Can Trump reinvigorate U.S. foreign policy?

The United States needs an effective foreign policy. After four years of a weak and morally decadent Biden administration, the West’s enemies have become stronger and bolder. An emerging axis of China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and terrorist proxies such as Hamas and Hezbollah are cooperating to put an end to the increased freedom and stability that U.S. post–World War II leadership has brought to much of the world.

Will President-elect Donald Trump be able to meet this challenge in his second term? If he remains true to his principles and restrains his rash tendencies, we have reason for cautious optimism. A review of his first-term foreign policy reveals an often bold and courageous, yet realistic, determination to pursue America’s legitimate interests to the benefit of the United States and the world. When key interests were at stake, Trump dared to brave the received wisdom of the foreign policy establishment and the so-called “international community.” He corrected the mistakes of his predecessors, both Democratic and Republican, and he overrode their timidity.

As promised, he withdrew from President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed sanctions that significantly weakened the regime. In an act that underlined U.S. support for Israel, Trump moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem—something Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama never dared to do. Taking a completely new approach to Middle East peace, he forged the Abraham Accords, which marked unprecedented progress toward establishing peace between Israel and the Arab Muslim states.

Trump abandoned the accommodationist policies toward China adopted by previous administrations and, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as his principal mouthpiece, signaled U.S. determination to lead robust international opposition to China’s human rights abuses, its threats against Taiwan, and its program of worldwide military, economic and technological dominance.

For good measure, Trump withdrew from the Paris climate agreement, refusing, despite worldwide opposition, to hold U.S. foreign policy hostage to a questionable climate-change ideology.

To be sure, Trump’s frequent temperamental outbursts are a serious weakness in international affairs, where protocol, painstaking politeness, and rigorous self-control serve to bridge cultural, linguistic, and political differences. Sometimes, though, plain speaking can be very effective. For example, Trump’s bluntness significantly strengthened our transatlantic alliances. Because he didn’t mince words, our European counterparts actually believed Trump might withdraw the United States from NATO unless they paid their fair share. After years of ignoring the pleas of Clinton, Bush, and Obama, they paid up.

What about isolationism? Though Trump—and many of his supporters—have often insisted he would withdraw from foreign entanglements and concentrate on solving problems at home, he never actually pursued isolationist policies. And now, the more dangerous world we face closes off the isolationist option more decidedly than ever.

Trump’s most consequential nod to isolationism is his repeated claim that he will end the war in Ukraine on his first day in office. It would be catastrophic—and deeply wrong—if he were to abandon Ukraine. But when he takes office, the national security folly of allowing Russia’s aggression to succeed will be very difficult to ignore. That, along with Trump’s aversion to appearing weak, makes it more likely than not that he will increase American military assistance and enable Ukraine to negotiate from a position of strength and achieve a resolution that vindicates Ukraine and deters Russia from further belligerence in Europe or the Middle East.

But there are two caveats.

One, America’s foreign policy is now overshadowed by a much more basic question: Will the United States remain a force for good in the world? The vacuum left by the radical dechristianization of American society has been filled by divisive identity politics, the freedom-killing constraints of political correctness, and radical moral libertinism. And the United States has been exporting those fruits of dechristianization to the rest of the world.

Though this is a fundamentally spiritual state of affairs that no politician can reverse, the recent election gives reason for some measure of hope. Trump and many of his key political allies, whether believers or not, appear to understand the value of the West’s Judeo-Christian heritage. They have promised to overcome the militant wokeism that is roiling American society and distorting our politics, domestic and foreign. May they succeed in that task.

Two, if anything proves that human affairs are not under human control, it’s foreign policy. No matter who is in office, unforeseen events will drive policy, plans will be foiled, and mistakes will be made. Whatever happens, we must pray that the Lord in His providence will use the United States to restrain evil and promote good throughout the world.