{"id":852473,"date":"2025-05-31T19:12:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T00:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/31\/president-outlines-the-trump-doctrine-prosperity-equals-peace-for-the-entire-world\/"},"modified":"2025-05-31T19:12:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T00:12:08","slug":"president-outlines-the-trump-doctrine-prosperity-equals-peace-for-the-entire-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/31\/president-outlines-the-trump-doctrine-prosperity-equals-peace-for-the-entire-world\/","title":{"rendered":"President outlines the Trump Doctrine: Prosperity equals peace \u2014 for the entire world"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

President Donald Trump gave an important speech<\/a> in Riyadh that may come as close to outlining a \u201cTrump doctrine\u201d for his second term as we\u2019ll probably see.<\/p>\n

It was a direct counterpoint to George W. Bush\u2019s second inaugural address.<\/p>\n

The simplistic way to put it is that what liberty was for Bush, money is to Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not quite right, though. The speech had values, they just weren\u2019t typical values \u2014 accountable government, human dignity \u2014 but rather prosperity and peace. These are universally regarded as goods, but Trump is elevating them over other goods \u2014 especially democracy \u2014 and putting his own distinctive gloss on them.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\"President<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

President Donald Trump speaks after signing the guest book at Qasr Al-Watan (Palace of the Nation) in Abu Dhabi on May 15, 2025. AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If Bush wanted to spread freedom, Trump wants to spread gleaming high-rise buildings.<\/p>\n

He spoke glowingly of the new towers in Saudi Arabia and hailed Riyadh as \u201cbecoming not just a seat of government, but a major business, cultural and high-tech capital of the entire world.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued, \u201cBefore our eyes a new generation of leaders is transcending the ancient conflicts of tired divisions of the past and forging a future where the Middle East is defined by commerce not chaos, where it exports technology not terrorism, and where people of different nations, religions and creeds are building cities together not bombing each other out of existence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notably, there is no liberty in this affirming sentence \u2014 it\u2019s all economic activity. Likewise, near the end of the speech, when he sketched out his vision of where the region could be headed: \u201cIt is within our grasp to reach the future that generations before us could only dream about, a land of peace, safety, harmony, opportunity, innovation and achievement right here in the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n

The speech was very critical<\/a> of Iran. <\/p>\n

His critique wasn\u2019t that it\u2019s a theocracy but that it isn\u2019t constructing anything. <\/p>\n

\n
\n

\"President<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

President Donald Trump visits the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque during his official visit to Abu Dhabi on May 15, 2025. AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Its landmarks \u201care collapsing into rubble and dust,\u201d and its buildings put up long ago \u201care largely falling apart, falling down while you\u2019re building some of the world\u2019s biggest and most incredible infrastructure projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s speech wasn\u2019t isolationist, or alien to American traditions. <\/p>\n

The address ran in the slipstream of the Hamiltonian tradition as famously outlined by Walter Russell Mead, with its emphasis on the role of commerce in foreign affairs. <\/p>\n

And there was, as always, a Jacksonian element, as Trump spoke of smashing ISIS, repeatedly bragged about the strength of the US military, and talked of smacking the Houthis.<\/p>\n

There was, however, no Wilsonianism in the speech. <\/p>\n

In the passage that got the most attention, Trump rapped neocons and liberal nonprofits for trying but failing to develop the Middle East because they didn\u2019t know or respect the culture of the region.<\/p>\n

There is merit in this charge. <\/p>\n

We had no idea what we were getting into in Iraq and Afghanistan and only began to learn in depth about those countries when the wars were far along.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\"President<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

President Donald Trump and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, right, tour the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

George W. Bush\u2019s vision for the spread of democracy systematically failed to account for the influence of culture and for the centrality of order to liberty and almost any other social good.<\/p>\n

That said, both Afghanistan and Iraq were originally conceived<\/a> as wars of self-defense in the wake of a spectacular terror attack that shook America to its core. <\/p>\n

Both conflicts initially also had wide support, including on Jacksonian grounds \u2014 we\u2019d been hit hard and were going to eliminate any further threats.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also unpersuasive to hold up the Gulf states as a counterexample of development. <\/p>\n

Anyone can run an emirate sitting atop gobs of oil that is living under the security umbrella of the United States; if these countries had to make their own way, they would long ago have been gobbled by some neighboring wolf \u2014 say, Saddam Hussein \u2014 and wouldn\u2019t look so alluring now.<\/p>\n

For all that Trump emphasized the importance of the different cultures of different places, his vision is as universalist as Bush\u2019s; Bush believed everyone could become a democracy, and Trump believes that everyone can prosper.<\/p>\n

He wants Iran \u201cto be a successful country.\u201d <\/p>\n

They can be \u201ca wonderful, safe, great country, but they cannot have a nuclear weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lebanon, too, long victimized by Iran-sponsored Hezbollah<\/a>, can embrace \u201ca future of economic development and peace with its neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Trump\u2019s telling, the yearning of every human heart isn\u2019t necessarily liberty but wealth and security. <\/p>\n

\n
\n

\"President<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

President Donald Trump hands a pen to UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan after signing a guest book at Qasr Al Watan, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He claimed that in brokering a cease-fire between India and Pakistan, \u201cI used trade to a large extent to do it. I said, fellas, \u2018Come on. Let\u2019s make a deal. Let\u2019s do some trading. Let\u2019s not trade nuclear missiles. Let\u2019s trade the things that you make so beautifully.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll reach out to anyone and bring them into this charmed circle of commerce and comity.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I\u2019ve shown repeatedly,\u201d he said, \u201cI am willing to end past conflicts and forge new partnerships for a better and more stable world, even of our differences may be very profound.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cI have never believed in having permanent enemies.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this, there was an echo of Palmerston (\u201cWe have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies\u201d), but it\u2019s the British statesman as real-estate developer.<\/p>\n

For Trump, it\u2019s the results that matter \u2014 the prosperity and peace \u2014 not how a given government achieves them. That\u2019s none of our business.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe it is God\u2019s job to sit in judgment,\u201d he pronounced. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy job [is] to defend America and to promote the fundamental interest of stability, prosperity and peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

In sum, the speech was a dealmaker\u2019s realpolitik, or a doctrine that we won\u2019t really have a doctrine except for trying to get everyone rich and to get along with as many people as possible, a few fundamental interests aside.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKeep up with today\u2019s most important news\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStay up on the very latest with Evening Update.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

The address might have put more of an emphasis on all this given the venue and the audience in Saudi Arabia, but it was a notable contrast with Trump\u2019s signature foreign-policy speech from his first term, in Poland.<\/p>\n

That speech was all about our civilization \u2014 faith, freedom and culture \u2014 whereas the Saudi speech was more purely transactional.<\/p>\n

The address was certainly bracing, and there is no doubt that Bush\u2019s second inaugural never could be a practical guide to US foreign policy<\/a>. <\/p>\n

But values do matter. <\/p>\n

Liberal societies are, as a general matter, more reliably our friends and more reliably achieve prosperity because it is less likely that they will be interrupted by civil war or revolution.<\/p>\n

If Bush\u2019s vision advanced an unrealistic view of what motivates mankind \u2014 all yearning for liberty, no yearning for power, revenge or honor \u2014 Trump also drastically simplifies human motivation.<\/p>\n

As history has shown again and again, people will fight and die for faiths and ideologies when these have nothing to do with prosperity or actively run counter to achieving it.<\/p>\n

Also, it should be said that standing for democratic ideals is an enormous part of America\u2019s appeal around the world, and if we get into a competition with China purely over who is richer and can cut more deals, we are kicking away one of our major advantages.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s likely an insight for another president, though. Trump has his doctrine.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Rich Lowry
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump gave an important speech in Riyadh that may come as close to outlining a \u201cTrump doctrine\u201d for his second term as we\u2019ll probably see. It was a direct counterpoint to George W. Bush\u2019s second inaugural address. The simplistic way to put it is that what liberty was for Bush, money is to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":852474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31144,851],"tags":[7745,6180],"class_list":["post-852473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-outlines","category-president","tag-outlines","tag-president"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}