Since the mid-twentieth century, America has been the sole global hegemon in international politics. Especially after World War II, the U.S. dominated the world stage with military and economic might. The only challenge during this period was the Soviet Union, which swiftly collapsed in the early 1990’s. This reestablishing of dominance led the U.S. to lead with an interventionist approach in the early 21st century, inserting ourselves in international affairs that we were sure would bring about world peace in the spreading of democratic ideals. However, the notion of America as an “international policeman” was lost among the American public after the failures of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Trump’s first term came at a time when both parties largely were still of the generation that believed America was the arbiter of democracy and good faith around the world by use of the military. However, Trump separated himself from the crowd by being rather staunchly isolationist compared to his contemporaries. In one of the most shocking moments of the initial Republican debates, Trump openly and vehemently criticized the Iraq war calling it a “big, fat mistake.” Although this sentiment had been stirring amongst the public for quite some time, it was rare for a politician, let alone a presidential candidate, to openly denounce such a comparatively recent war.
After he was elected in 2016, Trump never tried bold invasions of other countries to prop up puppet governments but was quite hawkish on certain foreign policy elements. He stayed in Afghanistan, assassinated a top Iranian official, and was incredibly tough on immigration. Instead of taking the traditional approach of the past 100 years (harm our enemies but help our allies), Trump implemented a strong sense of American nationalism, one that could justify building a wall and pulling out of many European Union deals that America had been involved in for decades. However, due to the constraints of his cabinet and constitutional limits, Trump didn’t stray as far from the norm as he seemingly would in his second term.
Trump has been noted as greatly admiring U.S. president William McKinley and evidently aims to adopt his still-on-high tariffs for foreign countries, and aggressive American expansionism (McKinley was responsible for the attainment of Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and Guam.) Trump sees the future of America as the utilization of our economic and military dominance to be used as a cudgel to stiff-arm other nations into doing our bidding. We have already seen this in the first few weeks between the tariff threats against Mexico and Canada, to the rather vague discussions about Canada becoming a 51st State and buying Greenland. Just in the past week Trump stood before the nation and proclaimed that the United States will “take over” Gaza and rebuild it, into what seems like a French Riviera-esq reconstruction.
All of these actions hear the echoes of McKinley and could mean a radical diversion for the role of the United States on an international stage. In the modern era, we haven’t seen America take a domineering approach to foreign policy. Trump has to be careful about being too harsh on our closest allies and trade partners to mitigate the risk of alliances being formed against us on our southern and northern borders. The two other hegemonic nations (Russia and China) are still the biggest threats and rivals both economically and militarily. Trump must keep this in mind if he wishes to see the flourishing of America for decades to come. Flexing the preverbal muscles of the American military can be an asset when used strategically as part of a larger foreign policy plan, but not as an impulsive reaction to unfair trade.
