Defense

What Trump’s tweets say about his national security agenda

by Kristina Wong - 11/11/16 12:44 PM ET

If Tweets mean anything, President-elect Donald Trump will prioritize the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria among national security concerns.

{mosads}An analysis of more than 7,000 of his tweets since he began his run showed that when it came to international affairs, Trump tweeted most about the ISIS.

Trump tweeted 77 times about ISIS, criticizing U.S. government policy while seeking to emphasize the role of Islam in terrorist attacks, according to analysis by IHS Jane’s.

Next was tweets about Iran, at 54, mainly criticism of the nuclear deal brokered by the Obama administration.

Trump tweeted about the general subject of terrorism 49 times, and the topic of defense/military 38 times.

Trump tweeted about Russia and China 36 and 28 times respectively.

On Russia, Trump emphasized the perceived weakness of the U.S. and his position as a tough negotiator uniquely qualified to deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to IHS Jane’s research manager Ryan Ginbey.

Trump’s China tweets are in the context of economics, but he also suggests its behavior is disrespectful toward the Obama administration.

“At the other end of the spectrum, Ukraine, Korea and Afghanistan barely feature and mentions of the specific branches of the US armed forces are limited,” Ginbey said.

“US allies may be alarmed to note that NATO is only mentioned nine times in tweets that are generally critical – Trump describes the organisation as ‘obsolete and disproportionately expensive (and unfair) for the U.S,'” he said.

Trump has said he would renegotiate the alliance and only come to members’ aid if they fulfilled their obligation to spend at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense.

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