Trump’s foreign policy swapped liberal for illiberal hegemony while keeping empire

Evidence

In reality, as political scientist Barry Posen argued in Foreign Affairs, Trump adopted a different strategy for global dominance, one that might better be described as “illiberal hegemony.” In a nutshell, illiberal hegemony translated into a policy of aggressive unilateralism and the abandonment of multilateral organizations, treaties, and economic pacts through which the United States had dominated the world. It was neoconservatism on steroids combined with Trump’s transactional approach to deal making. This marked a break with the bipartisan strategy of liberal or benevolent hegemony that the political class had pursued since the Cold War. Moreover, the multicultural and feminist imperialism of the post–Cold War era was replaced by white nationalism. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 514

Categorization

• XREF: Corroborates the vault’s thesis that Islamophobia is continuous with other ‘self/other’ imperial frames, — connects to: Foreign policy elites across camps share the aim of US hegemony — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 461; Trump-era foreign policy replaced benevolent multilateral hegemony with aggressive unilateralism and white nationalism; Trump kept US hegemony aims while ditching multilateral institutions for nationalism — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 518 (+8 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 514

Broader Connections

• Trump replaced liberal benevolent hegemony with unilateral illiberal hegemony. #corroborates (0.95)
• Trump kept US hegemony aims while ditching multilateral institutions for nationalism #corroborates (0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 518
• Trump’s nationalism contradicted US multilateral hegemony strategy but kept its coercive core. #corroborates (0.90)
• Post-Cold War US imperial consensus traded liberal veneer for white nationalism under Trump. #corroborates (0.88) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 526
• Trump-era foreign policy replaced benevolent multilateral hegemony with aggressive unilateralism and white nationalism #corroborates (0.86)
• Trump’s America First foreign policy was illiberal hegemony, not isolationism. #corroborates (0.85)
• Trump’s foreign policy abandoned the bipartisan liberal-hegemony consensus for unilateral nationalist imperialism. #corroborates (0.84)
• Biden premised returning to liberal empire rather than ending imperial policies #expands (0.78)
• Trump replaced global economic stewardship with nationalist unilateralism yet kept MENA hegemony #qualifies (0.72)
• The entire US foreign policy establishment shared soft-power dominance assumptions until Trump #corroborates (0.72)