WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — It wasn’t so long ago that President Donald Trump spoke of building a legacy as a “peacemaker.” His administration would measure “success not only by the battles we win,” Trump said in his inaugural address, “but also by the wars that we end and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.”
But nine months into his second term in the White House, Trump is charting a curious path to executing his “peace through strength” foreign policy agenda. This phrase, borrowed from a fellow Republican president, Ronald Reagan, originally emphasized building a strong military and economy as the foundation of Soviet deterrence.
Trump’s take on the Reagan doctrine includes sharper threats, bombings, and no shortage of bravado. It’s too soon to tell how history will judge Trump’s version, but Reagan had his doubters as well.
“There are a lot of people who would have given Reagan a not-passing grade around 1983 or so,” said University of Tennessee scholar Andrew Busch, referencing the year Reagan ordered the U.S. invasion of Caribbean island Grenada. “By 1989, when he left office, they would say, ‘Wow, that guy was like the biggest peacemaker in the 20th century in some ways.’”
### Peace Done Trump-Style
Trump’s unique approach to Reaganesque diplomacy was on full display during his recent trip to Asia. He expressed outrage over a television ad paid for by the Canadian province of Ontario, which used a spliced audio of Reagan criticizing tariffs and aired during the World Series.
Meanwhile, as Trump met with leaders in Malaysia and South Korea, the U.S. Navy carried out lethal strikes on suspected drug boats in the Pacific. His administration also moved to shift the USS Ford and thousands of additional sailors from the Mediterranean toward Caribbean Sea waters near Venezuela, marking the biggest U.S. troop buildup in Latin America in more than 50 years.
Trump wasn’t finished. Minutes before a critical meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump took to social media to suggest he was preparing to discard a decades-old U.S. prohibition on testing nuclear weapons.
Later, en route back to Washington, Trump was coy about whether he intended to resume explosive testing of nuclear weapons — something only North Korea has done this century — or simply calling for testing of U.S. systems capable of delivering nuclear weapons, which is far more routine. He remains opaque about whether he plans to resume underground nuclear detonation tests.
“You’ll find out very soon,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday as he headed to Florida for a weekend stay.
### “Peace Through Strength” Reiterated
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth offered little clarity on the nature of planned testing but reiterated Trump’s Reagan-borrowed mantra.
“America will ensure that we have the strongest, most capable nuclear arsenal, so that we maintain peace through strength,” Hegseth said Friday. “That’s what this is. In every meeting, that’s what we talk about: Peace through strength.”
### A Classic Top-to-Bottom Operation
While the loose talk about nuclear testing unsettled some, reactions appeared relatively measured. Trump has made many pronouncements only to later shift positions dramatically.
For example, in recent weeks, he went from asserting Ukraine must cede land to Russia, to proclaiming Kyiv could win back all lost territory, then declaring, “fighting should stop at the lines they are at now.”
Administration officials are reluctant to question Trump’s tactics but acknowledge that some moves appear contradictory, especially with spur-of-the-moment reversals in public statements. Rather than viewing these abrupt changes as defects, officials argue they give the U.S. more influence and make adversaries, potential adversaries, as well as allies and partners, more wary of crossing Trump.
However, policy consistency has long been key in national security and international relations, as it provides a concrete basis for international understandings that other countries rely on in decision-making.
“This is a product of a lack of process,” said Ian Kelly, a retired career diplomat who served as U.S. ambassador to Georgia during Trump’s first term. “It’s a classic top-to-bottom operation and there doesn’t seem to be any consultation with other stakeholders, especially with Congress, but also long-standing allies.”
### Steering Clear of the Endless War Pitfall
Trump has managed to cling to the “peacemaker” title even as his administration has pursued an activist foreign policy in his early second term.
Trump touts as a key achievement his decision to order strikes in June on three critical Iranian nuclear facilities that he says “obliterated” the Iranian program. The bombing caused significant damage in an operation that did not harm any American troops.
While Trump insists the program was destroyed, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said this week that renewed activity has been recently detected at Iran’s nuclear sites.
Before those strikes, some of Trump’s die-hard backers — including Steve Bannon, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), and commentators Tucker Carlson and Charlie Kirk — expressed concern as Trump contemplated military action, citing his own willingness to avoid prolonged wars fostered by prior administrations.
Trump’s strikes in the Caribbean appear to be landing major blows against Venezuelan drug smugglers and unsettling President Nicolás Maduro’s government.
At present, that seems to be happening with “very little political cost” for Trump, said Justin Logan, director of defense and foreign policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington.
However, Logan warns that Trump should be cautious as he considers next steps in Venezuela and avoid the pitfalls of the “endless wars” of Iraq and Afghanistan that left a lasting mark on the American psyche. This conflict would be in America’s own backyard.
“This administration seems to favor these short, sharp strokes and then say they have resolved the problem altogether,” Logan said. “I’m afraid what will happen is that we will discover that none of these problems have actually been put to bed.”
— Finley and Lee reported from Washington.
https://wtop.com/inauguration/2025/11/with-bombs-and-bravado-trump-puts-his-own-stamp-on-reagans-peace-through-strength-mantle/