Trump’s foreign policy is fit for a 19th century United States

On Monday, US President-elect Donald Trump will return to the White House. The central question is: What comes next? For those who follow American foreign policy, it seems that the only predictable thing about Trump is that he is unpredictable, even a bit of a madman.

That may well be true, but perhaps the best way to predict Trump’s future actions is to recognize that he is a throwback. Or more accurately, his foreign policy views harken back to a bygone era, one that he seems intent on making relevant, even great, again. In other words, to understand Trump is to recognize that he wants to bring a 19th century foreign policy into the 21st century.

I’m not alone in noticing Trump’s preferences for policies more in line with presidents from over a century ago. He has been explicit in his admiration of William McKinley, who was president from 1897 to 1901. During his first term, some compared Trump to Andrew Jacksonthe American president known not only for being an outsider but also for his powerful policy of ethnic cleansing against Indians. Trump seemed to embrace this comparison to Jackson’s portrait hanging in the oval office. Even before he was elected in 2016, observers pointed to how Trump’s worldview seemed more at home in the late 19th or early 20th century.