Eli Lake, Columnist

Trump Repeats Obama's Mistakes With Turkey

The approach has been more "yes we can" than "make America great again."

October 12, 2017 at 9:00 AM UTC

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

"We have a great friendship," Trump said of the Turkish president.
Photographer: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

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President Donald Trump's foreign policy often seems designed to spite his predecessor. Barack Obama's administration helped negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Trump voided it. Obama urged countries to accept more Syrian refugees. Trump is accepting far fewer. Obama brought us the Iran nuclear deal. Trump says it's an embarrassment.

And yet on the thorny question of Turkey, Trump's approach has been more "yes we can" than "make America great again." Like Obama in his first term, Trump now suffers the delusion that a personal relationship with Turkey's autocratic leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, can advance U.S. interests. Instead, this putative ally is acting like an enemy.