The Roots of Trump’s Foreign Policy Instability
On this episode of The Time of Monsters, Justin Logan on the factional battles that have bedevilled the White House.
The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
The Time of Monsters podcast features Nation national-affairs correspondent Jeet Heer’s signature blend of political culture and cultural politics. Each week, he’ll host in-depth conversations with urgent voices on the most pressing issues of our time.
The Roots of Trump’s Foreign Policy Instability
Donald Trump’s foreign policy has been as unstable as the man himself, shifting quickly from
pushes for restraint to escalating wars in the Middle East. This volatility is a function not just of
Trump’s personality but the contradictions and competing factions that are gathered under the
term America First, as well as the continued power of the foreign policy establishment that
Trump has claimed he defeated but which maintains a strong capacity to shape policy. To talk
about Trump’s foreign policy and the factional battles that have bedevilled his administration, I
spoke to Justin Logan, director of defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute.
In particular we take up the attacks on Elbridge Colby, the under-secretary of defense for
policy. Colby was the subject of a Politico hatchet job which claimed he was running a rogue
foreign policy. Justin critiqued this analysis here.
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US Vice President JD Vance, left, and Elbridge Colby, under secretary of defense for policy nominee for US President Donald Trump, shake hands during a Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, March 4, 2025.
(Kent Nishimura / Bloomberg via Getty Images)Donald Trump’s foreign policy has been as unstable as the man himself, shifting quickly from pushes for restraint to escalating wars in the Middle East. This volatility is a function not just of Trump’s personality but also the contradictions and competing factions that are gathered under the term America First, as well as the continued power of the foreign policy establishment that Trump has claimed he defeated, but which maintains a strong capacity to shape policy. To talk about Trump’s foreign policy and the factional battles that have bedeviled his administration, I spoke to Justin Logan, director of defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute.
In particular, we take up the attacks on Elbridge Colby, the undersecretary of defense for policy. Colby was the subject of a Politico hatchet job that claimed he was running a rogue foreign policy. Justin critiqued this analysis here.
Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe.
The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
The Time of Monsters podcast features Nation national-affairs correspondent Jeet Heer’s signature blend of political culture and cultural politics. Each week, he’ll host in-depth conversations with urgent voices on the most pressing issues of our time.
The Great Canadian Betrayal
In April, the Liberal Party of Canada, under the leadership of Mark Carney, won an election that heartened opponents of the right-wing. Carney had run on the promise of fighting Donald Trump’s threats to annex Canada and also to bolster the Canadian state to deal with issues like affordable housing. But in office, Carney has been delivering something different than his rhetoric suggested: he has been servile to Trump and is promoting austerity. The journalist Luke Savage has written about Carney’s turn-around for both The Baffler and the Toronto Star. I talked to Luke not only about Carney’s policies but also why centrist technocratic liberals are so inept in fighting the far right.
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