‘America first’ vs. ‘America last’: What does Trump’s return mean for US foreign policy?

As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House next month, what kind of foreign policy can Americans expect when he takes his second term in the Oval Office?

Trump will pursue an “America first foreign policy,” J. Michael Waller, senior policy analyst at the Center for Security Policy, suggested during an interview with Fox News Digital, describing Biden’s approach as “America at last.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is urging the incoming administration to dramatically increase military spending in an effort to build the nation’s “hard power.”

The longtime lawyer also warns against an isolationist approach to foreign policy, asserting in a Foreign Affairs piece that “the answer to four years of weakness must not be four years of isolation.”

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“Trump would be wise to build his foreign policy on the permanent foundation of US leadership: strong power. To reverse the neglect of military power, his administration must commit to a significant and continuous increase in defense spending, investment in production in the area of ​​defense industries. , and urgent changes to accelerate the development of -United States for new capabilities and to expand the access of our partners and partners to them,” argued McConnell.

“Pretending that the United States can focus on one threat at a time, that its credibility is divisive, or that it can end a far-flung conflict as futile is to ignore its global interests and the global designs of its adversaries,” it argued.

Waller, who wrote the book “Big Intel,” explained that America’s first foreign policy was not isolationism.

“It means that the United States has defined its national interests firmly,” without suggesting that all problems in the world “are important, important to our country,” he said.

Waller told Foreign Affairs that McConnell wants to “maintain an organization-wide consensus on the current commitment of the United States around the world that puts us beyond our capacity … our resources to assure them.”

Fox News Digital tried to reach out to McConnell for comment, but did not receive a response.

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Trump tapped Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., for Secretary of State, Waller’s choice as “a really good choice.”

Regarding the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict, Rubio said the US is sponsoring “endless war.”

Trump called for a ceasefire.

“There must be an immediate halt and negotiations must begin. Too many lives are needlessly wasted, too many families are destroyed, and if it continues, it could turn into something much bigger, and much worse,” he said in the post. in Public Truth.

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Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, December 10, 2024. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Trump also called for the release of hostages in the Middle East, warning in a Truth Social letter that if they are not released by the time he takes office, “there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in the Middle East. Those who committed this atrocity against Humanity will be beaten harder than anyone who has ever been beaten.” in the long and storied history of the United States of America,” he said.