Trump’s Election Challenges and Future of Regional Security Structure
TEHRAN (Basirat)- If Trump wins the election, better results will be achieved for creation of a détente between Russia and the US. Such an approach will affect the security crisis management model in Syria.
If Trump wins the election, better results will be achieved for creation of a détente between Russia and the US. Such an approach will affect the security crisis management model in Syria.
By Dr. Ibrahim Motaghi
Donald Trump’s presence in the upcoming US presidential election has affected the equation of political power as well as influential lobbies in the United States. By using special tone and concepts, Trump is trying to take advantage of such a language in order to prepare the ground for making revisions to the US political model and foreign policy trends. The ongoing US social crisis at home and regional challenges in Southwest Asia have created the conditions for Trump to push ahead with a more radical political literature in his election debates.
In the two past rounds of presidential election debates, level of political conflicts between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton has been on the rise. Although, in past US presidential elections, candidates attempted to label each other as incompetent and inefficient but, in the 58th quadrennial US presidential election, the candidates are calling each other incompetent and corrupt. The release of an audio recording from 2005 where Trump made lewd comments came in response to his revelations about Clinton and the Democratic Party, and has so far created considerable social challenges in the US political structure.
1. Trump’s Political Character & Behavioral Pattern
Trump’s patterns of voting behavior have caught the US political elites and party’s employees by surprise. The most important behavioral characteristic of the Republican nominee is overcoming his rival’s political and social character. He is trying to show that Hillary Clinton will not be able to materialize the country’s political aims. In the second round of his debate, he hinted that the US Democratic Party has not taken any effective measures in the field of foreign policy to confront groups threatening the country’s national security.
Earlier, the billionaire businessman expressly said that now countries like Iran, Russia and Syria are genuinely fighting Daesh instead of the US. In Trump’s mind, countries which are backing Daesh, such as Saudi Arabia, will have no effective place in the US’s future foreign policy. He is also trying to imply that a superpower like the US should develop direct action mechanisms in order to counter potential threats.
2. Trump’s Strategic & Regional Direction in Election Debates
The ground for the creation and reinforcement of the Daesh terrorist group was laid during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as the US secretary of state under president Obama. Pursuing such an approach, she failed to offer an initiative for handling issues like regional crisis, genocide, migration and refugee influx during her first and second debates with Trump. Therefore, it is natural that Trump could level more criticism against Clinton’s regional policy in his last debate with her. Trump has stressed this issue in his debates that if he wins, he will exert pressure on regional supporters of Daesh to pave the way for the gradual collapse of the terrorist group. criticism of Obama’s policies towards the Middle East is also a core part of Trump’s approach. In this process, he insists on the need to reduce Iran's regional power. Although Iran succeeded in establishing a foothold in the region in 2001 when George W. Bush was in the oval office, but Trump is trying to assert that Iran became a major regional player during Obama’s tenure.
The Republican presidential nominee believes that if Iran continues to play the role of a regional power, then the US allies in the region will face security difficulties. One of the main areas of Trump and Clinton’s political literature in their debates has been focused on Iran. He has repeatedly said that the Obama administration and Hilary Clinton have benefited from cooperative mechanisms established between Iran and the US. Trump sought to show that such a process will damage the US credibility in the region.
During the debates, Clinton has stressed the need for making use of possible mechanisms. She also describes the US nuclear diplomacy with Iran as a great success for her country’s security and international politics.
Conclusion:
There are signs that the upcoming US presidential race has created political tumult and social emotion across the country. Trump’s literature shows that he is using a totally different model on Syria, Iraq, and Yemen’s political future compared to Clinton’s.
The US presidential campaigns have mainly focused on social issues. Trump, to a large extent, relies on votes of the poor and marginal citizens. This is while the middle class supports Hillary Clinton.
The reality is that the US elections mainly address regional and international developments rather than social issues. If Trump wins the election, better results will be achieved for creation of a détente between Russia and the US.
Such an approach will affect the security crisis management model in Syria. Accordingly, Hillary Clinton will not be able to overlook the current anti-Iran policies of opposition groups in the region as she is benefiting from an inclusive cooperation model with the Arab world. This is while Trump’s main policy is said to be confronting Daesh and al-Nusra front terrorists in Syria and Iraq.
