Three years ago, in June, I drove into Midtown Manhattan, scaled a skyscraper, and was whisked into a corner office to conduct an interview with the highest profile subject in my career. There before me sitting at a desk in the eponymous tower where his rise from real estate developer to TV star to world historical figure would begin was former President Donald Trump. The topic of discussion that day was Trump’s China policy. While I entered the interview focused on the relations with Beijing, I walked away from it with a deeper and more transcendent insight, an insight that may not be first and foremost in the minds of voters as election day 2024 approaches, but that perhaps ought to be, though it may seem obvious, the Insight is as follows, we live in a dangerous world comprised of myriad enemies who wish to do us grave harm, regimes led by liars, murderers, thieves and thugs. Ultimately, one man in the commander in chief stands between America and all of these maligned forces. There is no greater singular deterrent to catastrophe or invitation to it, make the right choice in a commander in chief, and it can keep our enemies at bay. Make the wrong choice, and war, chaos and misery will be our lot, as critical as the other matters are that likely predominate in the minds of voters, from the economy to immigration and beyond. Ultimately, a president’s greatest responsibility in the area in which presidents enjoy the most freedom of action, notwithstanding deep state efforts to constrain them, is in defending American life and limb from the threats facing us. During our conversation, the former President made clear to me a point he would highlight publicly on several occasions about his approach to dealing with America’s foes. Trump had no desire to commit American blood and treasure to fend off foes in far off lands and forever wars, but should those foes cross specific strategic red lines? In several instances he recounted to me, he made clear directly to their leaders that there would be unimaginable hell to pay, including for themselves and their most cherished interests Stated differently, Trump would go not abroad in search of monsters to destroy, but should those monsters rear their ugly heads, they would do so knowing Moabs, at a minimum, would hang over them. I believe that as a result of this posture, the Trump administration’s use of overwhelming, disproportionate force in limited situations and a slew of policies buttressing both the rhetoric and action that Trump successfully stared our enemies down, Russia did not invade Ukraine. Iran and its proxies waged no seven front war on Israel and America’s servicemen and our allies and partners, foreign foes, including the Chinese Communist Party, terrorists and transnational criminal organizations did not overrun and exploit our borders. This may be the most consequential difference between Trump and Biden and future Harris administration. If you want to have peace, it’s imperative to show that you have the willingness and capability not only to go to war, but to swiftly and decisively destroy the enemy. There’s no deterrent to our enemies being on the march with people in power who not only lack the will to combat them, but who actively ate a ban and enable them, thinking you can bribe the crocodiles into eating us, last or worse, that they aren’t crocodiles at all. There are many issues on which people will vote, some ideological, others political and still others personal, this cycle, but it’s clear to me that if you believe the President’s core responsibility, again is to keep us safe, the proof is in the pudding of who will stand up to America’s enemies and who will fall for them, and that ought to be decisive on the merits.
