Trump the Peacemaker Faces Implausibly Long Odds
As he confronts Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, the president must understand what his adversaries have to lose.
Hail to the peacemaker.
Photographer: Greg Nash/Getty Images
Donald Trump will be “a peacemaker,” he promised in his inaugural address. Recycling his campaign’s bumper sticker of “peace through strength,” the president elaborated that “our power will stop all wars and bring a new spirit of unity to a world that has been angry, violent and totally unpredictable.”
If only. The fantasy of an irenic future under Trump 2.0 is beautiful, but much less likely to come about than, say, detente was in the 1970s. One difference: Back then the US-led West confronted an adversary, the Soviet Union, which looked at the world and saw borders of victory. That perspective made Moscow willing to join Washington in stipulating and pacifying territorial lines as they were drawn.