Thread by @djrothkopf

I'm in the middle of finishing up a book on the Trump presidency and how the courage and dedication of many career public servants and Trump political appointees kept us from much worse outcomes that Trump and his inner circle thought.

This is true from immigration to COVID to Russia/Ukraine to elections. My thesis based on 30 years of DC experience is that the vast majority of the people in most administrations are fundamentally good and genuinely seek to serve the American people and the country.

But, I will tell you something--looking at what Trump wanted to do (and often was rebuffed from doing) in retrospect is even more shocking than it was at the time. Because, particularly in international affairs, there was a pattern.

He actively wanted to pull the US out of NATO. He actively attacked the alliance. He pushed a plan to pull U.S. troops out of Europe. He pushed plans to pull U.S. troops out of Asia and the Pacific and out of the Middle East.

He effectively sought to hand Syria to the control of Russia and Russia's allies. He pulled out of arms deals that constrained the Russians. He pulled out of an Iran deal that constrained a key ally of Russia.

He pulled out of multiple international organizations and sought to actively weaken the international order that had been created to contain our enemies and promote the rule of law internationally. He tried to block aid to Ukraine. (You may remember he was impeached for that.)

He pushed to stop holding Russia accountable for 2016 election interference. He made it so hard for his staff to raise issues regarding being tough on Russia that they regularly simply by-passed him. And when they did take a tough stance there was often Hell to pay with the boss.

He celebrated Putin publicly and privately. He offered out of his own mouth Putin talking points on key issues such as Crimea "wanting" to be Russian. Even if you did not know that Putin actively tried to help him be elected (as the intel community unanimously concluded),

even if he did not surround himself with pro-Putin lackeys, even if his businesses were not swimming in Russian money, even if he did not try to block measures to make it harder for the government to stop Russian interference in 2018 and 2020, the record is clear and shocking.

The pattern of behavior is undeniable. The consequences were he to have succeeded in pushing his agenda and some of his wild ideas through would have been disastrous for the US and spectacular for Vladimir Putin. And all this was before the first attempted coup in US history.

All this was before Trump tried to blow up the very foundations of America's system and our strength. If you are a Trump supporter you will have stopped reading long ago, the "Russia Hoax" filter in your brain denying you yet again access to the facts.

But if you look at not just what Trump did but what he tried to do (before he was stopped by good patriotic Americans including many who he had appointed to high positions) and you will see that the core and the primary occupation of Trump when it came to foreign policy was...

...to weaken the U.S., to weaken our alliances, to weaken the international system and to strengthen and often defend the position of Russia. Don't take it from me in this thread. Go read the facts. To me, as I finish this book, as familiar as I am with all of it, it is shocking.

p.s. When I said at the top I was finishing up a book, I meant I was finishing up writing a book rather than reading a book. Though...you may want to read the book I'm writing...when it comes out...later this year.

p.p.s. I am a collusionist, ok? I believe Trump colluded w/the Russians to seek help getting elected. But that's NOT what is important. What's important, regardless of the reason he was actively systematically weakening us & advancing the Russian agenda, is that he was doing it.