The Role of Ideology in the Moulding of US Foreign Policy Towards Cuba

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/intejcubastud.10.2.0157
• Pages: 157-174
• Published date: 01 December 2018
• Date: 01 December 2018
• Author: Margaret E. Crahan
• Subject Matter: Donald Trump,foreign policy,ideology,US supremacy,propaganda

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ACADEMIC ARTICLE

THE ROLE OF IDEOLOGY IN THE

MOULDING OF US FOREIGN POLICY

TOWARDS CUBA1

Margaret E. Crahan

Columbia University, USA2

Abstract

Most analysts have concluded that President Donald Trump does not have an

elaborated ideology,3 but rather that his character largely determines his decisions

given his belief that he alone can fix what is wrong with the US government. This leads

him towards being influenced by those advisors who reinforce his instincts. At the core

is his belief that to restore US supremacy worldwide, American diplomacy needs to be

forceful and aggressive. He is not an advocate of soft or smart power as used by the

Obama administration.4 In addition, he tends to prefer advisors whom he regards as

tough and assertive. As a result, this article examines President Trump’s personality and

instincts and the degree to which his current, as well as previous, advisors’ ideologies

have influenced him in order to evaluate trends in US foreign policy generally and more

specifically with respect to Cuba.

Keywords: Donald Trump, foreign policy, ideology, US supremacy, propaganda

On 23 January 2018, the conservative Heritage Foundation announced that

President Trump and his administration had followed 64 per cent of its 333

recommendations in its ‘Mandate for Leadership’ (Heritage Foundation 2018).

These included leaving the Paris Climate Accord, moving to repeal net neutral-

ity, reducing the size of selected national parks and opening some public lands

for coal leasing, ordering an end to funding organisations that provide abortion

services including the United Nations (UN) Population Fund, supporting work

requirements for recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF),

reducing the size and activities of government agencies, withdrawing from

158 ACADEMIC ARTICLE – MARGARET E. CRAHAN

InternatIonal Journal of Cuban StudIeS 10.2 WInter 2018

UNESCO and substantially increasing the US military budget. While such rec-

ommendations were supported by other organisations (e.g., Breitbart Media),

implementation of the Heritage Foundation recommendations was facilitated by

the presence of some 70 former Heritage employees incorporated into the Trump

administration (Heritage Foundation 2018). Furthermore, a founder of the

Heritage Foundation Ed Feulner concluded that ‘In some respects, Trump the

non-politician has an incredible advantage, even over Ronald Reagan . . . .

Because Ronald Reagan knew there were certain things government couldn’t do’

(Peters 2018: A17).

The emergence of non-politicians such as Trump in electoral office reflects,

according to some analysts, the increasing inclination of voters towards a candidate

as a ‘mere vessel for policy preferences’ (Weiner 2017: A19). Hence, politicians are

evaluated largely on the policies they support rather than on their knowledge of the

issues or actual experience in governing. Nevertheless, as the political scientist Greg

Weiner argues a candidate’s character is relevant because ‘American notions of

political representation assign statesmanship an essential role in the constitutional

regime. Federalist 10 says the representative’s role is to “refine and enlarge”, not

simply reflect, the public’s views.’ Weiner (2017: A17) also asserts that this requires

prudence and a profound capacity for judgement that is

a product of moral cultivation, broad education and political experience and as

such, it is inseparable from the statesman’s character . . . . One of the ironies of

the new defense of the candidate as a mere vessel for policy preferences is that it

attaches to strong personalities who seem to attract support precisely for their

charisma . . . . That is why the statesman must be bound by constitutional rules

and customs.

In the light of this, it is useful to explore President Trump’s character, as well as

the ideological influences that have reinforced his personal beliefs and

inclinations.

The increasing focus by the media and hence voters on the personal charac-

teristics of candidates rather than on their understanding of issues and how gov-

ernment functions was confirmed by an analysis of news coverage during the

2016 campaign and elections by the Harvard University Shorenstein Center on

Media, Politics and Public Opinion. It found that only 10 per cent of media

coverage was focused on issues, whereas controversies constituted 17 per cent.

Coverage of major issues generally emphasised conflicts as in 84 per cent of

reports on immigration, 87 per cent on Muslims, 71 per cent on health care and

70 per cent on the economy. The Shorenstein Report concluded that ‘If every-

thing and everyone is portrayed negatively, there’s a leveling effect that opens