The Weeks Update: Is Trump advocating isolationism?

With the stroke of a pen, just five days into his first week at the Oval Office, Donald Trump temporarily banned citizens of 7 Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. The President’s ‘extreme vetting’ has been met with outrage on both sides of the Atlantic, decried as ‘unacceptable’ in Germany and ‘divisive’ in the UK. In response, Mr. Trump has insisted the ban is about ‘Making America Safe Again’ - not religion. International condemnation aside, the travel ban has given another glimpse of what lies ahead for the Middle East in the Trump era. An inaugural pledge to put America First, to ensure “every decision … on immigration, on foreign affairs, will be made to benefit ... American families", has been read by many as Trump turning his back on the region. But with gains from the Arab Spring unconsolidated, nuclear ambitions only temporarily tempered, and Syria obliterated by civil war, there are fears an American retreat may be unwise. What will a Donald Trump Presidency mean for the Middle East? How will a more hesitant US abroad affect the region? I’m now joined by Gilbert Achcar, Professor of Politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and Share Radio’s economics commentator Professor John Weeks.