Marching as to War: Trump's New Militarism

Abstract

DOI: 10.1215/07402775-4191379 Vol. XXXIV, No. 2, Summer 2017 © 2017 World Policy Institute W hen Barack Obama picked up the baton of national security in 2009, he faced a choice: veer decisively away from his predecessor George W. Bush, as many of his supporters expected, or continue along the path that had been set for the country. Obama ended up splitting the difference. Having signaled that he would reverse the country’s course on torture and detention at Guantanamo, Obama had some success but promised more than he achieved. In other areas like surveillance and drone killings, he maintained or even strengthened many of the legal and policy excesses of Bush’s war on terror. With Donald Trump, the handover of national security has been more of a messy grab. President Trump snatched the baton passed to him by Obama and, as quickly as he could, buried it. SH EA LA H C RA IG H EA D MARCHING AS TO WAR: TRUMP’S NEW MILITARISM