America had two different foreign policies during the Trump years. The one run by the foreign policy apparatus was conventional and Republican, while Trump himself embraced dictators, downplayed human rights, offended allies, mused openly about nuclear war, and focused to an absurd degree on trade deficits. Mike Pompeo handled the dissonance by pretending it didn’t exist and by stomping out of the room when reporters insisted it did. Can we expect more of the same in a second Trump term?
Yes, because the confusion keeps Trump’s options open, which is almost always one of his principal objectives. My prediction comes with a caveat, however; it will be much more difficult to recruit prominent people to serve as Trump’s straight man this time around. The adults in the room will be gone, because everyone saw what happened to them in the first term. Who will want to play the good cop for our friends?