Restraint is not a serious option for the dangerous world Trump faces

In his first presidential administration, President-elect Donald Trump certainly faced immense national security challenges. But nothing compares with the scope or complexity of the situation he will inherit upon returning to the White House. While counterterrorism and border security remain essential missions, the United States has fully entered a new period of great power competition that could deteriorate into global emergency at nearly any moment. 

Without question, the single greatest threat to American national security is increasing cooperation between President Vladimir Putin’s Russia, the Islamist regime in Iran, and the Chinese Communist Party. Though each power has distinct ideological goals, their shared purpose is to roll back American primacy around the world. Neither liberal shibboleths nor isolationist mantras will ever be enough to deter this aggression — only the careful cultivation of American power can. If the incoming Trump administration wants to keep America safe from this threat, it must avoid simplistic populist clichés about “restraint” and “nonintervention.”

Over the last four years, the Biden administration utterly failed to contain aggression from these three enemy regimes. On their watch, Putin launched his bloody invasion of Ukraine, and the Iranian-backed “Axis of Resistance” began a new terrorism campaign across the Middle East from the Gaza Strip to the Red Sea. 

Meanwhile, the CCP was not only quietly supporting Russian and Iranian aggression but also advancing its own agenda toward regional hegemony in East Asia. From a national security perspective, Joe Biden’s presidency was nearly as disastrous as his one-term forerunner Jimmy Carter. 

Read more in the Washington Examiner.