Trump’s America First Appeal

Photo by Gage Skidmore

The Cato Institute’s Chris Preble lays out the appeal of Donald Trump to Americans:

Then-British Prime Minister David Cameron said late last year that Trump’s remarks about a Muslim travel ban were “divisive, stupid and wrong.”

Al-Waleed bin Talal, a member of the Saudi Royal Family, tweeted, “You are a disgrace not only to the GOP but to all America.”

Trump probably cherishes such scorn. His campaign, built around an appeal to America First and an open disregard for the opinions of others, but especially the opinion of elites and non-Americans.

There is a serious element to the international disquiet that Trump has caused, and it suggests a major flaw at the heart of U.S. foreign policy, and the international order that this policy has created over the past several decades.

The U.S. government exists first and foremost to provide security for the people of the United States. Americans elect the person that they believe will keep this country safe and prosperous. If doing so also benefits the rest of the world — and it often does — that is a pleasant by-product. Very few Americans, however, would confuse providing security for others as the core object of U.S. foreign policy.