Donald Trump’s candidacy for president is a significant moment for American politics and equally so for U.S. foreign policy. Mr. Trump intends his nomination by the Republican Party to represent the return of the GOP to the muscular yet restrained foreign policy tradition of President Ronald Reagan. Trump also wishes to make a clean break with the interventionism of the last generation of presidents of both parties.
For all the media insistence that Mr. Trump’s campaign has been light on policy prescriptions, the Republican nominee gave two detailed speeches in August and September elucidating his view of foreign policy and national security. Both speeches repeat President Reagan’s “peace through strength” emphasis on overwhelming military force, used in a restrained manner, and a keen appreciation of the larger geopolitical forces shaping our world.
