Analysis
Will it be ‘America First’ or ‘America Only’ that gets the upper hand in the Trump administration?
There are worrying signs from some of the key Middle East and foreign policy appointments
January 29, 2025 10:55
3 min read
There are worrying signs from some of the key Middle East and foreign policy appointments
January 29, 2025 10:55The fight over American foreign policy didn’t end with Kamala Harris’s defeat. Yes, President Trump has picked strong supporters of the US-Israel relationship as secretaries of state and defence, national security adviser, and ambassadors to Israel and the United Nations. However, Trump’s dovish supporters haven’t disappeared and an intra-coalition struggle over the direction of foreign policy appears to be playing out in defence department staffing.
Luke Moon, executive director of the Philos Project, told me: “The battle shaping up within the Trump coalition is between America First and America Only. Those who support America First recognise that we should prioritise American interests and also recognise our role in the world. Those who support America Only are maximum isolationists, who wrongly think America can disengage itself from the world.”
Trump recently posted on his Truth Social site that he wouldn’t hire “people who worked with, or are endorsed by, Americans for No Prosperity (headed by Charles Koch)”. However, Koch affiliates are already inside Trump’s tent, and where foreign policy is concerned, that means isolationists and Iran doves.
Jewish Insider reported that defence hiring is being influenced by “an Iraq War veteran and defence policy adviser with deep ties to the Koch network” who wants “the US [to] scale back its long-standing focus on the Middle East and regional adversaries such as Iran” and is “sceptical” of Israel.
Among this adviser’s ideological allies is Michael DiMino, the newly installed deputy assistant secretary of defence for the Middle East, who JI reported “dismissed Iran’s second ballistic missile attack on Israel as a ‘fairly moderate’ response and urged against bombing the Houthis in Yemen, instead calling for US pressure on Israel… He has also cast doubt on the Abraham Accords”, the crowning achievement of Trump’s first term.
Then there’s Elbridge Colby, nominee for under secretary of defence for policy, who raised eyebrows by writing in 2010 that “containing a nuclear Iran is an eminently plausible and practical objective”. Since then, the China-focused Colby has urged not using military force against the Iranian regime, avoiding war.
Commenting on recent appointments, Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran, said: “America is a global power with global interests...US adversaries like Iran... and their anti-Americanism and push to eradicate the State of Israel will not change, despite the desire of some Americans to deprioritise the Middle East”. As for the risk of war with Iran, he added: “Despite apocalyptic predictions of the US being dragged into a larger war if Israel were to pursue Hezbollah aggressively and hit Iran directly, it never came to pass.”
That won’t necessarily change doubters’ views, though. And those views matter, as information is curated and framed for decision-makers. This concerns a senior official at a pro-Israel organisation, who said, “These appointments call into question who’s actually making the decisions over there. The president expressed support for a strong America, yet these individuals advocate weakness, diminishing our power and standing. The president needs to jettison the Make America Weak Again caucus. Neither the United States nor Israel can afford a third Obama term.”
Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity last week that if the 2020 election had ended differently, “we would’ve had a deal [with Iran’s regime] within one week after the election, and they wouldn’t’ve had a nuclear weapon”. Trump added: “The only thing I said about Iran – they can’t have a nuclear weapon.” So, Trump gets it.
“Everyone in the Trump Administration takes direction from, and answers to, President Donald J. Trump, the most pro-Israel president in US history,” Republican Jewish Coalition spokesman Sam Markstein told me.
Trump’s appointees indeed serve him. Still, his coalition contains contradictions. For example, January’s Harvard CAPS/Harris poll found that 81 per cent of Republicans support Israel, while 19 per cent support Hamas, and those opposing viewpoints can’t be reconciled.
Looking eastward, Mort Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, suggests sanctions on Iran and support for Israel’s military and government. Klein said: “The isolationists in the administration need to be made to understand that real strength and crushing those who want to destroy us is the key to peace in the Middle East.”
Peace through strength requires rebuilding the military and keeping all options – including credible threats of military force – on the table. And as President Trump charts his course forward, expect his coalition’s foreign policy factions to clash over who shapes his thinking.
Melissa Langsam Braunstein is a writer based in the Washington DC area
@slowhoneybee