Editorial: One line in Mr. Trump’s speech did have the ring of truth. Having elsewhere stressed the need for consistency and reliability in U.S. foreign policy, he blurted: “We must as a nation be more unpredictable.” It’s a good bet that the United States under a President Trump would be just that — to the peril of itself, and the rest of the world. – Washington Post
Charles Krauthammer writes: Trump’s scripted, telepromptered speech was intended to finally clarify his foreign policy. It produced instead a jumble. The basic principle seems to be this: Continue the inexorable Obama-Clinton retreat, though for reasons of national self-interest, rather than of national self-doubt. And except when, with studied inconsistency, he decides otherwise. – Washington Post
Dov Zakheim writes: At bottom, Trump needs to convince not only the American electorate, but leaders around the world, that he is serious, that he actually thinks seriously about international security and economic issues, and that he will continue to reflect and indeed, improve upon, the positions he staked out at the Mayflower Hotel. To do so, he must not lapse back into the nativism, racism and isolationism that propelled him to the top of the heap among Republican candidates for the presidency. – The National Interest
Peter Feaver writes: Trump left unclear how he would carry on a philosophical struggle without a guiding philosophy. Some speculated that Trump — who has sometimes been accused of sympathy with white nationalism or even neofascism — simply has a different guiding philosophy than liberalism in mind. – Foreign Policy’s Shadow Government