Pros & Cons of Trump’s (Re)New World Order

President last night spoke to the American people as much as to Congress about “Renewing the American Dream.” Is part of that carrot a big stick called “Trump’s New World Order,” in which an America First has fewer global burdens but some new risks?

Even prior to No. 47’s State of the Union like address, the WSJ’s Gerard Baker noted Mr. Trump “isn’t wrong that America has borne the burdens of global leadership for [80 years] too long, that the ‘liberal order’ we have led is giving way to a world in which the US must pursue a narrower definition of the national interest, and that the age of spending billions to defend parts of the world no longer essential to US security, for nations that have the resources to defend themselves, is over.” He opined that “all this strengthens the impression that Mr. Trump may be leading the US toward a return of a great-power approach to global strategy ala the WW II Yalta conference featuring Roosevelt, Churchill & Stalin.

Mr. Baker doesn’t leave well enough alone, however, and outlines several new risks such a Risk board game approach might entail. First, Baker warns of the potential for increased territorial insecurity as thug nations like Russia keep probing its neighbors for absorption and China salivates over Taiwan. Nuclear proliferation is another hard to calculate factor to weigh, a new one that the Big Three leaders closing in on Nazi Germany didn’t have to deal with. For instance, Iran’s nuclear ambitions aside, the UK, France & Germany are waxing about sharing their nuclear arsenals for who knows what. Yet another wild card in such a new world order is the possible shifting of alliances. Baker suggests China & Russia would love nothing better than to see a wedge driven between the US and the EU.  Trump may or may not like to hear all that. But, it IS “telling it like it is.”

Davd Soul