Even if predictions based on campaign statements and cabinet appointments leave us uncertain about how Donald Trump will approach big foreign-policy issues, we can still situate his worldview in a longer-running US tradition. After all, he is hardly the first politician to proclaim “America First.”
CAMBRIDGE – Prediction is always difficult, but doubly so in the case of the US president-elect. Donald Trump not only speaks loosely and changes his positions often; he also considers unpredictability to be a useful bargaining tool. Still, one can try to get a sense of what his foreign policy will look like from his campaign statements, his high-level appointments, and his first term.