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The ‘Jolene doctrine’: retired US army general likens Trump foreign policy to Dolly Parton song

Jolene Dolly Parton Stanley McChrystal Donald Trump United States Foreign Policy White House Barack Obama Jeffrey Goldberg NATO
An seated older man smiles as he speaks into a microphone with a fleur-de-lis on a wall behind him.
Stanley McChrystal attends the New Orleans book festival on 12 March 2026 at Tulane University. Photograph: Amy Harris/Invision/AP

The retired US army general who once led Nato forces in Afghanistan says the bellicose foreign policy Donald Trump has pursued during his second presidency can be summed up as “we should do because we can” – invoking the lyrics of the Dolly Parton classic Jolene to emphasize the point.

Stanley McChrystal delivered those remarks on Friday at Tulane University’s New Orleans book festival during a fireside chat hosted by the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, who asked in part about US military strikes Trump has ordered in Nigeria, Venezuela and Iran since Christmas.

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