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In a series of stories, NPR is exploring America's changing role in the world. Today, we look at how President Trump is upending the global order. This comes as Trump takes an increasingly strident tone about possible action in Iran. Here's NPR's Greg Myre on the way Trump is redefining America first.
GREG MYRE, BYLINE: The year is 1949. President Harry Truman is building a new global order from the smoldering ruins of World War II. The U.S. takes the starring role in international organizations like NATO.
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HARRY TRUMAN: In this treaty, we seek to establish freedom from aggression and from the use of force in the North Atlantic community.
MYRE: The NATO community, then and now, includes Greenland. And here's what President Trump is now saying.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We are going to do something on Greenland whether they like it or not, because if we don't do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland.
MYRE: In his first term, Trump scaled back the U.S. role in a host of international institutions. He still sees these networks as a burden. What's new this time around is his willingness to turn to the military. In the past year, the U.S. has bombed four countries in the Middle East and two in Africa. Trump has threatened others, both friends and foes, and the U.S. recently ousted Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro.
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TRUMP: We're going to run it, essentially, until such time as a proper transition can take place.
MYRE: Michael McFaul is a former U.S. ambassador to Russia.
MICHAEL MCFAUL: The American people need to be asking the question, are these military interventions enhancing our security and our prosperity and our values? And in my estimation, they are not.
MYRE: In Venezuela, Trump is working with the holdovers of Maduro's regime. He's dismissive of the country's opposition, though its candidate was considered the overwhelming winner in a 2024 presidential election. McFaul has a new book entitled "Autocrats Vs. Democrats." He says that in several places, including Venezuela...
MCFAUL: I'm not sure what side of that divide President Trump is on. He could have easily just said, we're removing Maduro and we are now going to help the democratically elected president.
MYRE: As Trump takes apart the 20th century world order, he's embracing elements of 19th century foreign policy, like the Monroe Doctrine. This dates to President James Monroe's 1823 declaration that European colonial powers should not meddle in the Western Hemisphere. Since then, U.S. presidents have given this their own interpretation. Trump is now touting his version, the Donroe Doctrine. The State Department summed it up in a social media post that showed a scowling Trump with the words, this is our hemisphere. Ian Bremmer heads the Eurasia Group, a global research and consulting firm. He says Trump is having an impact on Latin America and beyond.
IAN BREMMER: Allies are playing defense in the near term because they don't want to get hurt. They don't want to be in a fight with the U.S. But long term, they're hedging. Long term, they're doing everything they can to not have to rely on the United States as much.
MYRE: Foreign policy analysts say Trump is also expressing a related 19th century notion - spheres of influence. The idea is that large powers can impose their will in their own regions and smaller countries have little choice but to comply. In short, the U.S. will dominate the Western Hemisphere, Russia's Vladimir Putin will play a leading role in Europe and China's Xi Jinping will dictate terms in Asia. Hal Brands is with the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
HAL BRANDS: If great powers just sort of get to do what they want in their respective spheres of influence, that's kind of the world that Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin want to bring about. It's a world that they would be very comfortable with.
MYRE: In his first term, Trump wanted to pull U.S. troops out of foreign conflicts. This time, he sent the military on bombing raids against countries that include Iran and Yemen in the Middle East, and Nigeria and Somalia in Africa. Brands sees a pattern.
BRANDS: The preferred Trump method of military intervention is you use a lot of force to hit somebody really hard. And then you let somebody else sort out the consequences.
MYRE: Trump says these shows of strength give the U.S. leverage when it comes to making peace. And the president has had diplomatic successes, like a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict. Still, Ian Bremmer says Trump overestimates unilateral U.S. clout and underestimates the value of partners.
BREMMER: The Americans are giving away the store long term on what has allowed them to so successfully project power. It has been a willingness to align, not all the time but a fair amount, with allies. And Trump is throwing that out the window.
MYRE: Meanwhile, the president's global pullback continues. Last week, the Trump administration announced the U.S. withdrawal from 66 international organizations. His administration called them wasteful and ineffective.
Greg Myre, NPR News, Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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