The US can\u2019t retreat because its entire prosperity depends on global power<\/p>\n
Donald Trump is not, by instinct, a president who seeks war. But he is a president who believes deeply in projecting strength. And in the US, strength is almost always performed on the world stage.
\nAssessing American policy from the outside is notoriously difficult. The country\u2019s political system was built under unusual conditions \u2013 a state invented by immigrants, animated from the start by a belief in mission and divine favor. The early American republic saw itself as a righteous outpost opposing corrupt European empires. Later came the great land grab across the continent, then the mass immigration that built a continental power, and finally the leap to full global hegemony. This peculiar historical trajectory shapes a political system unlike any other.
\nTo be fair, every major country is unique. All powers are shaped by their history, culture, and mythology. What stands out about the United States is that a nation so idiosyncratic in its development became the model others were expected to follow. Washington\u2019s insistence that its own experience is universally applicable is one of the more puzzling features of the last century. And one of the least examined.
\nThese peculiarities have become harder to ignore during Donald Trump\u2019s presidency. And because of America\u2019s centrality, the internal contradictions of its system spill easily across its borders.
\nTrump won by articulating the fatigue of millions of Americans who feel their country has carried global responsibilities for too long. Yet, ironically, one year into his term he is most visible not at home but abroad. He boasts about brokering peace, launches sweeping trade wars, threatens force in multiple regions \u2013 especially the Caribbean \u2013 and loudly defends Christians and Europeans in Africa. Most recently he has revived loose talk of nuclear testing and a race for new strategic weapons.<\/p>\n
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This is happening while his domestic position looks far from assured. Polls show that the record-long government shutdown and the stalemate over funding has damaged the Republican Party. Local elections, including those in New York, were encouraging for his opponents. Even Trump\u2019s favorite tool (tariffs) now faces legal uncertainty, with the Supreme Court, which is dominated by conservatives, unsure whether to back him.
\nWith a year until the midterms that will determine control of Congress, Washington is already shifting into campaign mode. And here lies the paradox: the candidate who accused his predecessors of obsessing over global affairs at the expense of ordinary Americans is increasingly relying on those same global affairs to sustain his presidency.
\nThere is also a more personal calculation. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded one month before Americans vote. Trump is unlikely to receive it\u00a0\u2013 the committee is steeped in liberal-internationalist sentiment \u2013 but the opportunity alone will tempt him to pursue high-profile foreign breakthroughs.
\nThe US cannot simply embrace isolationism, even if Trump instinctively leans in that direction. Too much of its prosperity rests on its global role: its financial reach, the dollar\u2019s supremacy, and its security commitments. A serious retreat would destabilize the system from which it benefits most. Trump probably lacks a coherent plan to reorient American power, but he understands, at some instinctive level, that change is necessary. Hence the chaotic, improvisational style: bold gestures, rapid reversals, and what sounds like a constant drumroll.
\nNone of this means Americans don\u2019t care about their own economic well-being. Domestic concerns will always outweigh diplomatic theatrics. But foreign-policy \u201csuccesses\u201d can soften public discontent, especially when domestic reforms stall. And America\u2019s political culture still carries its old missionary spirit, even if the vocabulary has changed. Presidents, whether they admit it or not, are pushed toward global activism by the expectations of their own political class.
\nFor the rest of the world, the conclusion is unavoidable. Washington\u2019s pace abroad will remain intense, and may well accelerate. American foreign policy will grow more tightly linked to domestic political cycles and the president\u2019s need to display strength. Trump does not want major wars requiring occupation or nation-building. But he relishes shows of power, \u00a0and those theatrics can create their own momentum. One can always be drawn into escalation while trying to avoid it.
\nThis is the central point: Trump is not a warmonger, but a performer. His slogan, peace through strength, captures it perfectly. The risk is that the performance becomes the policy. And in a system as vast and forceful as America\u2019s, that is enough to shake the international order.<\/p>\n
This article was first published in the newspaper\u00a0Rossiyskaya Gazeta\u00a0and was translated and edited by the RT team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US can\u2019t retreat because its entire prosperity depends on global power Donald Trump is not, by instinct, a president who seeks war. But he is a president who believes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22442,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t