In the summer of 2022, some Donald Trump fans were able to show their support for the ex-president by visiting a "Trump store" and purchasing a T-shirt depicting him in an aviator jacket and sunglasses, in the style of Tom Cruise in Top Gun, the second installment of which was at the top of the box office chart at the time. It wasn't just a self-serving hijacking of a great popular success, nor was it a virile self-celebration by a man who had carefully avoided conscription during the Vietnam War. The film's full title, Top Gun Maverick – referring to the hero's nickname – was also a reminder of the former businessman's non-conformism. Like Captain Pete Mitchell, invariably at odds with an obtuse hierarchy, Trump has continually portrayed himself as a supposed enemy of a "system," particularly in foreign policy, the backdrop to these war films.

His entry into the Republican electoral arena, in 2015, was marked by a series of breaks with the consensus that had long prevailed between the United States's two major parties on the country's place in the world, namely that of an "indispensable nation," in the 1998 phrase of Democratic Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (1997-2001). Trump's presidency was then marked by challenges to international agreements, including some that had been initiated by Washington. His tenure was tinged with open contempt for US allies, as much as with a fascination for strongmen.

Today, once more a candidate for the White House, he is continuing in the same vein. In February, he again undermined the foundations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, saying he would "encourage" Russia to attack any member that failed to meet its financial obligations to the alliance. This is a repudiation of Article 5 of the alliance, which stipulates that an attack on one NATO country is an attack on all its members. This is no surprise. Back in 1987, during his first bid for the presidency, Trump took out a full-page ad in several East Coast press titles to criticize the ungrateful nations that were, in his view, leaving the US alone to shoulder the burden of their protection.

Total control

But this time, the silence from the Republican ranks reflects the former president's now total stranglehold on the Grand Old Party's ideas on diplomacy and strategy. The landslide defeat of his latest presidential primary opponent, Nikki Haley, also attests to this. The former US ambassador to the United Nations was the ultimate defender of traditional Republican foreign policy, before Trump burst onto the scene. Without waiting for the November 5 election, Trump is already weighing in on his country's choices in this area: It was at his instigation that billions in military aid to Ukraine approved by the Senate are still blocked in the House of Representatives at the beginning of April.

You have 84.14% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.