Trump's Churchillian Foreign Policy
Knowingly or not, President Donald Trump, in his decision to attack Iran, has embarked on a foreign policy that has been, on and off, both persistent and controversial in the great English-speaking nations. You can trace it back at least to the Glorious Revolution of 1688-89: the ouster of King James II of England and his replacement by his son-in-law and nephew William, Prince of Orange, and his daughter Mary, as William III and Mary II.
TL;DR
- The Glorious Revolution of 1688 established a foreign policy of opposing tyrannical hegemonic powers in English-speaking nations.
- This policy, exemplified by William of Orange and later Winston Churchill, involved alliances against dominant continental powers like Louis XIV and Nazi Germany.
- U.S. presidents continued this policy through the Cold War against the Soviet Union.
- Public opinion has often grown weary of the costs and consequences of such foreign policy approaches, as seen after Vietnam and the Iraq/Afghanistan wars.
- President Trump's actions regarding Iran may indicate a revival of this historical Churchillian or Orangist foreign policy, despite domestic skepticism towards interventionism.