{"id":1500,"date":"2017-11-27T17:53:36","date_gmt":"2017-11-27T22:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/introamgov-mcgowen\/?p=1500"},"modified":"2017-11-27T17:53:36","modified_gmt":"2017-11-27T22:53:36","slug":"too-much-foreign-policy-power-for-presidents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/introamgov-mcgowen\/2017\/11\/27\/too-much-foreign-policy-power-for-presidents\/","title":{"rendered":"Too Much Foreign Policy Power for Presidents?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As our textbook states, by design there will always be a perpetual tug of war between the president and Congress. \u00a0This is do to the separation of powers that does not allow one branch to entirely make decisions or dominate a specific responsibility without the possibility of some resistance. \u00a0Although this is present in all forms of a president’s powers, presidents seem to have the most free reign when it comes to foreign policy. \u00a0According to \u201cPower and the Presidency from Kennedy to Obama\u201d \u00a0\u201c<\/span>President\u2019s control over foreign affairs had been growing since the Theodore Roosevelt administration (and still grows today)\u201d \u00a0This has been occurring do to a number of reasons but the biggest being our status as a global policer that developed in this time period in addition to the importance of appearing to be a unified nation when it dealing with other countries. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Donald Trump has certainly taken advantage of his status as the foreign policy leader. \u00a0When dealing with issues abroad (as with domestic) he has been extremely aggressive. \u00a0This can be shown through his promise to North Korea that he will unleash the \u201cfire and fury\u201d if Kim Jong Un was to continue his missile tests and recurring threats. \u00a0He also has made a point to reverse foreign policy such as that that been enacted by past presidents. \u00a0Trump \u00a0referred to <\/span>President Obama’s nuclear deal as \u00a0“one of the worst deals ever negotiated.\u201d This language and his attempts to entirely revamp foreign policy are evidence of the power that he holds as the leader of foreign policy. \u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So where is congress in all of this? \u00a0Trump has been continually utilizing a strategy that \u00a0involves him taking a strong hard-line stance on foreign policy issues and then gradually decreasing his stance in order to find a ground where congress seems paralyzed and must comply. \u00a0By doing this Trump has been able to get his way on many foreign policy issues leaving the opinion of the public and of Congress as an afterthought. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether one agrees with the actual policies that Trump is enacting is subjective but the implications of how he is going about it are much more important. \u00a0Many critics say that by acting in such an aggressive manner he is tarnishing the reputation of America and destroying global relations. \u00a0On the other side of the argument people argue that Trump\u2019s strategy is necessary for the safety of America. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe that one hand Trump\u2019s foreign policy is beneficial because it is prioritizing American safety. \u00a0On the other hand the manner that he is doing it is fundamentally flawed. \u00a0As I stated earlier, presidents are given foreign power to appear to be a unified front. \u00a0Trump has not done a good job of unifying the country and as a result Trump\u2019s policies seem to reflect the his will as opposed to the will of the people. \u00a0In addition, I would argue that too much power lays in the hand of Trump and other presidents when it comes to foreign policy. \u00a0Congress should play a larger role to ensure that decisions are always made rationally. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/campaigningforhistory.blogs.nytimes.com\/2007\/05\/09\/an-endless-tug-of-war-with-congress\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/white-house\/trump-s-foreign-policy-pure-trump-it-s-working-him-n815636<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/history\/power-and-the-presidency-from-kennedy-to-obama-75335897\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As our textbook states, by design there will always be a perpetual tug of war between the president and Congress. \u00a0This is do to the separation of powers that does not allow one branch to entirely make decisions or dominate a specific responsibility without the possibility of some resistance. \u00a0Although …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3488,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40541,74435,59091],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9am-section","category-ch-10-the-modern-president","category-fall-2017","column","twocol"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/introamgov-mcgowen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/introamgov-mcgowen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/introamgov-mcgowen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/introamgov-mcgowen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3488"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/introamgov-mcgowen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/introamgov-mcgowen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1500\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/introamgov-mcgowen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/introamgov-mcgowen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/introamgov-mcgowen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}