Trump might be a warning sign for European voters; American Analyst tells ILNA (part two)

ILNA:How do you think Trump's immigration policies might influence his administration's image nationally and its relations with other countries worldwide?

I think, in many ways his policies toward immigration goes against the narrative that we've been telling ourselves about the United States in the last two hundred years, that we're an open society and we're a country of immigrants and I think what he's doing is running counter to that. In doing so, he's playing on our worst instincts and playing on fear in a way that leading people to give in to their worst instincts in some ways, unfortunately.

ILNA: Since upcoming election in France and Germany is underway, in case far right extremists would be able to get into office there, how do you see the fate of refugees and immigrants?

I could easily see that would becoming very constraining for immigrants. I mean if after Brexit, France and Germany go the same direction, I think that really could cut off the flow, I surely can see that. But I'm not so sure that the far right gonna win, I mean in some ways Trump and the example of Trump might be a warning sign for voters in those counties and they might realize that they don't want that style.

ILNA: There are speculations about Trump impeachment, how do you see such a prospect?

Even though I'm not a fan of Donald Trump, I think he would have to do something that really crosses the grounds, not only of morality and appropriateness but I think he would have to do things clearly illegal and I just don't see he's doing that. But if he does, if something like that does happene, he's not gonna have the support in congress. He'd be in a dangerous situation, if he were to make a misstep, I think he would really pay. So you know, I think odds of impeachment are low, but it's still possible.

ILNA: Considering Trump and Putin's good relations how much lifting of  sanctions against Moscow seems probable?

I don't know, it's hard to say there. I think Trump certainly wants to, doesn’t want to marginalize Russia, there’s a part of that which is fine and I think he’s right about that. One of the few things that he’s right about, probably is not to marginalize Russia too much, I think he’s under the ...

ILNA: Why do you think he shouldn’t marginalize Russia?

I generally think engagement is a good thing and Russia responds. My sense is that they feel very insecure and they respond out of their insecurity and I think the best way to approach people who are really insecure is to try to engage them. So I would foster. And they’re obviously a world power something to be reckon with and so isolating them, I don’t think would have greater effect or have a positive effect. I’m not a fan of isolating them. On the other hand, I think, we need to take a strong stance against any encroachment of any sovereign state like Ukraine etc. So I think it’s a delicate balance and you know, Donald Trump in other ways, is very impetus and bellicose, and is somebody, I can see leading us to a war, but in that case he seems probably more open. I don’t know what he’s thinking about and I don’t know what’s his incentives. He might have incentives to treat Russia fairly and for ways that, you know, we wouldn’t be well motivated but I just don’t know, what 's going on in his mind.

ILNA: In this regard, how do you see the prospect of Washington-Beijing relations?

I think he’s going to moderate, a little bit, he already is, with “One China Policy” etc, so I think with both Mexico and China, he’ll recognize that it’s a multi-dimensional relations and he needs to be little more careful and once he’s around people he’ll know what they are doing, so we’ll see. I’m not by any means an expert of US-China relations

ILNA: Why do you think Trump hasn’t put Saudi Arabia on the list of the countries that has been banned entering US?

There's a long history in US politics of treating Saudi Arabia differently for some reason, you know, I’m not sure why exactly that is, except for the fact that they feel like they benefit somehow from having Saudi Arabia as military and business partner in the region and maybe doesn’t want a soar relation with them. It does seem hypocritical, I guess your question implies that a little bit, you know, US foreign policy has always been inconsistent. I mean, we never treated China and Cuba in the same way and we don’t treat countries in the middle east in the same way at all, you know there has been a history of inconsistence,  unfortunately.

END