Foreign leaders reduce American diplomacy to parade floats and palace tours, because it’s the only way to keep Trump from throwing a tantrum. Atlantic staff writer Tom Nichols calls it what it is — managing a small child — and Rick Wilson notes the price: MAGA’s politics of resentment are no longer confined to the U.S. The Reform Party in Britain now thrives on the same anti-immigrant drumbeat. What looks like a local grievance is really America’s contagion spreading.
Putin’s incursion into Poland last week makes the danger harder to dismiss. “Nineteen drones. That’s not a mistake,” Nichols warns, describing Moscow’s message that Washington won’t act. Trump answers not with resolve but with impossible conditions on sanctions, a bluff meant to buy Putin time. For allies, the embarrassment isn’t just America’s absence — it’s America’s indifference.
Silicon Valley libertarianism seeps into the GOP through Vice President J.D. Vance, who Nichols says is too inexperienced to realize Russia is already decadent. He embraces the fantasy that Moscow stands against Western decay, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio pretends not to know better. “America looks like a Grant Wood painting compared to Russia,” Nichols quips, cutting through the delusion. The problem isn’t that Vance is sophisticated — it’s that he isn’t, and that ignorance shapes policy.
The U.S. illegally sinking boats off Venezuela exposes a deeper project: Trump testing whether the military will obey anything he orders. Nichols calls it cover for Epstein files headlines, but also proof the guardrails are gone. Installing loyalists like “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth means there’s no one left to say no when the next reckless command arrives.
Join Rick and Tom as they lay out why ignoring foreign policy isn’t just reckless; it’s a gamble with everyone’s lives.
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