S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS)

Trump, The Perfect Enemy – Analysis

Eurasia Review

17 November 2016

Rohan Gunaratna

The apocalyptic vision of Muslim terrorists and extremists has come true with the victory of Donald Trump as the next US president. They jubilantly hail this as the “end of America!”

Donald Trump, whom the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) has identified as the “perfect enemy”, will be the next President of the United States of America. He will develop an unconventional strategy to fight insurgency, terrorism and extremism. To defeat a common enemy, Trump will think beyond the existing paradigm; he will reach out to America’s Cold War and post-Cold War adversaries.

IS and Al Qaeda have underestimated Trump. The new US president has the political will and the out-of–the-box thinking to work with Russia, China, Iran, Syria and other actors to manage the global insurgency and terrorist threat. Clouded by his highly controversial election rhetoric, many have failed to understand Trump’s radical vision to work with even America’s adversaries, notably Russia. Obama in 2014 declared that he wanted to “degrade and ultimately destroy” IS and eliminate the Al Qaeda and IS leadership. However Obama focused primarily on a population-centric strategy. Trump’s doctrine will be enemy-centric, with his central mission expected to relentlessly target and destroy IS, Al Qaeda and their associates.

… Rohan Gunaratna is Professor of Security Studies and Head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

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