by Claudiu Secara
While people may think “US foreign policy forms like a cloud in the president’s head”, in reality it forms in think tanks arriving at consensus among powerful special interests, before being sent to Washington with lobbyists to attract support from BOTH sides of the aisle. Below is Project 2025 from the Heritage Foundation, a think tank comprised of reps of government/big-business. The table of contents: https://www.project2025.org/policy/
Now the intriguing question is the genuiness of Trump’s pivot to peace with Russia. The document below describes the priority of the US military on preventing the emergence of China as a rival, but it also regards Russia as a major threat alongside China. How to explain, then, Trump’s maverick move in appeasing Russia?
One explanation given by Brian Berletic is found in US Sec. of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in Brussels indicating that the US is far from seeking peace, but instead, a “division of labor” where Europe confronts Russia while the US pivots to China – as this was not just a random thought spoken out of turn.
And the matching part from the Project2025 PDF:
U.S. allies must also step up, with some joining the United States in taking on China in Asia while others take more of a lead in dealing with threats from Russia in Europe, Iran, the Middle East and North Korea.
The reality is that achieving these goals will require more spending on defense, both by the United States and by its allies, as well as active support for reindustrialization and more support for allies’ productive capacity so that we can scale our free-world efforts together.
Another signal, though, is the role played by Tucker Carlson in promoting Russia as a friendly country to the US. Why is that important? Because Tucker Carlson is the main spokesperson precisely for the Heritage Foundation. So while the document below, issued by the Heritage Foundation, doesn’t indicate any friendly gesture towards Russia, its star spokesperson promotes on the world stage exactly that position, which indicates that Trump’s peace offer over Ukraine is a very valid action supported by the main sponsor of Trump’s presidency.
Yes, Russia has to be confronted, be irritated by the Europeans, while the US can play the role of the good cop and even do favoritisms to Russia in exchange for a quid pro quo vs China. All very subtle, while smiling to both.
Let’s face it, the US is in a desperate situation and that is evident even to the top think tank, as it clearly spells it out: “Our disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, our impossibly muddled China strategy, the growing involvement of senior military officers in the political arena, and deep confusion about the purpose of our military are clear signals of a disturbing decay and markers of a dangerous decline in our nation’s capabilities and will.”
As for the immediate and practical steps to rejuvenate the US defense forces, every item in the Project is part of the text from which Trump’s speeches are written.
Under Section 2, part 4 “Department of Defense,” it specifically lays out the new US military strategy. See the entire chapter: https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_CHAPTER-04.pdf
By far the most significant danger to Americans’ security, freedoms, and prosperity is China. China is by any measure the most powerful state in the world other
than the United States itself. It apparently aspires to dominate Asia and then, from
that position, become globally preeminent. If Beijing could achieve this goal, it
could dramatically undermine America’s core interests, including by restricting U.S. access to the world’s most important market. Preventing this from happening
must be the top priority for American foreign and defense policy
[ …]
The FY 2017 National Defense Authorization Act established the position of
Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and assigned broad
responsibility for “all defense research and engineering, technology development, technology transition, prototyping, experimentation, and developmental
testing activities and programs, including the allocation of resources for defense
research and engineering, and unifying defense research and engineering e”orts
across the Department,” to the new Under Secretary, who also was tasked with
“serving as the principal advisor to the Secretary on all research, engineering,
and technology development activities and programs in the Department.”6 This
led to the single largest DOD structural change since the Goldwater–Nichols
act of 1986 and was organized effectively during President Donald Trump’s
Administration.
Every single item of Trump’s MAGA program can be found in the Project 2025 blueprint. Here are a few examples:
Restore standards of lethality and excellence. Entrance criteria for
military service and specific occupational career fields should be based on
the needs of those positions. Exceptions for individuals who are already
predisposed to require medical treatment (for example, HIV positive
or suffering from gender dysphoria) should be removed, and those with
gender dysphoria should be expelled from military service. Physical
fitness requirements should be based on the occupational field without
consideration of gender, race, ethnicity, or orientation.
3. Reinstate servicemembers to active duty who were discharged for
not receiving the COVID vaccine, restore their appropriate rank, and
provide back pay.
4. Eliminate Marxist indoctrination and divisive critical race theory
programs and abolish newly established diversity, equity, and inclusion
offices and staff.
6. Audit the course offerings at military academies to remove Marxist
indoctrination, eliminate tenure for academic professionals, and
apply the same rules to instructors that are applied to other DOD
contracting personnel.
7. Reverse policies that allow transgender individuals to serve in the
military. Gender dysphoria is incompatible with the demands of military
service, and the use of public monies for transgender surgeries or to
facilitate abortion for servicemembers should be ended.
