Now that Donald Trump is the President of the United States, I was thinking how can I resist his agenda? I decided on “100 Days of Resistance”. Every single day for the next 100 days I will post another piece that resists President Trump and his administration. This will come in the form of personal stories as a member of a marginalized group that is threatened under President Trump’s administration, as well as pieces on broader issues that face our nation today. 100 Days of Resistance is also being featured on The Notice Blog
Today was President Trump’s first visit from a foreign leader as President. That leader was Prime Minister Theresa May of the UK Most probably remember President Trump predicting a ‘Brexit moment’ on election day. For those who don’t know, what he was referring to was the surprise victory for the conservatives on the referendum on whether or not the UK should leave the EU. Polling in the days leading up to the vote showed the ‘remain vote,’ supported by then Prime Minister Cameron, the left and many centrists, with a slight edge over the ‘leave vote,’ supported by the right. When the vote came, ‘leave’ eked out an upset victory. Much of the campaign to leave the EU was predicated on similar xenophobia as we saw here leading up to this election; the fear-mongering about Middle-Eastern refugees and about borders that are too open.
The comparisons that many in the media want to make with President Trump and Prime Minister May to the storied alliance between another Republican President who had a past in entertainment, Ronald Reagan, and another conservative female Prime Minister of the UK, Margaret Thatcher, are a bit obvious and also give cover to what was going on beneath the surface of this first meeting.
While both Trump and May are of course also both conservatives, and while both have a protectionist streak in them, one of Theresa May’s chief concerns was whether or not President Trump would support NATO. At the close of WWII and during the beginning of the Cold War, the US and most of Western Europe forged an alliance as a counterweight to Russian influence. One of the chief articles of the treaty is that if a NATO member nation is attacked, other NATO nations must provide military support if the country chooses to strike back. This is meant as a deterrent so that non-NATO members know that attacking one NATO state means a retaliation from all. President Putin of Russia has been trying to bust through the wall of NATO for years so that he can expand his influence into former Soviet satellite states that are now part of NATO. The Russians also see the expansion of NATO as an effort to isolate Russia and continue Cold War tensions.
Putting all the lingering questions about Trump’s relationship with Russia aside, his double talk on NATO is alarming and leaves our allies wondering what we’re going to do next. On January 15th, President Trump called NATO ‘obsolete.’ He also advocated for other countries to leave the EU. If Marine Le Pen wins in France, and Angela Merkel loses in Germany, he may get his wish. Then today, he told Prime Minister May not to worry about his administration tearing apart NATO. The uncertainty is leaving our NATO allies in the cold. While it’s tempting to think about how President Reagan and Prime Minister Thatcher and see each country’s current leaders as their current incarnation in the ongoing ‘special relationship,’ conflict over NATO may be poised to tear that relationship apart once and for all.