Fred Fleitz: What would Donald Trump's foreign policy look like?
The Interview
BBC
4.3 • 537 Ratings
🗓️ 1 November 2024
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Stephen Sackur speaks to Fred Fleitz, a national security official in Donald Trump’s first administration, tipped for a new foreign policy role if Trump returns to power. If Vice President Kamala Harris represents foreign policy continuity, what would the world get from Trump 2.0?
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Hard Talk on the BBC World Service with me, Stephen Sacker. My guest today, Fred Flights, |
| 0:07.0 | will be heavily invested in the outcome of the US presidential election, not just as an American citizen, |
| 0:13.9 | but also as a potential foreign policy, national security higher for Republican candidate Donald Trump. Flight served briefly in Trump's White House national security higher for Republican candidate Donald Trump. |
| 0:21.5 | Flight served briefly in Trump's White House national security team back in 2018, |
| 0:27.1 | until he fell out of favor with his immediate boss, then chief national security advisor, |
| 0:32.8 | John Bolton. Bolton himself left the White House soon after and turned on Trump, describing him as |
| 0:39.1 | dangerous and unfit for the presidency. Flights, however, has stayed loyal to the former president. |
| 0:45.8 | He is now vice-chair of the Center for American Security at the America First Policy Institute. |
| 0:52.4 | And as that name suggests, it is a hot house for pro-Trump |
| 0:56.6 | policy people and is likely to provide key staff for an incoming Trump administration if he wins. |
| 1:03.8 | Flights recently wrote a report on U.S. strategy in Ukraine. As a former State Department and CIA |
| 1:09.8 | officer, he's had a particular focus, too, |
| 1:12.4 | on the nuclear threats posed by Iran and North Korea. In short, when the world wonders what |
| 1:18.6 | President Trump 2.0 would mean for U.S. foreign policy, Flights is in a good position to know. |
| 1:25.8 | And he joins me now from Washington. Fred Flights, welcome to |
| 1:29.6 | Hard Talk. Thank you for having me on. It's a great pleasure to talk to you. Now, a momentous choice |
| 1:35.6 | is now facing American voters and it will have huge impacts right around the world. This is a time |
| 1:42.3 | of grave instability in various different parts of the globe. |
| 1:48.0 | Why is it that foreign policy has barely featured in this U.S. presidential campaign? |
| 1:54.8 | Well, I think it's played a larger role than maybe as people are aware outside of the United States. Americans perceive the |
| 2:02.8 | world as much more unstable, much more unsafe than when Donald Trump left the Oval Office in January |
| 2:08.6 | 2021. And I think that really hits home when it comes to our southern border. Over 11 million |
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