‘Trump cares less about political orientation’: Walter Russell at HTLS 2024

Walter Russell Mead, an expert on American foreign policy, said on Saturday that US President-elect Donald Trump's second administration “is going to be interesting”, adding that there would likely be less ideological focus in American foreign policy under him.

Speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2024, Walter Russell Mead said that while Biden views the world as a contest between authoritarian powers and democratic powers, Trump sees it in terms of friends and enemies, caring much less about political orientation.

"It is going to be interesting. I think we are going to see a less ideological American foreign policy ... Biden saw a contest between authoritarian powers and democratic powers… when Trump looks at the world, I think he sees friends and enemies, allies of the United States and adversaries of the United States and cares much less about the political orientation, authoritarianism or anything like that of potential partners," said Russell, the Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship at Hudson Institute.

‘Some exceptions’

Russell said “that's actually been around for a long time that a lot of Americans don't really care very much about whether foreigners believe in one God, 50 gods, no god, whether they have democracy, absolute monarchy, theocracy.”

“As long as they don't attack the United States, we don't care what they do. And you can see that idea very much, I think in, in both in Trump's appointments and in some of his early, decisions about personnel,” Mead added.

He, however, listed a couple of “exceptions”, one being Israel.

“We should note here again, that, that it's actually not opinion among American Jews. That tends to drive American policy toward Israel. American Jews yet again did not vote for Trump, although he got more votes this time than he has in the past. It is both evangelical Christians and others who see in Israel a kind of a sign of really… they see Israel as just an inherent ally for a mix of political and religious reasons. And we've seen that very strongly in his early appointments,” he added.

Speaking about the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Mead, who has authored numerous books, said that the West's support for Ukraine has not been about helping the country win the war. Instead, the goal has been to keep Ukraine fighting and prevent its collapse.

However, he added that after a certain period, the people may grow tired of the conflict and seek support. Mead said that Russian President Putin will not leave the war unless he believes there is a significant gain from it.

Walter Russell Mead said that Donald Trump will be supportive of the Quad and the relationship with India. He highlighted that India does not ask the United States for military guarantees and funds its own defence budget. Considering these factors, India is more likely to be the kind of associate power that Trump would seek, he added.