Make America Great Again (MAGA) was Ronald Reagan’s slogan before it was made “great” again by Donald Trump. The US president-elect now wants to take a leaf out of Harry Truman’s book. In 1947, the postwar Democrat gave his name to the Truman doctrine – a commitment to supporting democracies around the world, which wasn’t always as idealistic as it sounded.
Trump is hellbent on asserting the Trump doctrine, whereby might is right and slogans like MAGA and America First represent the exercise of raw power. Stand by for “shock and awe” measures on the Day One of his presidency on the economy and the border. But it is in foreign policy sphere that Trump is already having an outsize impact. Borrowing from Reagan, Trump believes in “peace through strength”.
