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Posted on 11/08/2025 7:57:41 AM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
Donald Trump is often described as a “populist,” a “nationalist,” or as someone who sits outside the traditional ideological categories. However, when one examines his foreign policy closely, a different picture emerges. Trump is, in practice, a neoconservative.
He is not a neoconservative in the sense we once knew: he does not cloak American interventions in the language of democracy promotion, human rights, or universal values…What makes him distinctive is not the substance of his policies, but the way he frames them, stripped of the moralizing tone. Oddly enough, this makes his foreign policy more transparent—and perhaps, in some ways, more refreshing.
Classical neoconservatism was never only about hawkish foreign policy. It was about the marriage of power and ideals..Its architects spoke of freedom as a guiding principle and cast interventions as noble missions to uplift societies. The failures in Iraq and Afghanistan discredited much of this idealism, but at least the worldview maintained coherence: American force was justified because it was said to serve universal values.
Trump’s foreign policy, however, looks strikingly similar in its outcomes yet arrives without the pretense. Take Israel. Trump is perhaps the most pro-Israel president in American history. He moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and midwifed the Abraham Accords… Yet Trump did not package these moves as part of a grand moral project.
Or consider Ukraine. Despite his soft rhetoric toward Vladimir Putin, Trump approved lethal aid for Kyiv in his first term, a step that the Obama administration avoided...
The most striking example may be Afghanistan. Trump criticized “forever wars” and promised withdrawals, but he has also recently floated the idea of returning to Afghanistan after the Biden administration’s chaotic exit.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalinterest.org ...
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“Trump’s team needs to do a better job of getting the narrative out there”
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Yes, that’s certainly true, but at the same time he needs to delegate this to his team and let them run with it. Trump too often steps all over his people with his on-the-fly remarks. He has many capable, talented and strong people; put them out front to be the face of the administration’s goals and progress. Trump’s job is to hold them accountable for results.
This article is retarded.
I suppose since there’s no barf alert you agree with this.
I agree in part; however, we as citizens, have a responsibility to be informed about our government. Watching the legacy media and/or Fox/Newsmax is not going to give one a broad perspective; none of them are really on the America First side and many are openly hostile to our movement.
First off the publication is one that is founded by and supporter by those of the classical Neoconservative bent. It’s commending Trump for being “neocon” without the flowery “democracy around the world” schtick that led to the deaths and maiming of thousands of our veterans overseas and the spending of trillions of dollars.
Secondly, Trump has had to clean up messes the world over left by his predecessors. And it’s not like isolationism is viable. Neither militarily nor economically.
Lastly, that all being said. I believe GOP success in 2026-28 hinges on whether conservatives can go back to focusing on domestic issues over foreign ones. And that more money is in average Americans’ pockets than that which is poured out overseas.
What’s with the label, Mabel?
Don’t try to pigeonhole Donald Trump. He is truly a “one of a kind”. He doesn’t belong to some “group”, He IS the group.
In fact, we are ALL individuals. Who the hell are you to decide if and what group someone belongs in?
Once Trump is out of office, the labels remain, and so do the divisions that have been ever been brewing within the MAGA base and Republican Party at large. Winning elections means understanding the labels and sorting out how you will communicate your worldview.
I agree the focus needs to be strictly on issues with domestic consequences - putting America First requires nothing less.
However, many foreign policy decisions do have domestic consequences - and not just trade and bringing jobs and industry home - also anything that affects national security.
There is a paradox inherent in avoiding foriegn entanglements and staying neutral: Just as not voting ‘yes’ is often tantamount to voting ‘no’, failing to discourage an indirect foriegn threat can be tantamount to encouragement.
I believe President Trump is striking a healthy balance - which is NOT an earmark of NeoConservatism.
Putin is a neocon. How many wars has he started at the behest of globalist?
There are two schools. The Neocon school of getting involved in every countries politics through skunk-works and illegal missiles and spy-craft. And then there is the idea that the world will handle its own problems by itself.
The problem that Trump has, is that the world has a preexisting condition. That is the CIA is already involved everywhere. And China, the EU and Russia are also already involved. So Trump can’t always just cut and run. But he can say, I want to have a softer touch, where we lead with business instead of missiles. Where we don’t support governments that can’t support themselves. Nor do we support dictators that don’t treat their people well.
Most of the world naturally tends to a good form of government with a little corruption and life is good. Even if that government is a king or other dictator. Most people live in the world below dictator. They care about their children and their next meal. Not who is running the government.
So Trump has to kick the CIA out of American politics. And ratchet it down, but realize that when it does. China may just fill the void. Of course this may be better than blowing up things. or secretly killing people. Our CIA has gone rogue. And it needs to be cut back. Also, the EU and England and Israel with their own spies are playing in the US politics. They too need to be kicked out. They are in both parties. They need to go.
Dumbest article of the week.
Why does Putin follow the war pigs?
That is the essence of American thought now. Before you can proceed to say anything about anybody, you have to apply a label and shoehorn facts in to fit the already prescribed description.
Historians use to wait a couple of hundred years to gather up the all the circumstances of the time.
Thank you for your attention to this matter
^ Very true. And the ‘fires’ around the world preceded Trump and they can’t just be left to spread unabated.
But there remains a reckoning to be had with the Neocon way of things…
On an earlier reply on this thread, I posted that even local governments in states like Texas are so embroiled in things like foreign oil deals, foreign bond investments. Meanwhile, the state stopped funding natural disaster preparation and other infrastructure measures…This is the paradigm that (average) folks on both the Left and the Right are fed up with.
It used to be that Republicans can just coast through on social issues and on being “not Left” — that’s not going to work anymore.
You don’t know what you ate talking about , per usual
Trump is a Jacksonian, read up on it.
Well put. Appraisals like this article though remind us though, that once Trump is out of the picture, conservatives are left with divisions on how to proceed.
Trump’s core ideology: America should be strong. It’s people should prosper.
Around 15 years ago, I presented a paper at a regional pol-sci conference (MAPSA). In the presentation, I argued that realism and idealism were not in conflict with one another, but were both needed to strengthen, ground and balance one another. It is ironic to see this view stated now, so many years later.
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