Scott interviews Doug Bandow about the missed foreign policy opportunities of the Trump administration. Bandow laments that Trump didn’t push harder to get U.S. troops out of our wars in the Middle East, theorizing that he was worried the political cost in the eyes of wealthy donors like Sheldon Adelson would outweigh the benefits in terms of popularity with voters. Bandow hopes that Trump’s policy toward North Korea, at least, will be preserved in the next administration—a policy that recognizes that North Korea is no threat to America so long as America doesn’t first threaten Korea. The South Korea-led peace talks that Trump participated in nearly led to an official end to the Korean War, says Bandow, and were only sabotaged because Trump had surrounded himself with bad advisors who didn’t really want things to work out. Sadly this has been the story of Trump’s whole four years in office.

Correction: In this interview Scott refers to Pompeo boasting about starving North Korean fishermen to death. It was his predecessor, Rex Tillerson.

Discussed on the show:

• “The Lost Opportunities of the Trump Administration” (Antiwar.com Original)
• “Donald Trump’s North Korea Strategy Must Survive” (Cato Institute)
• “Is Mike Pompeo the Worst Secretary of State in History?” (Cato Institute)
• “Outgoing Syria Envoy Admits Hiding US Troop Numbers; Praises Trump’s Mideast Record” (Defense One)
• “Exclusive: Esper, on his way out, says he was no yes man” (Military Times)
• “Citigroup chose Obama’s 2008 cabinet, WikiLeaks document reveals” (World Socialist Web Site)
• Rage
  
• “‘We Think the Price Is Worth It’” (FAIR)
• The Downing Street Memo
• “Nixon (1995)” (IMDb)
• “Dying North Koreans a sign US diplomatic strategy works, Tillerson says” (RT)

Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a regular contributor at Forbes Magazine, the National Interest, and elsewhere. He’s on Twitter @Doug_Bandow.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: The War State, by Mike Swanson; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; Photo IQ; Green Mill Supercritical; and Listen and Think Audio.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1Ct2FmcGrAGX56RnDtN9HncYghXfvF2GAh.

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