President Donald Trump delivered a "balanced" speech to the United Nations, but his blunt style is a little different than what many people are used to, former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said Wednesday.
"I think it's a speech that you could almost read into what you wanted to," Chertoff, who served under President George W. Bush, told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program. "There were elements that sounded like America first, it's all about America but there were also elements that showed engagement with the rest of the world and focused on countries where people are actually being oppressed. So I think it was a balanced speech, but it's not certainly a typical speech."
Chertoff, however, said he views such speeches not so much as a roadmap for policy, but as an "overarching theme setter."
"I think the theme here was we are nation states, we do have obligations to our own people, but as nation states we can work together in our mutual interest," he said. "So I don't view this as closing the door on globalization. It certainly was not an apology speech as some we've heard in the past. It was not the most bellicose thing we've heard either so to me the question is, what does he do rather than what does he say?"
Bush's "Axis of Evil" speech, for example, was more bellicose, said Chertoff, pointing out that Trump didn't outright threaten to "destroy" North Korea, but that the United States will defend itself, and if that happens, North Korea would be destroyed.
"I think that's a rather crude, perhaps, but accurate statement of what deterrence is," said Chertoff. "That was really in the Cold War what we told the Soviets, if you attack us, we will fight back."
The "Axis of Evil" speech, however, was delivered during Bush's 2002 State of the Union address, not at the United Nations, but Chertoff said people must face the fact that Trump's rhetoric is not necessarily connected to what eventually happens.
"If I look at what he's done in dealing with our allies and actually what he does it's been a lot more mainstream than what some of the rhetoric is," said Chertoff.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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