A new reality has emerged on the world stage, and at the heart of it is Donald Trump’s leadership of the world’s largest economy and most powerful military.
Before Trump’s ascent, most of the world had settled into a peculiar cycle every four to eight years, depending on which Republican or Democrat occupied the White House. While there were some policy differences, American presidents inherited a world order created by generations of Americans before them.
US leaders knew that system well and worked hard to expand, safeguard or realign it. Since the Second World War, no US president has openly advocated a total abandonment of hard-fought and hard-won dynamics that favored US domination over global politics, economics and cooperation against isolationism or nationalism — until Trump. Read more.