The Donelson Files

Trump has a portrait of Andrew Jackson but another model for Trump foreign policy would be James Polk, our eleventh President. While very few Americans even know of President Polk, but he served only one term and fulfilled most of his promise, annexation of Texas, along with much of the southwest plus California. He ran on a platform “re-annexation” of Texas and the “re-occupation” of Oregon and a populist disciple of Andrew Jackson, he stood for Manifest Destiny.

Under his Presidency, he added more than 1 million square miles extended all the way to the Pacific. While he is not the pantheon of great Presidents, he was successful in his goal. Texas was a province of Mexico but settled by Anglos who rebelled against Santa Anna and Texas succeeded to become an independent nation, but they wanted to be part of the United States  Annexation by United States would have caused war.

Polk decided to annex Texas and Mexican threaten war   Mexico insisted the border between the two countries was Nueces River and United States stated it was Rio Grande. Mexican ambushed American troops between the two rivers, thus the war. Polk wanted a fight but to say this was United States was too simplistic. United States had the rights to deal with independent Texas and Mexico was also in grips of war fever. Historian Robert Merry noted, “Mexico was a dysfunctional, unstable, weak nation whose population was insufficient to control all the lands within its domain. United States… was a vibrant, expanding, exuberant experiment in democracy whose burgeoning population thrilled to the notion that it was engaging in something big and historically momentous. The drive “toward expansion into largely unpopulated lands that seemed to beckon with irresistible enticement.”

However, Polk also wanted Oregon territory and there was dispute over this with Great Britain. Polk made maximal demands before settling on the 49^th parallel as he chose to negotiate with the British, since two wars simultaneously would not have been wise, but Polk showed that he understood diplomacy would get what he wanted, United States at the Pacific and portion of the Oregon territory.

Polk proved adoptable in obtaining his goal and that also included buying up what is now New Mexico and Arizona plus obtaining California. It took a war to garner the southwest and California along with Texas, but it took diplomacy to garner Oregon territory.

Trump made his maximum demand for Greenland got what he wanted but Trump policies is still be sorted out but for Polk, he simply had one term but accomplished so much. He established his goals and fulfilled them. Many historian ignore Polk since they view Manifest Destiny as massive land grab as result of Mexican American war but as we have seen, it is not so simple.

Trump had ambitious goals for his Presidency and so far, he is moving on those goals, but much remains and Trump might want to brush up on Polk, an underrated President.

Trump Doctrine

What is the Trump doctrine? The recent NSS gives us a clue but let begin with the principles of Trump America First policies. As mentioned, it is not isolation or retreat from the world, but it begins with World is a community of nations, and not transnational organization. EU is more obstacles than a benefit to both United States and Europe. The leadership elites of Europe are struggling to find their place and contrary the common wisdom that Europeans “pushed back,” Trump showed their impotence and got what he wanted. As Niall Ferguson tweeted, “This is a very wrong take. The reality is that Trump won Davos, easily. And not only did he win it; he owned it. I have never before seen a single individual so completely dominate this vast bazaar of the powerful, the wealthy, the famous, and the self-important.” 

Community of Nations

Let us view Trump 2.0 Foreign policy begins with the concept of a community of nations. Trump view is that it is time for nationalism and individual nations control their destiny within their border, unencumbered by transnational organization. This was a point he made in his Saudi Arabia visit last year, he is not interested in nation building (We get to Iran and Venezuela) or looking for new dragons to slay but to ensure a more stable world. He also made clear is that as long as nations stay in their lanes and not disturb stability, these nations will be left alone. One reason he made efforts to be involved in peace efforts around the world is as much to bring some stabilization.

As for his various initiatives just as the Gaza Peace council, these initiatives are as much community of nations ensuring stabilization of a crucial area plus he bypasses the United Nations which not has only proved impotent but also sided the Iranian proxy against Israel, which not only started the war but also part of the destabilization of the Middle East. Iran essentially moved out of their lane to ferment chaos within the Middle East threatening Israel and even our Arab allies in the region. If regime change happens in Iran and Trump has a hand in it, this will be step toward stabilization. We should remember Iran has been at war with the United States for 47 years and hundreds of American soldiers have been killed by Iran.

Venezuela is another case study as they ally themselves with Iran, China, and Russia while part of drug smuggling into America, killing thousands. Venezuela oil supported Cuba with their energy needs and kept the communist country going. Venezuela like Iran left their lane and regime change adds stabilization to the regime while allowing America to ensure the Western Hemisphere is not only stabilized but reduce foreign entanglement in our back yard, reestablishing the Monroe Doctrine that makes it clear there is one superpower in the region and that Superpower is the United States.

Richard Fernadez observed, “The most radical implication of “America First” is that it necessarily implies a Britain First, France First, Germany First over the UN or EU First. The Trump administration asserts the primacy and fundamental importance of the nation-state as a universal principle.” 

For Trump, the goal is “This puts America First and its ideological allies (mainly the European populists) at daggers drawn with the internationalists who seek a ‘balanced interdependence, green deals, and autonomy in tech/finance to avoid over-reliance on the U.S. or China, but most especially to remain relevant in a world that the giants otherwise dominate. In an America-First world, the internationalists would cease to be a world influence on par with China or the U.S. They would simply be second-rank nations, and that would be wrong in principle.”  This is a world that is based on balance of power.

Herman Kahn in his book the Coming Boom written in the midst of 1982 severe recession, predicted the Reagan Boom and the development of multipolar world in which Regional power and multi superpowers exist plus the expansion of nuclear power. Since then, we have seen the rise of China, European states under the guise of the EU, and regional powers including South Korea, Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia along with Japan reasserting itself. North Korea has the bomb and so does Pakistan and India along with China, Russia, United States, Great Britain, and France. While Kahn did not do it was to declare a clash of culture like Samuel Hunington, he saw a different world post-Cold War. That is the world we live in, a world in which multipower exist. Within Europe, the EU is attempting to be a power in itself, but the reality is that under the surface, new powers may bloom within Europe. Poland is poised to the largest land army in Europe and maybe a regional power in its own rights challenging France and Germany as the leader of Europe. Germany Merz realize that Germany without military can’t lead and he admitted that the welfare state as Germany put together cannot longer be sustain.

Saving Western Culture

A second aspect of Trump foreign policy is to defend Western Civilization and move Western Europe toward that. Much of the elites in Europe and United States view themselves as citizen of the world and view a borderless world but there has been a rise in populism and many voters wanting their particular country back. In both Europe and the United States, the elites have pushed back but their policies have totally failed.

1. Unlimited immigration and open borders have created a class of immigrants who cease to assimilate and there is the threat that many of these countries are losing their own identity.
2. While Trump has won his election, much of Europe is still run by the lefts and technocrats. They have attempted to silence the populists among their midst from declaring elections in Romana, lawfare against Marine Le Pen in France, the attempt to be rid of AFD in Germany plus censorship of ideas that doesn’t jive with the view of the establishment.

Last February, JD Vance made the point that if these elites fear their voters there is not much we can do. What made the Nato and western alliance works, it was the common views we held about liberty and freedom but there are those on both sides on the Atlantic no longer believe in Western Civilization. There are two kind of alliances, those of convenience just as Saudi’s and United States are allies because they have interest that coincide, one of which is the threat of Iran. If the threat of Iran disappears, Saudi’s will have their own interest that may be oppose to United States and Saudi’s will want to become the regional power to replace Iran. We had alliance of convenience in World War II with the Soviets against Nazis Germany but once the war was over, the difference between superpowers became. The alliance became a rivalry.

Europe alliance post World War II was based not just on defense against the Soviets but also that we had values that match. Once those values disappear and we no longer have matching values, Europe just become an alliance of convenience. That is where we may be headed unless European elites and our own become defenders of Western Civilization. Trump understand this and much of our recent disagreements is based on those differences. EU leadership and much of the European leaders are less committed to those values as is Trump opponents here in the United States.

Richard Fernadez tweeted, “The MAGA argument against multilateralism is worth exploring whether you believe it or not. The basic critique has two parts. ..First it argues that it resulted in the decline of Europe to half of what it used to be in the 1990s. “Continental Europe has been losing share of global GDP—down from 25 percent in 1990 to 14 percent today—partly owing to national and transnational regulations that undermine creativity and industriousness…The second, more serious charge is that multilateralism is deliberately dissolving its constituent nation states using the solvent of mass immigration in order to produce some Frankenstein multicultural monster. In a word, Eurocide. “The larger issues facing Europe include activities of the European Union and other transnational bodies that undermine political liberty and sovereignty, migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating strife, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-confidence.” This ideology has resonated, at least in part, with populist parties across Europe as manifested by their considerable electoral gains. Trump wants to stop Eurocide and his performance at Davos was part of a blow to bend Europe back to its roots.

Securing the Border

Securing the Southern Border was about reestablishing our nationhood for a country without borders to cease as a country. We have seen 10 million illegal aliens from 2021 through 2024 and when you have two illegals coming for every legal, that is not sustainable and as Milton Friedman warned, high immigration rates is not compatible with a welfare state. As we seen with Somalis immigrants in Minneapolis, they are not assimilating and kept their low trust tribal society here as Fraud has become their currency and high number are trapped on welfare. Drugs, human trafficker, gangsters have infiltrating our society causing chaos and death. One reason for big drop in violent crime is associated with a close border.

Conclusion

Trump view of foreign policy begins with the principle of community of nations; a supporter of nationalism and tradition of a nation takes precedence over transnational organizations. America First is about American interest primarily and for most of our history, we had an American first foreign policy, but we were not isolationist. In the 19^th century we were not isolationist as we went across the continent. Thomas Jefferson went after pirates in his administration and Polk went to war with Mexico plus the 19^th century ended with the Spanish American War.

Former Secretary of Defense Cap Weinberger outlined six essential rules for U.S. military engagement:

1. Forces should not be committed unless the action is vital to national interest.
2. Forces should be committed wholeheartedly with the intention of winning, or not at all, there should be no half-hearted commitment.
3. Commitment of forces must have clearly defined political and military objectives.
4. The use of force should be a last resort, employed only after all diplomatic initiatives have been exhausted.
5. The relationship between objectives and the forces committed should be continually reassessed and adjusted if necessary.
6. There must be reasonable assurance of public support before committing forces abroad.

Weinberger introduced these principles in the post-Vietnam era, responding to national divisions and concerns about the management of the war. These guidelines remain relevant for political leaders today.

Historical Context: Lessons from Lebanon and Grenada

In 1983, two significant events shaped U.S. foreign policy: the loss of 240 Marines in Beirut due to a suicide bombing and the invasion of Grenada, where U.S. forces ousted a Marxist government backed by Cuban forces. The Beirut mission was criticized for its unclear objectives, leading President Reagan to withdraw U.S. troops, avoiding prolonged entanglement. In contrast, the Grenada operation was executed decisively, swiftly removing Cuban forces from the region.

Trump’s Application of Weinberger’s Principles

President Trump has exhibited caution in the use of military force, adhering to many of Weinberger’s principles. He has resisted placing American troops in harm’s way, such as in Ukraine, and has favored measured responses in the Middle East. For example, airstrikes against Iranian nuclear facilities were only undertaken after diplomatic efforts failed, supporting a broader strategy of stability. In these operations, Israel played a critical role by neutralizing Iranian air defenses, facilitating U.S. access to key targets.