President Joe Biden blended the old and the new in his first major speech on U.S. foreign policy on Thursday, calling for a restoration of multilateralism and U.S. alliances but at the same time rolling out a new organizing principle for national security: the welfare of America’s middle class.
In his remarks, which were largely a rebuke to former President Donald Trump, Biden said he had one message for the world: “America is back. Diplomacy is back at the center of our foreign policy.” He also said the world should take encouragement from the outcome of the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, provoked by Trump, declaring that Americans have emerged “better equipped to unite the world in fighting to defend democracy—because we have fought for it ourselves.”
