There’s this belief that Donald Trump is unable to do anything significant at the end of his presidency. ‘Trump won’t do anything bad.” “There’s too little time.” “It would be impossible for him to do anything crazy.” Unfortunately, Trump and his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, are burning American foreign policy to the ground and deliberately sabotaging Biden’s foreign policy plan.

In just a short amount of time, Mike Pompeo labeled the Houthi rebels terrorists, allowed US diplomats to take official visits to Taiwan, and placed Cuba on the state-sponsored terrorism list. These actions specifically strain the relationships with foreign countries, but more importantly, these actions undermine Biden’s foreign policy agenda.

By labeling the Houthis as a terrorist group, Trump makes it significantly harder for the United States to get out of Yemen, undermining Biden’s foreign policy.

Yemenese Civil War

After Houthi rebels toppled the Yemen government in 2014, civil war broke out. Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia and backed by the US, led the charge against these Houthi rebels with a series of bombing raids leading to a massive humanitarian crisis. These bombing raids have left the country in absolute ruins.

Biden has been highly critical of US involvement in the war, due to Saudi Arabia’s reckless bombings towards civilians. One of his foreign policy plans is to finally leave the war and conduct talks to end the war.

By labeling the Houthis as a terrorist group, Pompeo, under the guise of Trump, made it much harder to conduct peace talks to end the war. They tried to sabotage Biden’s foreign policy because they wanted to make carrying out Biden’s plan more difficult. Trump may not have physically attacked Biden, but he has quietly destroyed Biden’s plans for Yemen.

By lifting the ban on official visits to Taiwan, they deliberately angered China and put US-China relations in a tense spot.

Taiwan

Pompeo and Trump sabotaged Biden again when they lifted the ban on official visits to Taiwan by US diplomats. By lifting the ban on official visits to Taiwan, they deliberately angered China and worsened US-China relations.

Lifting the ban on visits to Taiwan wouldn’t prevent us from engaging in foreign policy or diplomacy. Instead, it was designed to inflame tensions with China. This action also puts Biden in a terrible position. If he keeps the ban in place, Biden will increase US-China tensions with this practice. However, if he lifted the ban, Biden would be labeled ‘soft on China’ by others.

This is exactly what Pompeo and Trump wanted. By putting Biden in this position, they’ve sabotaged Biden’s foreign policy and hurt his future chances with China. Trump undertook this action to be petty towards Biden. He doesn’t want to properly transfer power. Instead, he wants to leave the Oval Office a mess for Biden as one last act of retaliation for losing the election.

Throughout his presidency, Trump has never been interested in the country, but in what strokes his ego and makes him money.

Deliberate Treason

The actions of Pompeo and Trump were less about what was good for the country and more about trying to undermine Biden. Trump doesn’t have to face the consequences of a fallout with China because he’s not the president. Trump decided that instead of taking the high road and cooperating with the incoming administration, he’ll try and sabotage American foreign policy on his way out.

The outgoing president doesn't have morality and ‘letting him do his thing’ will not end well. Trump is never and has never done what was ‘right’ for the country. Instead, this is betraying the interest of our nation.

It’s time that we recognize Trump's actions as deeply harmful to America. Throughout his presidency, Trump has never been interested in the country, but in what strokes his ego and makes him money. We have to ensure that such a leader never comes to power again.