Donald Trump

The power of the American presidency is like none other on earth. It is a certainty that Trump’s worst vices—his crudeness, his infantile attacks on critics, personal grudges, unchecked egotism—would be magnified the day he took office. Yes, try to imagine Trump with his finger on the nuclear button without trembling.

The lesson of the greatest generation is “Don’t repeat the mistakes of the America First Committee,” and here we are.

In this first part of a two-part series, Gayle Trotter interviewed Bret Stephens about Trump’s use of the “America First” slogan.

Throughout his presidency, Obama has appeared profoundly uncomfortable with the qualities most often associated with Churchill: martial resolve, moral clarity, and supreme confidence in the transcendent ideals of Western Civilization.

Indulging in this thought experiment has led me to conclusions that surprise me: Africa might suffer less from a Trump presidency than America would.

Many have rightly said Europe should have a more effective military force. However, Trump wrongly implies that bases in Germany do not serve any national interests, and he may even be wrong to imply that America has troops in Germany primarily to defend Europe.

Convicted mass murderer Nidal Hasan sits in a federal military prison. It is nearly three years since a court martial sentenced him to death. That stark fact advertises the utter lack of seriousness of this administration about the war on terrorists. And it illustrates the moral confusion of the Left in Europe—and here.

My hope is that responsible citizens of your United States will respond to this dismal state of affairs not by abandoning the Republican Party or, more generally, abandoning participation in the democratic process, but instead by staying in or joining the Republican Party.

Can anyone imagine Truman or Eisenhower, Johnson or Reagan responding in a similar manner if Stalin, Khrushchev, or Brezhnev complimented them? Did they praise Moscow for blockading Berlin, for crushing Hungary, for snuffing out the Prague Spring, for smothering Poland, for being strong, for killing terrorists, for keeping restive peoples in line?