The Trump administration’s politics of time: The temporal dynamics that enable Trump’s interests to determine American foreign policy

Abstract

Scholars and political observers have noted how the rate of significant events and crises in the Trump administration appear to be accelerating at an unmanageable and irresistible pace, making it difficult to respond to these actions as they happen. This paper uses the lens of the present as a frame for exploring the temporal assumptions and “timing mechanisms” at work in the contemporary moment within American politics, particularly within US foreign and security policy. The paper identifies and explores three elements of this particular present that combine to enable the implementation of Trump administration policy goals. These three areas include the production of an indefinite present, temporal othering, and the rapid tempo of political activity. Focusing on the temporal dynamics of the political present during the Trump administration reveals some of the ways in which domestic and/or foreign acquiescence is realized despite their rejection of recent US foreign policy doctrine. The paper concludes with a reflection on likely implications this will have on the conduct of American foreign policy, ultimately arguing that it is likely to become increasingly unpredictable and even more violent, dangerously exacerbating already existing inequalities, marginalizations, and erasures of difference.