“He invites President Vladimir Putin to the White House … announces that America is withdrawing from NATO and … visits Tehran to open up a new American embassy.”
Jacob Heilbrunn is editor of the National Interest.
Donald Trump has already made it clear that he regards much of the global order that was established by Harry S. Truman and Dean Acheson after World War II as impotent and obsolete. Almost as soon as he’s sworn the oath to serve as commander-in-chief, Trump will go to work to create a new one based on the exercise of American military power and cooperation with Washington’s traditional adversaries such as Russia. So the real question may be this: How would a 9/11 event accelerate his already existing efforts to upend the American national security establishment?
Following the attack, President Trump builds upon his initial attempts to restore relations with Russia, which included nuclear arms-control negotiations. He now invites President Vladimir Putin to the White House—complete with a state dinner in his honor. Trump, the consummate dealmaker, says that it’s imperative to let bygones be bygones in the interest of a united front with Russia to defeat the Islamic peril. At the same time, Trump announces that America is withdrawing from NATO and concedes Russia’s sphere of influence in Eastern Europe. England, which has already withdrawn from the European Union, joins the U.S-Russia alliance. In following this course, Trump invokes World War II to declare that he’s simply following in Franklin Roosevelt’s footsteps.
All of this is music to the Kremlin’s ears, which has consistently bemoaned the fact that the Obama administration has spurned its offers of cooperation. British, Russian and American warplanes bomb targets in Syria and Iraq that served as staging grounds for the Islamic State’s assault on America. In addition, Trump pivots from America’s traditional alliance with Saudi Arabia to working with Iran; to general astonishment, he visits Tehran to open up a new American embassy. Trump says that the only predictable thing about his presidency is that he will always seek to be unpredictable.
Domestically, Trump takes a hard line, arguing that it’s time to take the handcuffs off the FBI and CIA. He embarks upon a program to place American Muslims in camps, a program overseen by the Justice Department as it was during the Roosevelt administration in World War II, when Japanese-Americans were interned. The Washington Post and New York Times editorial pages denounce Trump’s new policy, but it meets with general approbation among the American population, a number of Democratic Senators and Congressmen in swing states sign off on the measure, and the Supreme Court upholds it in an 8-1 decision. With his decisive moves, Trump enrages liberal and conservative elites but his approval ratings soar to over 80 percent in numerous polls. The era of Trump has begun.
* “Tweet after tweet congratulating himself on foreseeing the attack and ridiculing the terrorists’ masculinity, their intelligence, their family members, their ethnic identity and/or religion”
Gwenda Blair is author of The Trumps: Three Generations That Built an Empire.
Twitter would be Trump’s front-line counter-attack. Tweet after tweet congratulating himself on foreseeing the attack and ridiculing the terrorists’ masculinity, their intelligence, their family members, their ethnic identity and/or religion—along with any civil libertarian or moderate voices asking for caution, consultation with allies, or more operational and regional intelligence before initiating counter-offensives against targets either inside or outside the United States.
Next would be live streamed appearances on CNN, Fox, MSNBC, etc. in which Trump denounced the terrorists, their supporters, and any opposition to the use of any and all tactics against captured terrorist suspects.
Then he would change into Donald Trump Menswear 100% silk PJs with gold-embroidered POTUS seal on front pocket, stretch out on a super-luxury top-grain leather Trump Home Furnishings chaise, chow down on a prime-cut Trump steak, and turn on WWE.
In the event the attacks continued, he might be moved to more action. Potential steps might include curfews, quarantines and/or internment in certain communities, required loyalty oaths for government employees, teachers, uniformed services, etc., civil defense drills in schools, factories, offices, and other large installations such as airports, train stations, subway systems, and the adoption and frequent testing of alerts through texts and loudspeakers.
