Tag: Donald Trump

Paul Bremer was the face of the neoconservative foreign policy of the U.S. Now that Trump is in power, there is no longer room for neocons among the Republicans. Yet he remained loyal to the party. Why? “Europe frustrates us.”

_{Photo: Stephen Voss}

Republican Lewis Paul Bremer III had never before voted for Donald Trump. In the previous presidential election, he wrote “Nikki Haley,” Trump’s former UN ambassador and challenger, on the ballot.

He wanted nothing to do with Trump. But this time, Bremer was convinced and chose Trump. “I didn’t have great options on the ballot,” he says by phone from his home just outside Washington. “I have serious reservations about Trump, but I hope he surrounds himself with the right advisors. Maybe it won’t be so bad, and his election could actually be good news, even for Europe.”

Paul Bremer (83), who was the U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands in the 1980s, is a Republican of a fading kind. His name is forever linked to the era when neoconservatives held sway in the party in the early 2000s. It was the time of hawks, advocates of aggressive interventionism. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the U.S. invaded Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003). After the capture of Iraq, Bremer was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush as the head of the coalition authority in Baghdad. It was he who announced the capture of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein on December 14, 2003. (“Ladies and gentlemen, we got him.”)

But the neocons no longer hold power in the Republican Party in the Trump era. Trump called the Iraq War a mistake and labeled the interventionists of that time as warmongers. “Wars cost money,” Trump said, and the neocons’ ultimate goal—to spread democracy on American terms—does not fit his “America First” doctrine. Dick Cheney, Bush’s vice president, and his daughter Liz switched to the Democrats.

Bremer, who took up painting after his return from Iraq, just like Bush, remained loyal to the party, despite his reservations about Trump. And there are many like Bremer: those who haven’t left the party have either converted to Trumpism or kept quiet.

Do you, as a neoconservative, still feel at home in your party?

“Yes, but you need a thick skin. By the way, I always call myself an ‘old con,’ not a ‘neocon.’ I believe in Henry Kissinger’s ideas on foreign policy.” Former Secretary of State Kissinger, who passed away late last year, believed in an active American role but with stability as the goal, not creating a better world.

But the time of Kissinger is truly over in your party.

“The Republican Party has changed, just as society has changed. The party is traditionally internationally oriented. But there has always been a countercurrent. When NATO was founded in 1949, a faction led by Senator Robert Taft opposed it fiercely. I hope that faction doesn’t regain control.”

Is Trump part of that faction?

“If that’s the case, then we’re really in trouble. But it’s not just about Trump; it’s also about the people around him. That became evident during his first term. They will shape the policy. And I know that parts of his entourage see no role for America abroad, especially the incoming Vice President J.D. Vance.”

Vance said that the time of America actively shaping foreign policy and remaking the world in its image is over. That’s not what you stand for.

Measuring his words: “He has said controversial things, yes.”

Do you have confidence that Trump will listen to the right people, in your opinion?

“No, I’m not very optimistic. In his first term, the sensible people in his administration all left. He increasingly listened to family and close friends.”

Yet you voted for Trump. Why was that?

“It’s still my party. And the Democrats have become so radically left. They make various statements attacking Supreme Court justices, want to abolish the filibuster in the Senate [a tactic that allows the minority to delay legislation]. That’s an attack on the foundations of American democracy.

And the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, wasn’t?

“It was clear that same day that it was a hopeless mission. The rioters had no way to overthrow or permanently change democracy. If you change the rules of the game in Washington, as the Democrats wanted, then you do.”

What will Europe notice about a Trump administration?

“Trump believes Europe should do more, and he’s right. In a certain way, I think he can shake up the discussion with Europe. European countries need to fairly contribute to NATO and be much more assertive, for instance, in Ukraine.”

In Europe, there’s concern that Trump might scale back support for Ukraine.

“I don’t know if that concern is justified. He says contradictory things. But if Trump’s election serves as a wake-up call for Europe, then let it be. The entire world order is shifting, and Europe should also think critically. We can’t afford a war with Russia. Plus, we also have China and Taiwan to consider; we can’t do it all.”

What should European countries say if they sit down with Trump?

“Something like: ‘Congratulations, Mr. Trump. Well done. Like you, we believe we need to do more for our security. And here’s our plan to drive the Russians out of Ukraine.’”

Do you see that as a realistic scenario?

“Europe frustrates us. Kissinger once asked, ‘Who do I call if I want to speak to Europe?’ It’s only gotten worse. Leaders of prominent countries, like Germany and France, are weakened by internal divisions. There has also been little respect for what Trump achieved in his first term. He helped create the Abraham Accords in 2020 [an agreement Israel signed with Gulf states Bahrain and the UAE], but no one congratulated him. He ordered the killing of [Iranian General] Qassem Soleimani, which was a bold decision. But the European countries were only angry about the relocation of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.”

Do you see parallels between Reagan and Trump?

“Reagan, like Trump now, was underestimated, also in Europe. They saw him as a B-movie actor. And they ignored the fact that he already had substantial political experience. He also used a style of tough language intended to intimidate opponents. Once, when asked about his strategy against the Soviet Union, he said, ‘We win, they lose.’ I see a similar style in Trump. Reagan followed a weak Democrat, Jimmy Carter, just as Trump must now solve Biden’s problems.”

Do you still believe in a dominant America on the world stage?

“After the fall of communism, we missed the chance to create a new, stable world order. I still wish for that. But for that, America needs the help of European allies, even if it’s done quietly. As long as we don’t lecture each other on how to do it.”

CV

Former diplomat Lewis Paul Bremer III (1941) is best known as the American head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, shortly after the fall of Saddam Hussein. From May 2003 to June 2004, he was the highest-ranking American in Iraq.

Between 1983 and 1986, Bremer was the U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands, appointed by President Ronald Reagan. He previously worked for former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Interview (originally published in Dutch) by Guus Valk for NRC.