White House source distills a Trump Doctrine, and it has a swear word in it

Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, has spent the past few months asking people close to the president for short descriptions of what might constitute the “Trump Doctrine.” He said he set out on this project “to understand the revolutionary nature of Trump’s approach to world affairs.”

He came across a few good ones, including “No friends, no enemies” and “Permanent destabilization creates American advantage.” But this is the one Goldberg considered to be the best distillation of the Trump Doctrine:

‘We’re America, bitch.’

That’s reportedly from a senior White House official with direct access to the president, and Goldberg said it struck him as “the most acute, and attitudinally honest, description” of Team Trump’s understanding of its role in the world.

The official explained the concept, according to Goldberg, by saying that “Obama apologized to everyone for everything. He felt bad about everything.” Trump, in contrast, “doesn’t feel like he has to apologize for anything America does.”

One friend of Trump’s cited in the story put it like this: “There’s the Obama Doctrine, and the ‘F— Obama’ Doctrine,” he is quoted as having said. “We’re the ‘F— Obama’ Doctrine.”

Goldberg acknowledged that there may, in fact, be some utility in taking the “We’re America, bitch” attitude, at least when it comes to foreign policy. But, in his view, there’s also a delusional quality to it.

“Donald Trump is pursuing policies that undermine the Western alliance, empower Russia and China, and demoralize freedom-seeking people around the world,” Goldberg wrote. “The United States could be made weaker — perhaps permanently — by the implementation of the Trump Doctrine.”