"It is clear that in Washington he has aligned himself with foreign policy advisors that are not the usual neocons. So that’s good news, to a degree. That’s why you have so much gnashing of the teeth in Washington," McAdams, of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, tells Loud & Clear, referring to billionaire Donald Trump.
"On the other hand, the people that he does have around him are realists, to a degree, but that is not super satisfying to a non-interventionist and an anti-war person because realists…lack the philosophy…of avoiding war and avoiding entangling alliance."
"…The specific plans that he outlined a) were not very well hashed out, and b) they don’t make a lot of sense," says McAdams.
While Trump does recognize the failure of Washington’s insistence on pursuing a Cold War-era strategy, the candidate does not see American imperialism as part of the problem.
One example is his opposition to the Iran nuclear agreement.
"This groveling to Israel, this blind condemnation of the Iran nuclear deal…I don’t get his beef and I don’t think he gets his beef. It just makes him sound good, it makes him sound tough."
On the issue of the Iraq and Syria, the Republican frontrunner seemed to offer contradictory positions.
"This is where I think he’s either very clever or fairly goofy," McAdams says.
"On the one hand he says something that sounds good to non-interventionists…On the other hand he says something like 'Obama went in there and bombed Libya and just walked away.'"
"That’s the whole point," states McAdams. "Not walking away means staying in and doing nation building. So he doesn’t understand what caused the problem. He also promises to use military force to contain radical Islam, and he talks about 'Why are we not bombing Libya right now?'"
Trump also spoke of restoring the military superiority of America, the country with the largest military budget in the world, shortly after stating that he would pursue peace.
"Rebuild our military from what? We spend more than most of the rest of the world combined. We have an enormous military, we’re involved in over 120 countries," McAdams says.
"What he means by ‘rebuild’ the military is keep Washington and its environs extraordinarily rich," he adds, describing the military-industrial complex, which Trump appears to support.
He did, however, offer a surprisingly insightful take on US-Russia relations.
"Here’s what he said exactly. 'We should seek common ground based on shared interest with Russia.' He said he’d, 'Make a deal that’s good for us and good for Russia.' That sounds terrific. If he follows through with that I think we should be very optimistic."
