WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) 鈥� It wasn鈥檛 so long ago that spoke of building a legacy as a 鈥減eacemaker.鈥�
His administration would measure 鈥渟uccess not only by the battles we win,鈥� Trump , 鈥渂ut also by the wars that we end 鈥� and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.鈥�
But nine months into his second go-round in the White House, Trump is beating a curious path to executing his 鈥減eace through strength鈥� foreign policy agenda, a phrase he borrowed from a fellow Republican president, who saw building a strong military and economy as the bedrock to Soviet deterrence.
Trump’s take on the Reagan doctrine includes and .
It鈥檚 too soon to tell how history will judge Trump鈥檚 version, but the Gipper had his doubters, too.
鈥淭here are a lot of people who would have given Reagan a not-passing grade around 1983 or so,鈥� said University of Tennessee scholar Andrew Busch, noting the year that Reagan ordered the of a . 鈥淏y 1989, when he left office, they would say, 鈥榃ow, that guy was like the biggest peacemaker in the 20th century in some ways.鈥欌��
Peace done Trump-style
Trump’s unique approach to Reaganesque diplomacy was on full display during his this past week.
As he made his way to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, Trump announced via social media that he was and imposing another 10% tariff on imports of Canadian goods. He expressed outrage over a television ad 鈥� paid for by the Canadian province of Ontario 鈥� that used a of and aired during the World Series.
Then as Trump met with leaders in Malaysia and South Korea, the U.S. Navy carried out more on suspected drug boats in the Pacific.
His administration and thousands of additional sailors from the Mediterranean toward the Caribbean Sea waters near Venezuela, continuing the biggest U.S. troop buildup in Latin America in more than 50 years.
Trump wasn’t done.
Minutes before a critical meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, Trump took to social media to suggest he was preparing to discard a decades-old U.S. prohibition on .
Later, as he made his way back to Washington, Trump was coy on whether he really meant to say he was ordering the resumption of explosive testing of nuclear weapons 鈥� something only North Korea has undertaken this century — or calling for the testing of U.S. systems that could deliver a nuclear weapon, which is far more routine.
He about whether he intends to resume underground nuclear detonation tests.
鈥淵ou鈥檒l find out very soon,鈥� Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday, as he headed to Florida for a weekend stay.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is not shedding light on what kind of testing the administration planned to undertake. But he is reiterating Trump’s Reagan-borrowed mantra.
鈥淎merica will ensure that we have the strongest, most capable nuclear arsenal, so that we maintain peace through strength,鈥� Hegseth said Friday. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what this is. In every meeting, that鈥檚 what we talk about: Peace through strength.鈥�
On Saturday, Trump was at it again.
This time he was that he鈥檚 ordered the Pentagon to begin planning for potential military action in Nigeria as he stepped up accusations that the government is failing to rein in in the West African country.
鈥淚f the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, 鈥榞uns-a-blazing,鈥� to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,鈥� Trump posted on social media.
Nigerian President has pushed back on Trump, saying the characterization of his country as religiously intolerant does not reflect the national reality.
A classic top-to-bottom operation
While the loose talk about nuclear testing was certainly unsettling to some, reaction appeared to be relatively measured. Trump, after all, has made many pronouncements only to later make pronounced shifts in positions.
For example, in a matter of weeks recently, he went from maintaining to proclaiming that he believed Kyiv could win back all of the land lost in the war to declaring 鈥渇ighting should stop at the lines they are at now.鈥�
Administration officials are loath to question Trump鈥檚 tactics but acknowledge that some may appear to be contradictory, particularly with what seem to be spur-of-the-moment reversals in his public statements.
Rather than regard these abrupt changes in course as defects, administration officials privately argue that they give the U.S. more influence and make adversaries and potential adversaries 鈥� not to mention allies and partners 鈥� more wary to cross Trump.
But policy consistency has long been regarded as key in national security and international relations, not least because it provides a concrete basis for international understandings and actions that other countries consider when making their own decisions.
鈥淭his is a product of a lack of process,鈥� said Ian Kelly, a retired career diplomat who served as U.S. ambassador to Georgia in Trump鈥檚 first term. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a classic top-to-bottom operation and there doesn鈥檛 seem to be any consultation with other stakeholders, especially with Congress, but also long-standing allies.鈥�
Steering clear of the endless war pitfall
Trump has managed to grasp tightly onto the 鈥減eacemaker鈥� title even as his administration has carried out an activist foreign policy in the early going of his second term.
Trump claims as a shining achievement his decision to order strikes in June on that he says 鈥渙bliterated鈥� the Iranian program. The bombing caused significant damage in an operation in which no American troops were harmed.
While Trump insists the program was destroyed, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said this week that renewed movement has been detected recently at .
Before those strikes, some of Trump鈥檚 die-hard backers, including Steve Bannon, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and commentators Tucker Carlson and Charlie Kirk, as Trump mulled military action. They pointed to Trump鈥檚 own wariness over decades of war fomented in previous administrations.
Trump’s strikes in the Caribbean appear to be landing huge blows to Venezuelan drug smugglers and unsettling the government of President Nicol谩s Maduro. At the moment, that seems to be coming with 鈥渧ery little political cost鈥� for Trump, said Justin Logan, director of defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington.
But Logan argues that Trump should be careful as he ponders the path ahead in Venezuela and steer clear of the pitfalls of the 鈥渆ndless wars鈥� in Iraq and Afghanistan that left an indelible mark on the American psyche. This one would be in his own backyard.
鈥淭his administration seems to favor these short, sharp strokes and then say they have resolved the problem altogether,鈥� Logan said. 鈥淚鈥檓 afraid what will happen is that we will discover that none of these problems have actually been put to bed.鈥�
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Finley and Lee reported from Washington.
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