Outside the Beltway

Despite facing headwinds in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mike Pompeo will probably be confirmed as the next Secretary of State. That’s unfortunate.

An attempt at defining the conversation.

Once again, President Trump’s foreign policy tweeting is causing problems.

President Trump took to Twitter this morning and decided poke a stick in the eye of the Russian bear.

Dan Drezner notes some challenges on this topic, and I add some of my own thoughts.

After eight months in office, the pressures on Chief of Staff John Kelly continue to mount under a President who cannot be controlled and whose behavior will not change.

President Trump is continuing his dangerous and misguided trade war rhetoric,

President Trump is talking about pulling American troops out of Syria, but his own White House is contradicting him.

Begun the trade wars have.

After initially praising the completion of a trade deal with South Korea, President Trump is now suggesting he may withhold final approval contingent on progress on talks with North Korea. This makes no sense whatsoever.

As a general rule, Presidents are entitled to have a Cabinet and advisers he is comfortable with, but a Cabinet full of “yes men” is not ideal with any President, and certainly not with this one.

Another significant development on the Korean Peninsula.

Much of Atlanta city government has been forced to rely on pen and paper this week thanks to a Ransomware attack.

After several days of speculation, it was confirmed that the leaders of North Korea and China had met in Beijing. This was meant as much for external consumption as it was the relationship between the two nations.

In selecting John Bolton as his National Security Adviser, Donald Trump has signaled to the world that he’s likely to take action that will only serve to make the world a more dangerous place.

The incoming National Security Advisor reportedly wants to purge those who aren’t sycophants.

From Europe to the Middle East, to Asia, America’s allies are concerned about what the selection of John Bolton as National Security Adviser means going forward. They should be, and so should every American.

Top White House staffers were preparing to fire several troublesome figures at once when the President suddenly upended the plan.

Uh oh.

President Trump continues to obsequiously praise Russian President Vladimir Putin

The Trump presidency is the latest step in treating commentators like policy experts. It is all a manifestation of how the modern GOP is a populist party.

The Treasury Department has designated five entities and 19 individuals tied to the Russian government for cyber espionage.

While the nature of Rex Tillerson’s firing as Secretary of State was shocking in its abruptness, taken in context with the rocky nature of his tenure it was hardly surprising.

By threatening to withdraw from the nuclear deal with Iran, Donald Trump is making it far less likely that any upcoming talks with North Korea will succeed.

Talking to adversaries is a good idea. Of course, it matters how it is done.

There won’t be any tanks, but it looks like President Trump will get his military parade.

The President tried bringing something akin to a traditional policy process to the White House. Now he’s rebelling against it.

North Korea’s Dear Leader has baited the President of the United States into a trap.

The Kim regime released a statement saying they were open to talks and would not conduct provocative tests while they were ongoing.

After skipping such events in his first thirteen months in office, the President tried his hand at stand-up last night to mixed reviews.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham says war against North Korea would be worth it. Ignoring the fact that it would result in casualties unlike anything America has seen since the Vietnam War.

John Bolton is leading a cry for preemptive war against North Korea.

Staffers are fleeing the administration like rats from a sinking ship.

With the Winter Olympics over, the next step on the Korean Peninsula is utterly unclear.

China’s Xi Jinping solidified his hold on power well into the next decade over the weekend.

President Trump continues to make irresponsible and dangerous threats in connection with American policy toward North Korea.

President Trump has announced a new round of sanctions against North Korea, but they are unlikely to work given the unrealistic nature of the Administration’s current policy toward North Korea.

National Security Adviser H.L. McMaster is the latest person rumored to be considering moving on from the Trump Administration.

Billy Graham was the son of a North Carolina farmer who grew up to become a counselor to Presidents, Prime Ministers, and even a Queen.

President Trump’s tweets, other public statements, and actions are causing world leaders to doubt the reliability of the United States on the world stage.

Another day, another Court ruling against the Trump Administration.

Why does the U.S. continue to pursue the seemingly impossible goal of denuclearization with regard to North Korea? In part, it’s because we’re still locked into thirty-year-old rhetoric.

Expecting North Korea to agree to diplomatic talks that are aimed at getting rid of their nuclear weapons is asking for the impossible, and ensuring there will be no progress on the diplomatic front for the foreseeable future.

My latest for RealClearDefense.

They’re right. And there’s precious little they can do about it.

My latest for The National Interest takes a contrarian view on the new National Defense Strategy.

The military options thus far presented for dealing with the DPRK have not been satisfying.

When it comes to foreign policy, Donald Trump has no over-arching philosophy and little knowledge, so don’t expect anything approaching a coherent doctrine from his Administration.

Two weeks later, it’s still unclear what caused a false missile alert to be sent out in Hawaii.

The President talked about national unity last night, but given his own rhetoric as a candidate and as a President, it’s a call that seems to be hypocritical.