Since Time and Life magazines publisher Henry Luce proleptically declared the 20th "The American Century" and Pax Americana confirmed it through the nation's postwar global dominance, those of an isolationist bent have questioned its desirability or need.
One such questioner was Donald Trump, notwithstanding his lack of knowledge about it. But he did know his market, reactionary populists who knew as much about world affairs and America's place in them as he did.
Thus in 2015 Trump set out to become immensely influential in U.S. politics by means of sharing his ignorance with The Great Unknowing. Sure enough, they loved him. Benightedness ruled in their world, so they saw no reason it shouldn't also rule in the White House.
Long story short ... Trump soon found himself there. And there — whenever coherent enough so that we could understand him — he continued pleasing the ill-informed by adhering pretty much to the isolationist/quasi-isolationist "doctrine" he had campaigned on.
He soon found himself not there. Long story, period. Anyway, for another four years he wished to be not not there. One ideal way to accomplish this was to keep doing what he did before, pleasing the ill-informed, in part with a quasi-isolationist message.
That worked and now he's there again. For now the how-why is unimportant, whether because we're not eating our vegetables or we misplaced our anti-ignorance amulet. What is important to note is that Trump remains consistent: He is screwing the hell out of his base.
He's about to betray MAGA (again) on a full-spectrum domestic basis. Our interest here, however, is in his isolationism — granted, a loose, at-times ambiguous term, though close enough — or rather, what was his isolationism. For there was nothing ambiguous in Trump's inaugural screed.
He's gone full imperialist, which, as the ugliest of ugly Americans, suits him well. His base? They too might be ugly if given an overseas chance, but knowable is that for eight years they have Trump-altar-genuflected before his towering "America First" remonstrances of international meddling.
His worshipers loved and adored him for that. And yesterday, true to pathological form, Trump abandoned his anti-internationalism just. like. that., yammered in monotone about "pursu[ing] our manifest destiny," added that "nothing will stand in our way,” and thereupon shafted his most devoted fans.
The phrase "manifest destiny" can be a bit unruly in meaning (except to those once on its receiving end). Wrestling Trump's rhetorical muddling-as-global meddling into rough clarity is David Sanger's helpful NY Times summary: "[The U.S. will exert] its power by economic dominance, by fear and, if needed, by force."
Summarized even more: malign bullying, occasional interventionism, ubiquitous imperialism. Put briefly as well, all that Trump's America-inward MAGA crowd once cherished and trusted him to assure. He did for eight years, by and large. Now in swan-song power he's free to say to hell with that, I'm going with my true, hideous self. And he has.
Will his followers notice? Not right away; grasping upshots lags considerably in their otherwise mysterious intellects. In place there are frogs, water, heat. A kind of pressure cooker is how I see Trump's radically liberated disaster of a second regime.
Aside from his rhetoric, at the moment he has the cooker on very low. Degree by degree he'll crank it up, some hissing, then faint sounds of boiling, and finally kaboom! Its lid he'll blow right off, and blow away a rather substantial portion of his adorers.
Trump mostly alone. At long last he will have gone too far, as does every authoritarian goon of only partial wits.
Darn. Wrote a longer comment but apparently the site ate it. Oh well. But to summarize, hope you’re right!