Mattis and Kori Schake wrote: “In practice, ‘America first’ has meant ‘America alone.’ That has damaged the country’s ability to address problems before they reach U.S. territory and has thus compounded the danger emergent threats pose.”
This is rancid, insidious hogwash. Trump’s travel bans, which Biden has pledged to repeal on his first day in office, are designed to prevent problems from reaching U.S. territory. Biden’s repeal of them will only make Americans more vulnerable. Also, Trump’s America First policy was not “America alone” by any means: the U.S. was instrumental in concluding peace deals between Israel and three of its Arab Muslim neighbors, deals that John Kerry, who will soon be back in a position of power, assured us back in 2016 would be absolutely impossible. Trump has also demanded more responsibility from our allies, asking them to pay more for their own defense.
The only way in which Trump’s America First policy meant “America alone” was insofar as it broke from the internationalist arrangements that have been in place since the end of World War II, to which Mattis and Schake refer as “the commitment to cooperative security that has served the United States so well for decades.”
But if a “commitment to cooperative security” doesn’t involve being able to put one’s national interests first, how is it good for the people of that nation? That question doesn’t apply just to America.
The internationalist elite has reasserted its hegemony and beaten back a serious challenge. And it is not a good sign that in spiking the football after that victory, Mattis makes it abundantly clear that “cooperating with like-minded nations” means putting their interests before our own. No responsible national leader should do that, but of course soon, with completely open borders, nations themselves will be a thing of the past, at least in Europe and North America, as the all-encompassing, authoritarian technostate for which Mattis is a front man is put into place.
“Mattis says he hopes Joe Biden takes ‘America First’ out of national security strategy,” by Brooke Singman, Fox News, November 23, 2020:
Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said in an op-ed on Monday that he hopes President-elect Joe Biden will take “America First” out of the national security strategy for his incoming administration.
Mattis penned the op-ed, titled “Defense in Depth,” for Foreign Affairs with Kori Schake, director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, Jim Ellis, a fellow at the Hoover Institution and former commander of U.S. Strategic Command, and Joe Felter, a fellow at the Hoover Institution.
“In January, when President Joe Biden and his national security team begin to reevaluate U.S. foreign policy, we hope they will quickly revise the national security strategy to eliminate ‘America first’ from its contents, restoring in its place the commitment to cooperative security that has served the United States so well for decades,” they wrote. “The best strategy for ensuring safety and prosperity is to buttress American military strength with enhanced civilian tools and a restored network of solid alliances – both necessary to achieving defense in depth.”
The four authors also that the U.S. currently is “undermining the foundations of an international order manifestly advantageous to U.S. interests, reflecting a basic ignorance of the extent to which both robust alliances and international institutions provide vital strategic depth.”
“In practice, ‘America first’ has meant ‘America alone,’” they wrote. “That has damaged the country’s ability to address problems before they reach U.S. territory and has thus compounded the danger emergent threats pose.”
They wrote that advocates of the Trump administration’s approach “seem to believe that other countries will have no choice but to accede to the United States’ wishes and cooperate on its terms.”
“This is delusion,” they wrote. “Sovereign countries always have choices: to compromise with aggressors, take actions opposed to U.S. interests, opt out of assistance when the United States needs it, or cooperate with one another on activities from which the United States is excluded.”
They added that “assuming otherwise has the result of emboldening adversaries and encouraging tests of the strength of U.S. commitments.”
“Not even the United States is strong enough to protect itself on its own,” they continued. “Cooperating with like-minded nations to sustain an international order of mutual security and prosperity is a cost-effective way of securing that help.”
Mattis and his co-authors said that “to dismiss U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere as ‘endless’ or ‘forever’ wars – as both President Donald Trump and President-elect Joe Biden do – rather than as support to friendly governments struggling to exert control over their own territory misses the point.”…
Dufe says
I have to admit I have been fearing that the virus vaccine would be another “America First” shameful blunder like PPE and ventilators were.
gravenimage says
What?
Grace says
America has distributed ventilators ad other health equipment to the world why would you assume vaccines would not be shared? Unless Biden doesn’t share. President Trump will be out of office by the time the vaccines are all distributed.
Infidel says
Putting aside the question of who prevails in the lawsuits, much of the ‘America First’ crowd are also vaccine deniers who won’t want it anyway. So there should be no issues shipping the vaccines to other countries throughout the world
gravenimage says
Infidel, the idea that all patriotic Amercans who believe that the President should put America first are vaccine deniers is completely mistaken.
Dude says
I have to admit I have been fearing that the virus vaccine would be another “America First” shameful blunder like PPE and ventilators were.
Infidel says
On PPE’s, the main issue was that China hoarded up all the PPEs in the months leading up to the pandemic. That’s the shameful thing that happened, which is one of the things Beijing should be made to answer for. The only time there was an issue over PPEs was when Florida failed to get adequate PPEs from 3M b’cos they were already allocated to Canada and some South American country that I forget. But once production in the US was ramped up, that was solved. As for ventilators, the US got on top of that so quickly that they started sending them abroad as well
Also, 40% of Americans would still not take the vaccine, and there are all those companies – both US and foreign – that are building up a stockpile of them. Don’t worry, there’ll be plenty for the rest of the world, just like there were ventilators. Main thing that matters is that Americans get MFN pricing
DBM echo says
“The internationalist elite has reasserted its hegemony and beaten back a serious challenge.”
Biden’s using the CFR Membership List (available online) to fill many of the federal offices.
Happy Days Are Here Again. The NWO is back on track.
mgoldberg says
It’s remarkable how President Trump was able to let the swamp dweller appointees, like Mattis go, after giving them the chances to work for the nation. The idea of American First was not some jingoist philosophy- it was the idea that all nations should consider their needs first and act accordingly. That President Trump was able to bring peace treaties to implacable enemies, able to bring the idea of ending economic agreements that helped only the oligarchies, and hurt the industry’s and workers here in the US is instructive. I remember when Mattis was hired and referred too as bulldog Mattis. Now, he’s a man asking men and women to live and die for global cooperation.
RonaldB says
In fact, one of Trump’s biggest weaknesses was his tendency to hire subordinates and officials completely opposed to his program. My guess is that Trump thought he could oversee their activities, and failed to appreciate the degree of independence cabinet officers and advisors have. In other words, if they covertly sabotage him, he could only correct a small number of instances. Mattis had no business being anywhere near Trump.
I would say Trump’s greatest blunder was not engaging a counsel who would aggressively challenge the Democrat ballot changes being implemented between 2018 and the election. Trump called out the potential for fraud, but I don’t think even he realized show shamelessly blatant the vote-stealing would be. Another instance of how Trump needed to delegate responsibility to people truly committed to his Presidency.
Infidel says
If Trump prevails, I hope that in his second term, we see a purge of the bureaucracy. Already, in the Pentagon, they’re doing it: he’s put in Col Doug McGregor, a major critic of the Pentagon and who made his foreign policy recommendations clear on Tucker Carlson, to oversee the troop withdrawal and to ensure that this time, it happens! For now, it’s just the Pentagon. But if the challenges go his way, he should follow it up by purging more departments, starting w/ the Justice Department and Homeland Security. He should haul up the FBI for not investigating the shady role of Dominion in our elections.
He should demand to know why the DHS cooperated w/ China in the Wuhan institute of Virology, where the coronavirus was developed. In fact, there’s a whole bunch of guys in the coronavirus task force who need to be let go – Dr’s Fauci, Redfield and Adams. They’ve been sending so many conflicting signals to the public, clearly demonstrating that 9 months into this pandemic, they still have no clue. Therefore we have Fauci telling us that even after we get vaccinated, we still have to wear masks and socially distance ourselves. Then what’s the point of getting vaccinated?
Also, on the political side too, things need to happen. In the Senate, Mitch McConnell is busy criticizing the president for accelerating the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, and it’s clear that the senate conference is not where the president is on this key foreign policy of ‘Bring our troops home’. This is something that has to be resolved politically. Early during the term, Steve Bannon noted the need to primary about every senator running for 2018, and he was pretty much right. In the House, more elected Republicans are supportive of the KAG agenda, which is why Liz Cheney’s prospects for getting re-elected have gone down. However, in the Senate, the only people I’ve seen support the president on the withdrawal are Rand Paul, Josh Hawley and Tom Cotton. So there needs to be work on populating the senate w/ people who support this policy, and the only way to do that is to put someone at the head of the RNC who’d focus on that. Fire Ronna, and replace her w/ Steve Bannon. He won’t be near the White House and will be in no danger of leaking presidential secrets, but he can, as RNC chair, run a campaign at the grassroots to weed out the status-quo candidates and replace them w/ ones that support the president’s agenda
James Lincoln says
ET,
Apparently, you are correct regarding the Facebook post of Dr. Eric Coomer:
https://thespectator.info/2020/11/16/dominions-eric-coomer-is-an-unhinged-sociopath-his-internet-profile-is-being-deleted-and-erased-audio/
Infidel says
The US has a military presence in 150 countries. That’s out of a total of about 193. A lot of these were remnants from the Cold War, when the US did have a policy of being everywhere to prevent the Soviets from being everywhere. That stopped making sense since 1992. Not just that, policies were never updated to reflect ground realities. For instance, the work that the US was doing w/ the Ethiopian navy continued long after that country lost Eritrea and became a landlocked country. Things are that stupid!
The main sticking point on this ‘America First’ thing has been NATO, and much as the Dems and neocons might like to pretend, Russia has not been our biggest threat for a while, even if we are determined to look at them as nothing less than an enemy. The biggest threat for the last 2 decades, aside from jihad, has been China! First of all, w/ their entry into the WTO and their becoming the clearing house of all of the world’s manufacturing, they gained a solid economy, even as the bottom fell off America’s economy. Then once Xi came to power, they started flexing their political and military muscles – building islands to block shipping in the China Seas, threatening their neighbors, trying to colonize the world economically thru the belt/road program and so on. They got deep into the Middle East, Africa, even Latin America. They had the deep pockets to do it, the military firepower to back that up and a population to draw upon! Russia has neither #1 nor #3 in the above list
Truth is that today, NATO doesn’t even have a meaningful raison d’etre, which is why they now wanna add combating climate change to their mission. Honestly, the US doesn’t belong in NATO any longer, and rather than harangueing countries like Germany to pay 2% of their GDPs, or have to answer awkward questions about our relationships w/ Turkey while it undermines our interests in the region, we should simply get out of NATO. Unfortunately, not just the Dems but too many Republicans don’t wanna touch that one: they’re all in a time warp in the 80s (for the Senate GOP) and 2016 (for the Dems). But honestly, we have no good reason to remain in NATO, and it’s time they stopped milking the fact that they invoked Article 5 in response to 9/11: it was still we who ousted the Taliban in 3 months.
I don’t expect this to be Biden’s policy, given how compromised he is on China, but the US needs to pull out of NATO and Europe, and have them manage things. The EU spoke a while back about the need to build up a European army: let them do it, and have NATO and the EU combat Chinese influence in Europe and Africa. We should, instead of trying to confront China everywhere in the world, pick our area of coverage. My suggestion: the Americas to start w/, and then toss in the Indo-Pacific. We do have some great allies there right now in the Quad – Japan, India and Australia – all of whom are seriously confronting China. Truth be told, Trump has got along great w/ our allies, which are these 3 countries, Taiwan, Vietnam and others in the region. Only ones he’s not got along great w/ are what Donald Rumsfeld once called ‘Old Europe’ – Germany, France, UK. The charge that he’s an ‘America alone’ guy is, using the Left’s favorite yardstick for today, racist: they’re discounting our Yellow, Brown and White allies in the Indo-Pacific in favor of our erstwhile White allies in Europe! But the truth is that Europe matters a lot less than the neighborhood around China
RonaldB says
I agree the US needs to disengage from NATO. Having a European army is not entirely benign, as it will as likely to be used to invade outlier European countries like Hungary and Poland, as to be engaged in confronting Russia. If the US is to make European alliances, it should be a country-by-country alliance with the real freedom-seeking countries of Eastern Europe: Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, perhaps even Austria to a limited extent. Why should we be concerned with England, Germany or France, which become more authoritarian and oppressive each day?
Steven Grigsby says
Bulgaria and Romania are so corrupt as to be worthless. I live in Eastern Europe and know of what I say.
Infidel says
Steven, Hungary, despite the pro-Christian noises that they make, are friends of the top 2 rivals of the West: China and Turkey. Hungary is one of the few countries that won’t let go of Huawei, and they’re also an associate member of the Turkic council and have endorsed Azerbaijan’s position in its war w/ Armenia. Bulgaria is also stupid enough to have attracted Turkish investment into that country. They’ve forgotten their own history under the Ottoman empire.
Ronald, I wasn’t suggesting that the US necessarily be allied w/ the European army. I was suggesting that the US completely disengage from Europe and Africa, and focus on the Americas and Indo-Pacific. Europe might get torn again like it was in the 20th century, but now, it’s up to them to manage themselves. We made the mistake getting involved w/ them particularly under Woody Wilson, who was more interested in WWI than the Spanish flu, and we need to keep globalists like him out of power. Once we’ve dealt w/ China, we should revert to the Monroe Doctrine, and focus only on the Americas. Forget Eurasia or Africa
Wellington says
Solid points, RonaldB, brought up by both you and Infidel. Arguably it is time for a new New World Order.
Since the days of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, I have allowed myself the luxury of contemplating just how effective a multifaceted alliance between the Anglo-Saxon powers (the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA), and in league with the only bright spot in the Middle East, Israel, would have been—what a powerful alliance for good, for common sense, for prosperity, for toughness and for freedom such an alliance could have proved to be, though only if all of these nations remained grounded in reality and enlightened self-interest and led by tough, informed people, which, sadly, is not the case, the most recent example of what is antithetical to these beneficial interests to these nations and by extension to all of mankind being the advent of (shudder) Joe Biden to the Presidency of the USA.
Alas, however, that metaphorical ship sailed long ago and, besides, per PC/MC and similar rot, the Anglo-Saxon world is now considered some kind of culprit rather than just about the greatest force for the best mankind can produce. An opportunity lost. A very big opportunity lost.
Mankind has demonstrated a proclivity many, many times over for missing great opportunities. Just look at the state of the world today for confirmation of this sad reality.
Infidel says
Wellington
Mark Steyn seems to belong to the same school that you do – of a commonwealth alliance of these 5 countries. However, they all belong to the ‘Five Eyes’, and yet look what they are. UK and Australia were heavily involved in Crossfire Hurricane, and were at diplomatic levels putting pressure on the US not to investigate the origins of the Steele dossier. Canada, under Trudeau, is a completely half-assed ally, who find themselves balking at the Philippines, and their only recent achievement I can think of is the USMCA. New Zealand is run by a tinpot flower-child who wears a burqha to express solidarity w/ Mohammedans over the Christchurch shooting and is prepared to convert New Zealand to islam to atone. And UK, even under Boris Johnson and Priti Patel (who I once had hopes for), is totally inept in dealing w/ either the virus or the Muslim influx
Australia seems to be the only country that’s doing some damage control from Malcolm Turnbull’s tenure, and stepping up to the plate. First taking the leadership role in the world in confronting China over the origins of the Chinavirus, helping Papua New Guinea pull the rug out from China that was trying to put it in a debt trap, and working w/ other countries in the region in containing China.
Also, even if the Anglo-Saxon-Norman (I’m assuming Normans are still in it, right?) opportunity is gone, we should look at every other potential opportunity in front of us. Quad is a pretty good one, since every member outside the US is an active driver. Japan has been not only patrolling the East China Sea and fortifying Senkaku, but it has also been developing a naval presence in the Indian Ocean, and doing joint naval exercises w/ India. Actually, it’s nice to see a resurgent Japan again, I’d certainly pick them over China. Australia, in addition to what I mentioned above, has been participating in naval exercises both in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean.
India too has been very active against China following the clashes in the Ladakh border. For starters, they’ve been diplomatically reaching out to Taiwan, and I just wish they’d bite the bullet and open up full diplomatic relations w/ Taipei. Then they’ve been militarily supporting Vietnam to help them confront China, which had sunk some Vietnamese fishing boats this summer. Then they have been helping former Chinese BRI clients like Burma to break free from China, and have been working on Sri Lanka as well. They do have some problems w/ Nepal, which has a communist regime that’s a puppet of China, but even they are miffed b’cos China is claiming Nepalese territory as well, embarrassing their stooge in Kathmandu. India has also reached out to Africa and is working w/ some of the countries there that want to can belt/road projects and break the Chinese dependence. (All this, and I’ve not even started on what India is doing within their country to end any Chinese economic activity – something I wish we’d do here!)
We had the Cold War, then we had 15 years of a jihad following an 8 year lull, and now we have a very aggressive China trying to conquer the world militarily in its neighborhood, and economically beyond that. That’s the war we need to focus on, and politicians of either party who haven’t yet woken up to recognize that and are still obsessed about Russia really ought to pack up and leave!
Wellington says
Infidel: I know what the five Anglo-Saxon powers have become, even despite Trump’s efforts to reverse America’s course. My entire “wish” was based, as I said, on my “only if” clause. Such an “only if,” minus an exception or two, has not occurred.
As for looking at other “potentials,” yes, by all means, the freest nations should do so. But Biden won’t advance this cause whatsoever—a given.
Infidel says
Yeah, Japan and Australia have already figured that out, and are now actively working together on a China containment plan. India should join them as well, and not assume that Trump will continue Biden’s policies, given the disdain w/ which Obama looked at them
gravenimage says
Sadly true, Wellington.
mortimer says
Give Mattis a one-way free trip to China.
The Chinese communists have no problem with putting China first.
don vito says
Let me assure you General corrupt joe $ellout obiden will do just as you are advocating. Pleasant dreams.
gravenimage says
Mattis says he hopes Biden won’t put America first
……………
Just disgusting. But this unpatriotic claptrap does *not* surprise.
Peter WF says
Before COVID USA had an unemployment rate of 3.5%. Don’t think you will see it again for in many years now. Trump was great – get your own house in order before you help others. Pity that one does not learn from others mistakes and successes. China has imported jobs galore with their tariffs and trade barriers. I had to build a circuit board programmer / tester to support a chinese production line. One off not for sale and not to be built again unless it failed in a big way. Tariff applied – reason was it could have been built in china. I could go on with the trade barriers. Discover some for yourself. Search “regulatory trade barriers in china”. Free trade is nothing but move jobs to somewhere else.
tgusa says
Another great recruiting theme. He must be really smart. Can you imagine General George S Patton saying, America second or third or fourth? It is a sad state when someone like this guy rises to the rank of general. After what I found that these allies were complicit in regarding our President that old man can have those allies. He is one of the many old people who are responsible for the state of America and the world we live in now. Good luck with your allies Mattis when you have completely turned off most Americans that may have volunteered. I hope they have a lot of effective manpower to spare cause you are going to need that.
James Lincoln says
From a retired O-6 US Naval Flight Surgeon :
Flag rank military officers, O-7 and above, are a mixed bag. Although some are outstanding, many are compromised politically.
I personally had a pathway for O-7 Rear Adm. lower half. Two of my best forward deployed military physician friends also had pathways.
Out of the three, none of us pursued the pathway. It would have involved moving to the Beltway, endless politicking / favors, and sometimes morally questionable compromise. And a clear “separation” from the other 97% of the US Navy.
I finished my career still attached to a forward deployed Naval aviation squadron that supported United States Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT).
gravenimage says
Thanks for that information, James. I see why you declined.
RonaldB says
I’m proud people like you post on the same threads and I appreciate your service. Particularly since your obvious skills and talents would let you become wealthy in civilian life.
Walter Sieruk says
Mattis has nothing to worry about, for Biden definitely will not put American first.
Joe Biden is dangerous to the safety of the American public and the very foundation of the United States of America.
For Biden had promised to install Muslims at every level of his administration. we all may be sure this is one promise the Biden will keep.
No wonder that the stealth jihadists along with the violent jihadists are rejoicing at prospect Biden sitting in the White House Office.
Biden will ,no doubt, invite the members of the anti -US Constitution ,pro Sharia law ,Muslim Brotherhood, in the different positions of office is of the White House as well as all levels of the Federal government.
Those scheming and intelligent MB merber will easely control and manipulate that weak and feeble minded Joe to everything they want him to do.
This President pretender ,Biden ,by that promise to put Muslims in and at every level of his administration has opened door and even invited in not only the infiltration of the MB but also that of the Islamic power lobby organizations CAIR and ISNA those subversive and dangerous stealth jihad of the Muslim entitics ,with strong Sharia law anti -US Constitution drive infesting the US Federal government by Biden’s permission is not only madness but this should be enough to vave Biden arrested and imprisoned for treason.
RonaldB says
Unfortunately, the anti-Constitutional tsunami infects the entire Democrat party and would be just as strong without a Muslim component. In fact, the Muslim Brotherhood can follow their original planning and let the US destroy itself by its own hand. I have to confess I don’t follow “Jihad Watch” very much these days, because the Muslims are not the primary danger, at least for now. Infidel is very much on top of the details, but if the US were actively pursuing its own interests, even China could be handled and the Muslim Brotherhood could be neutralized. I don’t think all Muslims in the US support the destruction of the US culture, but it’s past time to put a cap on additional Muslim and other immigration. c
OLD GUY says
Whats the matter with Mattis and anyone who thinks our government officials should not put America first. Thats their job! If Mattis or Biden can’t put America first who are they putting FIRST? That should worry every American.
E T says
Donald Trump won the election and nobody who calls themselves a Patriot should allow the steal to happen. It will be the end of Freedom, don’t doubt that for one little moment. Stop the madness now.