Why Russia is the GOP’s Foreign Policy Litmus Test

Posted: August 24th, 2016

By Martha R. Simms

Martha R. Simms is currently Director of Operations for the John Hay Initiative, a 250-person network of foreign policy and national security experts that advises political leaders from a conservative internationalist tradition. She attended the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where she focused on economics and European political economy. She previously worked in the German parliament and at law firm Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz.

Russia is back in the U.S. political spotlight in a way it hasn’t been since the Cold War. President Vladimir Putin is increasing Russia’s show of force around the globe – fanning the flames of the Syrian civil war as an ally to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, allegedly hacking the DNC’s emails and dropping them publicly on Wikileaks, and recently threatening Ukraine with a weapons build-up in Crimea and military exercises miming the use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

In response, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has withheld any condemnation, instead expressing admiration for the Russian leadership and suggesting greater cooperation. Trump’s support for Putin may be drummed up by his coterie of advisers who have extensive business ties to the country. But toning down the GOP’s traditionally hawkish policy toward Russia—as one witness claims the Trump team did at the GOP convention last month—reflects a longstanding policy disagreement within the party.

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