Trump has transformed foreign policy into an identity politics issue by weaponizing it since 2014-2015, framing it as the US asserting dominance rather than competing on specific policy merits, making bipartisan cooperation nearly impossible because foreign policy becomes proof of tribal loyalty.
causalpending
Speaker
Ben RhodesEvidence Quote
“Trump has done and we were chatting that about this before is he He Turned foreign policy into an identity politics issue um and I felt this in 2015 because 2014 when Trump was already kind of the party was already becoming Trump even before Trump because it was kind of the foxify of the Republican party because there were ads in 2014 I remember midterm elections that tied together it was a uh there were Ebola infected Isis members who were going to cross our Southern border with the support of the Iranian revolutionary guard [59:03]”
Source
Ben Rhodes: The Warren and Anita Manshel Lecture in American Foreign Policy— Weatherhead Center for International AffairsCreated: 8/11/2026, 7:39:48 AM
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