Trump Will Vow Not to 'Impose our Values on Others' in National Security Speech

President Donald Trump will deliver remarks Monday afternoon on his new national security strategy, a comprehensive set of priorities, challenges, and proposed solutions required by law of every administration since that of Ronald Reagan. Appropriately, Trump will deliver his Monday speech at the federal building across the street from the White House named after the 40th president.

Trump’s “America First” national security strategy is organized around four pillars: protecting the American people and the homeland, promoting American prosperity, preserving peace through strength, and advancing American influence in the world. “Strengthening our sovereignty—the first duty of a government is to serve the interests of its own people—is a necessary condition for protecting those four national interests,” reads a draft version of the strategy paper obtained by THE WEEKLY STANDARD. “And as we strengthen our sovereignty, we will renew confidence in ourselves as a nation.”

This focus on American sovereignty pervades throughout the paper. Drafted chiefly by National Security Council staffer Nadia Schadlow, the NSS reflects Trump’s emphasis on what he has often called “principled realism.” The view champions American values as worth securing but downplays the utility of expressing those values as a tool in national security.

“We are not going to impose our values on others,” reads the NSS draft. “Our alliances, partnerships, and coalitions are built on free will and shared interests. When the United States partners with other states, we develop policies that enable us to achieve our goals while our partners achieve theirs.”

This is a stark contrast to the vision laid out in the previous Republican administration’s NSS, released by George W. Bush 15 years ago. An excerpt from President Bush’s June 2002 speech at West Point is used as an epigraph to that strategy paper’s introduction: “Our Nation’s cause has always been larger than our Nation’s defense. We fight, as we always fight, for a just peace—a peace that favors liberty. We will defend the peace against the threats from terrorists and tyrants. We will preserve the peace by building good relations among the great powers. And we will extend the peace by encouraging free and open societies on every continent.”
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