Presidential Speaker Series: United States Diplomat Gordon Duguid

NORMAL, Ill  — On November 9, former United States Diplomat Gordon Duguid gave a speech as part of a lecture series at Illinois State University. In this speech, Duguid discussed foreign policy and how these policies are affecting America’s present and future as we reach the last two years of President Donald Trump’s second term.

One of the main focal points of Duguid’s speech was that “America First” is a misnomer.

“America First as implemented is nothing more than situational power projection. Ultimately, America First is a misnomer. It promises strength, but delivers isolation. By abandoning leadership for coercion, it creates a more dangerous world where American power wanes, American alliances fray, and American security pays the price.” Duguid stated.

After establishing that America First does not indicate what it seems to. Duguid continued to discuss trends that people are going to witness over the last two years of Donald Trump’s presidency

“During this period, the US will likely continue to pursue economic and security dominance in the Western Hemisphere, while appeasing Moscow, even as Russia devastated Ukraine, weakens NATO, and attempts to create a servile Europe.” 

Another trend Duguid talked about was how China has surpassed the US in terms of diplomacy, and how this will affect global problems being addressed. 

“China surpassed us in 2019. They now have the largest diplomatic corps in the world. As a result, international action on global problems such as artificial intelligence, migration, organized crime and climate change will stall over the near term.”

The final trend the Duguid brought up was how the current wars taking place around the world are going to unfold over the next two years.

“Of the current conflict, I would hazard that in the near term, Sudan will continue to suffer. Gaza will not be rebuilt. Southern Lebanon will remain occupied and Saudi Arabia may be able to neutralize the Houthi threat to the Red Sea if they commit ground troops to the Fray. Russia and Ukraine will continue to degrade each other’s economic infrastructure until one of them collapses.”

Following Duguid’s lecture, a Q and A was carried out and one of the questions asked was why has China become such a massive threat to America? And do you believe that China will eventually surpass America as the world’s foremost economy? Gordon Duguid shared his thoughts about this question

“Why do we need to be the top economy? If we have less than 4% unemployment, and people have the ability to improve their lives and the life of their children, let’s call that enough. Let somebody else be the number one economy. I would say we need to focus on what we need to do to make our lives better, and how that can be achieved as opposed to worrying about whether or not somebody is having their economy be larger than ours.” 

For more information on the Illinois State Lecture Series and this story, visit WZND.com.