Author Govert SchullerPosted on Categories Politics In March 2016 Trump mentioned Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haass as an “excellent” foreign policy adviser.[1] This created some consternation in some libertarian and conspiricist conservative circles. What is the big deal here?
Why would Trump name the quintessential establishment figure Haass as an excellent (potential) adviser on foreign policy? He probably knows he would alienate, or at least startle, his anti-establishment, anti-status quo followers (let alone the conspiricists and nativists) by mentioning such an elitist policy planner.
I think he is, as usual, opportunistic and is tactically dealing with the increasingly strong head-wind from the establishment–like the very recent denouncement of him by 106 Republican foreign policy advisers–by signaling he might take their advise.[3] Reading some of the reactions it looks like the ploy doesn’t work and Trump is still left to his own skewered wits to formulate an intelligible and intelligent foreign policy beyond the few inane ideas he has presented so far.
For a little deeper background the following;
Chris Rossini, who writes for the Ron Paul Liberty Report, overstated the relationship between Trump and Haass, when he alleged that Haass is now Trump’s foreign policy adviser, which would turn Trump into a hypocritical flip-flopper on his views and use of the establishment.[2] The fact is that Haass does brief presidential candidates, so their August ’15 meeting is not that relevant, and after being mentioned by Trump, Haass put a more than arms-length space between him and Trump.
According to Reuters:
“A spokeswoman for Haass, Iva Zoric, said that he briefed Trump on foreign policy in August 2015. In a tweet late on Thursday, Haass wrote: “I do not endorse candidates. What I have done is offered to brief all candidates, & have briefed several, D(emocrat) & R(epublican) alike.”[1]
More important is that Trump mentioned him at all, and in glowing terms, during the debate last Friday as someone to listen to on foreign policy questions. Trump said:
“I think Richard Haass is excellent. I have a lot of respect for him.”
The importance is that Haass, as pointed out, is president of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the most influential, bi-partisan, corporate foreign policy think tank in existence. It was the major architect of the post-WWII global (read imperialist) political and economic order when it devised in the 1940s institutions like the UN, IMF and World Bank (and later the WTO). The CFR usually promotes, if not designs, international ‘free’ trade agreements like NAFTA, CAFTA, TPP, etc.
Its roots go back to the Versailles peace conference after WWI at which the American delegation tried to impose some of its policy preferences on the other victors, but were not entirely successful.
It is also hugely influential in the yearly, high-security Bilderberg conferences (with Haass in attendance), starting in the 1950s and still going strong, in which the Western European and North American elites hash out their differences.
The CFR was also the architect of the Trilateral Commission (of which Haass is a member) and G7 ‘summitry’ since the 1970s. The TC coordinates corporate policy preferences between North America, Europe and Japan, with some of the Asian Tigers now also joining. Its initial greatest ‘coup’ was the creation of the Carter administration, which started the implementation of the neoliberal agenda usually associated with Reagan and Thatcher.
In short, and in more political scientific terms, the CFR is the long term policy planning think tank of the Atlantic power elite, and its president has quite some influence by directing that policy planning process.
Either Trump is trying to cozy up to Haass to get access to the brain power of the CFR; or just wants to signal he is more moderate than he looks like; or has no idea who Haass actually is and what crucial position he has in the foreign policy establishment. With Trump we just don’t know.
Originally posted on Facebook, March 6, 2016.
[1]. Warren Strobel, Jonathan Landay and Phil Stewart. “Foreign policy thinkers praised by Trump have divergent views“. Reuters. 4 Mar 2016.
[2]. Rossini, Chris. “Trump Already Surrounding Himself with Establishment Men“. Ron Paul Liberty Report. 6 Mar 2016.
[3]. Staff. “Open Letter on Donald Trump from GOP National Security Leaders“. War on the Rocks. 2 Mar 2016.