If Americans were looking for clarity on leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s world views, they might have come away disappointed from Thursday night’s debate.
Asked who he trusts on national security, Trump had warm words for three men with world views that differ from one another, and who diverge sharply on some key issues from Trump himself. They are former diplomat Richard Haass and retired US Army officers Gen. Jack Keane and Col Jack Jacobs.
His mention of the eclectic trio did little to satisfy mounting calls for him to announce a list of his campaign foreign policy advisors, who traditionally take top posts should he be elected. His debate comments appeared to be more words of admiration for the three men than a signal he was forming the nucleus of a national security team.
Trump has been rejected by a significant swath of his party’s foreign policy establishment. Almost 110 Republican foreign policy veterans have signed a letter pledging to oppose Trump, saying his proposals would undermine US security.
The three men Trump mentioned have different views of the 2003 Iraq invasion, arguably the most controversial foreign policy decision in a generation. Trump says he opposed the war, calling it a disastrous intervention and accusing the administration of then President George W Bush of misleading Americans.
Keane is a defense hawk who helped devise the 2007 Iraq “surge” – a move to send tens of thousands more US troops to Iraq to quell sectarian strife – and served as an informal consultant to Bush. Keane told Reuters on Friday he has never spoken to Trump.
Keane, now chairman of the board of the Institute for the Study of War think tank, said he has briefed seven presidential candidates from both parties, whom he declined to identify.