The question I have is out of all these commencement speeches that are happening, what`s the really worthwhile advice that a 21, 22 year old person will walk away from the speech and say, I can apply this maybe five years, 10 years later. How many speeches actually push the button like that, other than yours?
David CornDonald Trump says we shouldn`t be involved in these Middle East wars, let them fight it out themselves. And yet here he is talking about literally the most hawkish guy, like Jon Bolton - maybe Frank Gaffney`s a little hawker. And so it makes you wonder what Donald Trump really believes in.
David CornJon Bolton is the neocon`s neocon. He was a hawk straight down the line. He wanted to bomb Iran five, six years ago before the Donald Trump election!
David CornThe one foreign policy issue that Donald Trump took a stand on was that he was against the Iraq war. Even though it wasn`t true, he kept saying again and again and again.
David CornObama has not accomplished a key mission: sell his own successes and keep his own (political) troops fired up and ready to go.
David CornThis is the problem with foreign policy - talking about foreign policy in a political context. Politics is binary. People win and lose elections. Legislation passes or doesn't pass. And in foreign policy often what you're doing is nuance and you're trying to prevent something worse from happening. It doesn't translate well into a political environment.
David Corn