Despite President Trump’s campaign focus on an America First foreign policy, Trump recently used emergency powers to green light an arms deal with Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo informed leaders of several congressional committees that Trump invoked a national emergency because of the alleged threat that Iran poses to America and its allies in the Middle East.
This deal would send $8 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
This move by the Trump administration was propelled by Congress’s opposition to the U.S.’s involvement in Yemen. The Trump administration exploited a loophole in arms control law to proceed with the sale.
Senator Bob Menendez stated, “I am disappointed, but not surprised, that the Trump administration has failed once again to prioritize our long-term national security interests or stand up for human rights, and instead is granting favors to authoritarian countries like Saudi Arabia.”
Nevertheless, Pompeo defended the U.S.’s course of action in Yemen stating that “Iranian malign activity poses a fundamental threat to the stability of the Middle East and to American security at home and abroad.”
Despite Trump avoiding hot conflicts so far in his presidency, this move along with his previous veto of a resolution that would have pulled aid to Saudi Arabia in the Yemeni conflict, has been disappointing to say the least.
A truly America First platform would reject all forms of foreign meddling—military aid, military intervention, and sanctions.
President Trump should re-assert his power as the executive and remind the neoconservatives in his administration that he is still in charge.
