Mr. Trump’s Threats Hurt US Credibility – The American Spectator | USA News and PoliticsThe American Spectator

President Trump is causing a great deal of confusion among our allies and enemies. He has caused disruption of the economies of several countries — including our own — by imposing high tariffs on some imports and then suspending some of them. He has made several threats against the Hamas terrorists, against Russia because of its failure to make peace in Ukraine, and has taken significant military action against the Houthis of Yemen.

At the same time, his plans to deport members of the hyper-violent Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang and some of the worst student aliens who have been rioting on campuses have so far been thwarted in court.

The case of Mahmoud Khalil, the anti-Israel activist who has made protests at Columbia University a way of student life, is one case in point. Holder of a green card — a visa that entitles him to live and work legally in the U.S. — Khalil is something of a privileged character.

The courts have, of course, become involved in both the Tren de Aragua and Khalil cases. In the latter, they have correctly identified him as someone whose status cannot be revoked without due process in court. Or can he?

In the Tren de Aragua case, a U.S. district judge has blocked deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 (Title 50 US Code Section 21) which says:

Whenever there is a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion is perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States by any foreign nation or government, and the President makes public proclamation of the event, all natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects of the hostile nation or government, being of the age of fourteen years and upward, who shall be within the United States and not actually naturalized, shall be liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as alien enemies.

The judge found that we are not at war with Venezuela but apparently ignored the second part of the first sentence which provides for people to be expelled when “any predatory incursion” is perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States. The question involves whether the Venezuelan government intentionally emptied its jails of Tren de Aragua members and helped them get to the U.S.

Two other factors are important here because they affect both cases.

In the Tren de Aragua case, we are not at war with Venezuela but there is certainly a predatory incursion. The fact that former president Biden let these people in is irrelevant. The gang members have made an incursion into our country and are committing crimes against our people. That should be enough to boot them out.

The second fact is that, like it or not, we are at war with Islamic terrorists such as the ones Khalil represents. If he has given aid to Hamas such as monetary donations or to any other terrorist organization his green card can be revoked and he can be deported. Otherwise, he has protection under the First Amendment. Most people don’t realize this, but even illegal aliens obtain rights under the Constitution just by setting foot in America.

We can go back to the 1996 fatwa declaring war on the United States by Usama bin Laden, to the 1982 Marine Barracks bombing in Beirut, and farther in our history to justify the fact that we are at war with radical Islam.

We haven’t deterred the Islamists from making war on us since long before 9-11.

In 1785, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams met with the ambassador of the Tripolitan pirates in London. When they asked him why Tripoli was attacking U.S. ships when we had done Tripoli no harm, the ambassador replied that, “it was written in their Koran that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners who it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave and that every [Muslim] who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise.”

That was our first encounter with Islamic jihad. The Islamist terrorists have declared war on us many times, more than enough to justify kicking Khalil and his ilk out of our country. We are not at war with Islam: just the terrorist networks that claim to be Islamists. We have to restore our deterrence in order to stop them.

Our primary strategy has, since the start of the Cold War, been to deter foreign aggression especially nuclear war. We have succeeded in deterring nuclear war but only by a hair. Nuclear proliferation was limited to the U.S. and Russia, but now North Korea, France, Britain and several other countries (including Israel which won’t admit it) are nuclear-armed.

In the past few weeks both Poland and Germany have expressed a desire to have nuclear weapons. Our principal terrorist enemy, Iran, is on the verge of achieving nuclear armament although no one really knows how close they are.

Moreover, our deterrence has failed repeatedly. It didn’t deter Russia from invading Ukraine and it didn’t deter Hamas from attacking Israel. It even failed to deter the Houthis from attacking Red Sea shipping.

We are, in the world’s view, much weaker than we were even twenty years ago. The fact that the president’s initiatives to deport illegal aliens is being blocked is just one more proof of that fact.

Threats and Deterrence

Restoring deterrence means restoring America’s credibility. If the president threatens Hamas that unless they release all its hostages all hell will break loose, as he has, the threat is meaningless if he doesn’t order actions commensurate with the threat. The same goes for his threat of massive sanctions against Russia if it doesn’t make peace in Ukraine.

So far Trump hasn’t made good on either threat. What he has done is take significant military action against the Houthis and has indicated that this is a message to Iran. But that message is terribly unclear.

At the same time, Trump is trying to get the Iranians to negotiate a new deal that would prevent its obtaining nuclear weapons. Why? He cancelled Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal in 2018 because it did not have the effect of limiting Iran’s nuclear ambitions. His attempt to negotiate a new deal has already been refused by Iran’s “Supreme Leader,” Ayatollah Khamenei.

None of these actions restores deterrence. Nor does his tariff war.

If Trump wants to restore deterrence he can’t make empty threats. Every time he does, he diminishes deterrence.

To restore deterrence, the president needs to carry out his threats. He should start by imposing whatever economic sanctions he can on Russia. The sanctions that were imposed by Biden had virtually no effect on Russian behavior. Wrecking Russia’s economy will require the similar imposition of sanctions on European nations and others — especially China — that still purchase natural gas and oil from Russia. That will be painful but it is necessary.

All this boils down, as this column has stated repeatedly, to U.S. credibility. If nations and terrorist networks believe we will use any means including military force in reaction to their actions, they can be deterred. If they don’t believe it, they cannot.

READ MORE from Jed Babbin:

What Is Trump’s Strategy on War and Peace?

Is US Support for Ukraine Over?