Economist editor in chief sounds alarm on the 'Trump Doctrine' ahead of inauguration

16 January

Four days before Donald Trump takes office, Economist Editor in Chief Zanny Minton Beddos used her weekly editor's picks newsletter Thursday to tear into the incoming president's foreign policy plans, according to Mediaite.

Beddos submitted that while "Trump's critics have often accused him of buffoonery and isolationism" — even before taking the White House again — the MAGA leader "has shown how much those words fall short."

She writes, "He has helped secure a ceasefire in Gaza and shocked European politicians with a taboo-busting bid for control over Greenland. It’s already clear that the impact of Mr. Trump’s second term on the rest of the world will be both more disruptive and more consequential than his first. Mr. Trump is supplanting a vision of America’s role in the world that held sway since the second world war. Welcome, instead, to the Trump Doctrine."

Beddos — who's the first woman to hold her position — continued, "Gone is the idea of America as the indispensable defender of democracy, settled borders and universal values. Mr Trump has little truck with alliances, multilateral rules or any other elements of what is often called the ‘post-war world order."

"Instead the Trump Doctrine is based on the belief that American strength," she continued, "wielded in unorthodox and opportunistic ways, is the key to peace and prosperity. This approach, simultaneously swaggering and unpredictable, transactional and norm-busting, will be tested in three conflicts: the Middle East, Ukraine and America’s cold war with China. In some places, such as the Middle East, it may prove surprisingly successful."

Beddos then issued a clear warning.

"But there are serious risks and worrying inconsistencies, especially over what the Trump Doctrine would mean for Taiwan," she wrote. "When the use of power is untethered from values, the result could be chaos on a global scale."

Mediaite's full report is available here.

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