Donald Trump’s Recipe for World War III

I know that we Americans rarely cast our votes on the basis of foreign policy. We are noticeably insular when it comes to campaigning and politicking. But the rest of the world is watching with interest and increasing horror to see whom we might put in our highest office. The international community recognizes that all politics is local, and they’re used to American presidential candidates talking tough about their kicking-ass-and-taking-numbers foreign policy fantasies. The citizens of the world have adjusted to the rough rhetoric of American politics... or, at least, they had. With his trademark senselessness, Donald Trump has shocked our rhetorically calloused world.

For several weeks now, Trump has been saying that “Islam hates us.” This is, of course, nonsense. Islam isn’t a person or even a singular perspective. Islam, like every religion, is a living tradition, a collective of perspectives, experiences, ideas, and opinions. Islam doesn’t hate or love anything. Even a more circumspect statement like “Muslims hate us” would require the clarification that hundreds of millions of the world’s Muslims either love or feel neutral toward the United States. One thing that can be said for certain: Many Muslims hate Donald Trump. And for good reason. Trump is vying politically for command of the most elite and destructive military force in human history, and he has repeatedly put Muslims collectively in the crosshairs of his harebrained foreign policy rants.

I mean this with only a touch of hyperbole: a Trump presidency right now would be a perfect recipe for World War III. Our world is awash with percolating volatility. The alignments and narratives of the Cold War have given way to many factions and countries battling for regional dominance. The European Union teeters on the brink of dissolution. Syria is a snarl of selfish actors, a Sunni-Shi’a and Iranian-Saudi proxy war, poised on a razor’s edge between a murderous dictator on the one hand and ISIS and al Qaeda on the other. The waves of instability radiating out from Syria are not just coming in the form of migrants to Europe, but the entire region is roiling with tension, violence, and the pitiless machinations of dictatorial strongmen. China’s mix of economic limitations and military assertion threatens to upend decades of relative regional peace. Israel and Palestine... North Korean nuclear weapons... Our global order is wobbling.

So as this primary season rolls on and the world looks down the barrel of a possible Trump presidency, I’m begging the American electorate to take a deep breath and think about foreign policy. Trump’s campaign is holding up a mirror and cartoonishly embodying America’s narcissism, America’s ignorance, America’s bullying impulse. I hope and pray that the better angels of our nature will not only shout down but vote down Donald Trump. The rest of the world will be holding its breath until we do.