Is Trump orchestrating a full-on strategic retreat on all fronts?

What if, behind all the “Make America Great Again” rhetoric, Trump was actually orchestrating the most comprehensive strategic retreat in American history?

And what if this guy’s Chinese evangelical dad 👇wasn’t all that wrong, in that Trump isn’t “destroying the United States” per se, but at the very least systematically eroding America's strategic position across every front that matters?

To be sure, Trump is fundamentally an imperialist in rhetoric and instinct. If anything his threats to annex Greenland and Canada, or transform Gaza into a Trump resort, should dispel any romantic notions. Nonetheless, it is unarguable that when you examine America's position across the key strategic fronts that define great power status, the pattern of retreat is unmistakable.

Back in the very beginning of his administration, on February 3rd, I wrote that we were witnessing “the post-American world order - brought to you by America itself” - a somewhat controlled imperial withdrawal disguised as strength, rather than have it collapse under its own weight.

If one looks at actions rather than words, this thesis has only been confirmed since.