW3 mean he has to be assessed against those views? Again, no.
Does it make Trump a peace POTUS? Bullshit.
Does it make Trump a peace POTUS? Bullshit.
Conclusion: 3.5 years on, Trump does no effort to lead the US into making the world safer and more peaceful. His [in]action only aggravates tensions & makes the US a less reliable partner.
Either admit Trump is a toddler or stop praising him for “at least” not starting a war.
Either admit Trump is a toddler or stop praising him for “at least” not starting a war.
PS: I left out Trump's relationship with NATO allies, the recent sanctions against the ICC, Trump's confrontation with China, and of course his management of the pandemic and use of force at home. All of them have reasons to be considered as well.
PPS: ...and the Open Skies Treaty, and the withdrawal from WHO (which although not a military alliance or security organization, is the world's biggest health body and health is a major part of peace and security), and the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on climate change...
...I can't resist adding this: Trump threatened to pull out of the World Trade Organization because he thought the US should be considered a developing country to extract more advantages:
https://twitter.com/Jordanfabian/status/1304179373235474433?s=20
Yes, there's more to peace & security than just airplanes and bombs
https://twitter.com/Jordanfabian/status/1304179373235474433?s=20
Yes, there's more to peace & security than just airplanes and bombs
