In his 1994 book Diplomacy, Henry Kissinger wrote about the two dominant strains of American foreign policy: realism as practiced by President Theodore Roosevelt and crusading democratism as practiced by President Woodrow Wilson. Roosevelt, Kissinger noted, “defined America’s world role ... completely in terms of national interest [and] identified the national interest ... with the balance of power.”

Wilson, on the other hand, proclaimed the universality of American values and committed the United States to spreading those values around the world. Kissinger described Roosevelt as the “warrior-statesman,” and Wilson as the “prophet-priest.” Since the 1920s, American foreign policy has straddled the line between realism and crusading democratism. (RELATED: Woodrow Wilson: A Madman, or Merely Misunderstood?)
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Israeli political commentator Amit Segal applauds President Donald Trump’s abandonment of Wilsonianism in favor of “imperial” realism. Trump’s realism, Segal writes, does not prioritize state sovereignty, but instead pursues policies that straddle realism and imperialism to advance U.S. interests. It is a world of “trade wars and terrorist organizations” that require responses that do not neatly fit into recognized foreign policy doctrines.
Some realists criticize Trump for promoting U.S. expansion into the Panama Canal Zone, Greenland, and Gaza, while democratists express outrage at Trump’s willingness to issue threats to obtain territory at the expense of others. Wilsonian self-determination plays no part in Trump’s worldview. The sovereign rights of others take a backseat to advancing U.S. interests. Segal notes that in the Middle East, democracy has led to leaders who planned and executed the atrocities of Oct. 7 and to the institutionalization of radical Islam in many parts of the region.
In Central America, the “democratic” government of Panama allowed Chinese companies to control the Canal Zone, endangering U.S. security i...