In his first term, Donald Trump coined the slogan \u201cAmerica First\u201d and \u201cMake America Great Again.\u201d This slogan maintained its appeal during the election campaign that ultimately culminated in Trump\u2019s victory over Kamala Harris. During Trump’s first term (2016-2020), this slogan was linked to radical implementations, resulting in significant upheaval within the largest institution in the history of foreign policy-making.<\/p>\n
Before Trump’s victory in the recent election, scholar David E. Sanger wrote a lengthy article<\/a><\/span> in The New York Times discussing the implications of \u201cAmerica First\u201d in Trump\u2019s second term.<\/p>\n The reality is that Trump adopted a foreign policy encapsulated by \u201cAmerica First.\u201d According to Sanger, this represented a breakdown in American policymaking, and he suggests strongly that Trump’s second term will signify a return to an \u201cera of decrees\u201d concerning foreign policy, detached from any political process, at a time of maximum international peril.<\/p>\n Much of what Trump communicated during his re-election campaign indicates that in his second term he plans to continue with more of the same, viewing unpredictability as his signature weapon. He seems to take pleasure in this, telling the Wall Street Journal editorial board in October that he wouldn\u2019t need to threaten China with U.S. military force over Taiwan because President Xi Jinping \u201crespects me and knows I\u2019m crazy,\u201d using a profanity for emphasis before the word \u201ccrazy.\u201d<\/p>\n Regardless of the opinions of American political analysts, including Sanger, Trump’s second victory proved that his first was not merely a glitch in America’s post-World War II approach to the world. Harris’s defeat means that the Joe Biden era marked the definitive end of a period in which the U.S. was a reliable guarantor of Western security. As investigative journalist Bob Woodward reveals in his recent book, The War<\/a><\/em><\/span>, Biden is credited with preventing Barack Obama’s \u201cmistake\u201d of inaction in response to Russia’s occupation of Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine in 2014 from becoming a guiding policy, leading to a faltering of Russia’s military plans.<\/p>\n The election outcome demonstrated that Trump is not simply the whim of an angry and marginalized American voter, but rather a social structure that has been developing for decades, culminating in his current manifestation, and which is likely to find other representations in the future. Since most global events are shaped by U.S. foreign policy trajectories, a strong internal conflict is intensifying within the U.S. between isolationism and \u201ccoming home,\u201d as well as between building alliances and globalization. Perhaps the most challenging task Trump will face during his upcoming four years is dealing with Biden’s foreign policy legacy. Disentangling Biden’s commitments and engagements in Ukraine and the Middle East could occupy Trump’s entire term without being fully resolved, thus representing a potential source of \u201cchaos\u201d in U.S. foreign policy, which Sanger referred to as the \u201cera of decrees,\u201d and what we might also call \u201cimprovised initiatives.\u201d<\/p>\n No doubt, Republicans now highlight that the United States was not involved in two foreign wars during Trump’s administration, and tensions with China were not as severe as they are today. However, during Trump’s presidency, his aides often found themselves at the beginning of the weekend, fully aware that their boss, wandering through the White House, might tweet changes in policy after a phone call with a significant donor or a foreign leader advocating for their position, bypassing the State Department or national security officials.<\/p>\n Trump decided over the weekend to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria after a phone call with Erdo\u011fan. When he realized he had been misled by the Turkish President, he partially reversed his decision.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Sanger adds: “Thus, Trump decided over the weekend to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria after a phone call with Erdo\u011fan that surprised his aides. When Trump realized he had been misled by the Turkish president, who aimed to target the Kurds in his military operation, he partially reversed his decision and tweeted that \u2018if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unparalleled wisdom, consider to be crossing the line, I will completely destroy and obliterate Turkey’s economy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n