While most American politicians celebrate American exceptionalism (however they may choose to define it), Sanders and Trump, in very different ways, despise it. For Bernie, the American affinity for limited government has led to a socioeconomic system characterized by rampant inequality, overmighty capitalists, and an inadequate safety net. He thinks America should aspire to be more “European.” Trump, on the other hand, believes that our penchant for spreading our values around the world results in our “friends” and enemies alike playing us for suckers. If Trump wins the election, he will treat our values as being identical to our interests, much as, say, the Russians and Chinese do.
In my view, both of these critiques are horribly overblown, but both contain a kernel of truth. I agree with Sanders that we need a somewhat larger and clearly more effective safety net, but I don’t believe we need to be as “European” as Denmark. There is room in the world for a society which tolerates a bit more inequality in exchange for more dynamism. As for Trump’s realism, I would concur that, on occasion, we don’t ask enough of our allies in exchange for our financial and military support; for example, what do we get from the Baltic states that justifies our commitment to go to war against Russia for them? On the other hand, it is both practically and morally impossible for us to completely ignore our values in our dealings with the rest of the world, so public opinion would prohibit even a President Trump from doing so.