At the recent G7 Summit, once again President Trump demonstrated how a powerful, confident America should act on the world stage.
Trump’s assertive approach has been a welcome change after eight years of Barack Obama’s fatigued and resigned approach to geopolitics. Throughout his presidency, Obama made the United States look like a hostage to world events, not a catalyst of them.
When Obama was trying to sell us on his disastrous Iran deal, he told the American people that accepting a bad deal was necessary because our European allies would no longer support the sanctions we levied against Iran to prevent the theocracy from developing nuclear weapons. America was subject to the whims of Europe, he argued. As President Trump proved by withdrawing from the deal, the problem wasn’t European intransigence — companies remain extremely reluctant to court the wrath of the United States by utilizing the EU’s “workaround” for evading the sanctions — but rather Obama’s instinct to preemptively surrender.
In direct contrast to Obama, who was infamously spotted reading Fareed Zakaria’s "The Post-American World" during the 2008 election campaign, Donald Trump isn’t afraid to take charge and dictate the terms for advancing the interests of the American people.
As we saw at the G7, this president approaches each performance on the world stage as an opportunity to show off American greatness, not our decline. In France, President Trump turned in another masterful display of diplomacy and American self-confidence, deftly sidestepping traps laid for him by French President Emmanuel Macron, announcing a groundbreaking new trade deal with Japan, talking up the USMCA with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and holding productive talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Significantly, the president refused to be waylaid into an impromptu meeting with Iran’s foreign minister, whom Macron had secretly invited to drop in on the summit. Macron was very obviously trying to embarrass President Trump — and by extension the American people — by making it seem as though the U.S. is standing in the way of renewed nuclear negotiations. President Trump returned the volley perfectly, though, saying he’d be glad to hold discussions with Iran as soon as its warmongering, terrorist-funding leaders get their act together.
The president also avoided getting America entangled in the sort of misguided multilateral agreements that entrapped previous presidents and eroded American sovereignty, skipping talks on climate change that were designed to embarrass our country and refusing to sign a charter on hate speech that was really an international assault on freedom of speech.
President Trump’s skillful performance at the G7 Summit offers yet another reminder to the world community that they’re no longer dealing with the cautious, self-conscious America of the Obama years. Under Donald Trump’s buoyant leadership, the United States once again has the self-assurance and moral certitude to stand up for its own interests.
As New York City’s 40th Police Commissioner, Bernard Kerik was in command of the NYPD on September 11, 2001, and responsible for the city’s response, rescue, recovery, and the investigative efforts of the most substantial terror attack in world history. His 35-year career has been recognized in more than 100 awards for meritorious and heroic service, including a presidential commendation for heroism by President Ronald Reagan, two Distinguished Service Awards from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, The Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and an appointment as Honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.
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