The American Grizzly

The first year of Trump 2.0 has seen extraordinary changes in American foreign policy. Last December, the new National Security Strategy (NSS) made waves, and like everything about President Trump, responses were never tepid. From “alarming” (the NYT) to “beautiful” (The American Conservative), our twittering elites were glad to have a new reason to rant about foreign policy. In any case, the recent spectacle in Venezuela certainly demonstrated the administration’s resolve to put its new NSS into practice.

Still, many commentators, even on the right, have been frustrated that Trump’s new NSS doesn’t offer a “doctrine.” As everyone who studies international relations knows, every president needs a doctrine: some readers may remember the Truman Doctrine, and in my lifetime we’ve had a Powell Doctrine, a Bush Doctrine, an Obama Doctrine, and even (bless his heart) a Biden Doctrine. So where is the Trump Doctrine?

In short, there isn’t one. In both domestic policy and foreign policy, Donald Trump has never peddled an ideology. From the beginning, “America First” has been much more of an attitude than a blueprint. With the new NSS, his bold moves in Venezuela, and even his rhetoric around Greenland, Donald Trump is offering what he has always offered: a character, a WrestleMania narrative for America abroad.

This need for character, not doctrine, has always tripped America’s elites. For all his brilliance, Henry Kissinger saw his foreign policy eclipsed by Ronald Reagan’s, because Reagan understood American character and Kissinger did not. Americans do not want realism or “restraint”—though Donald Trump’s foreign policy could arguably fit both. Rather, Americans want to understand their role in the world. They want to understand how American character fits into the script of international politics. Elites talk about worldviews. Normal Americans don’t. They talk about stories.

So what is the American character, and what does that character look like on the international stage?