Thursday, December 8, 2016

Trump's Meeting With Kissinger; Internationalism and American Foreign Policy

On Tuesday, president-elect Donald Trump — who campaigned on an anti-establishment platform — sat down with the quintessential establishment insider, Henry Kissinger (shown). The meeting is cause for concern. Kissinger is well-known as a self-avowed globalist. He is also a long-time member of the Council of Foreign Relations and has been involved in the Trilateral Commission — both of which are pro-globalist organizations. Both as secretary of state and since, his foreign policy has always favored his internationalist bent. He is also a regular attendee of the highly secretive — and entirely globalist — annual Bilderberger Conference.

Kissinger favors everything Trump campaigned against (and against everything Trump campaigned for). For instance, Trump has promised to stop the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and negotiate trade deals which favor American interests. TPP is the poisoned fruit that hangs from the branches of the poisoned tree of previous trade agreements, such as NAFTA. Kissinger famously said that NAFTA “represent[s] the most creative step toward a new world order taken by any group of countries since the end of the Cold War” and that it “is not a conventional trade agreement, but the architecture of a new international system.” Telegraphing the plans of the insiders to use NAFTA as a launching pad for bigger and broader agreements, such as TPP, Kissinger said at the time of the passage of NAFTA that it was the “first step toward an even larger vision of a free-trade zone for the entire western hemisphere.” Stopping TPP is necessary, but it is not enough. NAFTA must be dismantled, and the ground from which it sprang must be plowed under so that no root of that poisoned tree remains to spring up again later. That ground is internationalism, and Henry Kissinger is one of its chief gardeners.

Tuesday’s meeting between Trump and Kissinger is not the first between the two. In fact, it is at least the third such meeting since Trump began his bid for the White House. The two met in May, before Trump had even secured the GOP nomination. That meeting — requested by Trump — was held at Kissinger’s home and lasted about an hour. In that meeting, Trump appeared to be courting Kissinger’s approval or at least attempting to appear well-connected by being seen meeting with the granddaddy of foreign policy. The week before that, Trump met with another well-connected insider and former secretary of state, James Baker.

The week after winning the election, Trump again sat down with Kissinger. This time, the meeting was on Trump’s home court — Trump Tower. ABC News reported that Trump said he has “tremendous respect for Dr. Kissinger and appreciates him sharing his thoughts with me." In a statement after the meeting, the presidential transition team said, "President-elect Trump and Dr. Kissinger have known each other for years and had a great meeting. They discussed China, Russia, Iran, the EU and other events and issues around the world."

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