DEAR EDITOR:

The other day, I was reading an analysis by former foreign service officer and ambassador Daniel C. Kurtzer of President Trump’s foreign policy during his first term and a phrase struck me: Trump’s “lack of strategic focus.”

What phrase could better describe Trump’s first year of his second term than a lack of focus, strategic or otherwise?

The consequences of Trump’s lack of focus in his second term will be catastrophic and long-term. The damage he is doing to the reputation this nation built up over 75 years as a stabilizing, if imperfect, force in the world will take decades to undo.

This is a president who complains he should have eight Nobel Peace Prizes, one for each of the wars he apparently believes he has settled, yet he started his attack on Venezuela by bombing boats, most of which were likely transporting drugs but not with any certainty to the United States, and they were not carrying fentanyl, the most lethal component of illegal drugs here.

Then he moved on to a military assault designed to remove Venezuela’s leader Nicolas Maduro, but he left intact Maduro’s government. It’s clear the real prize he sought in Venezuela was its oil.

The only thing Trump is focused on is being transactional.

If we “help” a country, we should be repaid in oil or rare earth minerals or tariffs. He trades our image as a champion of democracy for one of an extortionist. If he had been president in 1987, his battle cry would have been, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall — or give us some oil to look the other way or pay us to leave you alone.”

He’s now as focused as he is capable of being on the “Donroe Doctrine,” which will make him emperor of the Western Hemisphere. But by telling European countries that they are on their own, he is forcing them to become strong enough that they are militarily and economically independent from their old ally. While he claims that he can invade South America or threaten Greenland, he is likely accelerating the timeline for when China decides it should take back Taiwan while the United States is distracted.

While Trump focuses on fossil fuels, China is consolidating its preeminence in the energy of tomorrow. Trump will have more oil than he can use, but China will have cornered the market on batteries, solar power and microprocessors. While he’s driving out immigrants and discouraging students from studying in the United States, China and Europe will be welcoming other countries’ best and brightest.

Our welcome to a brave new and very scary world will be brought to us by Trump’s lack of strategic focus.

DENNIS MANGAN

Howland