To say that Trump has a clear foreign policy plan is granting the presumptive Republican nominee far too much credit. He has no experience in foreign policy, and lacks basic understanding of current events and international relations. However, that has not stopped him from speaking on the subject. "America First," he stated, "will be the major and overriding theme of my administration." He has assured his supporters that the United States has become weaker under President Obama, and that America must regain its place as an unrivaled military powerhouse and international peacekeeper. And yet his foreign policy will simultaneously "put the interests of the American people, and American security, above all else. That will be the foundation of every decision that [he] will make."
Although Trump is infamous for his inconsistency, his foreign policy ideals have, over the past three decades, remained relatively the same. In his staunch America First worldview, he hearkens back to American conceptions of power that dominated prior to the Second World War. He feels that the United States is too committed to other countries around the world through protective military alliances: "We Americans are laughed at around the world for losing a hundred and fifty billion dollars year after year, for defending wealthy nations for nothing, nations that would be wiped off the face of the earth in about 15 minutes if it weren't for us. Our 'allies' are making billions screwing us." He is sympathetic (and even expresses admiration for) authoritarian rulers, and believes that the United States is being systematically disenfranchised by the global economy. "We will no longer surrender this country, or its people," he has declared, "to the false song of globalism." Of course, Trump is neglecting to consider that American allies do, in fact, pay for a good proportion of U.S. bases, even though they do not pay the cost in full-and the difference is largely made up in America's benefit through prepositioned forces and regional stability. Not being able to place troops overseas would have an astronomical price tag if soldiers all had to be deployed from the mainland in a crisis. Yet to Trump, this is irrelevant because he does not feel that America should be involved in these countries' regional stability in the first place.
To some modern voters, these ideas may sound novel. They are not. Senator Robert Taft, who ran for the Republican nomination three times in the 1940's and early 50's, was a fierce mercantilist and American isolationist. He opposed efforts to expand global trade, the creation of NATO, and the containment of the Soviet Union-believing that America was overcommitted to the interests of Western Europe. Charles Lindbergh, who was once hailed as an American hero and led the isolationist movement prior to American involvement in World War II, coined the catchphrase "America First" decades ago. These sentiments are not new. They have instead only remained dormant for some time, and Trump is tapping into them. And while neither practical nor constructive, they assuage his base's fears about waning American power in an increasingly globalized world.
