Going Rogue

Besides journalistic sources, I sometimes include links to articles published in academic journals and other respected publications.

Today is one of those times.

In his essay in Foreign Affairs called The Age of American Unilateralism — How a Rogue Superpower Will Remake the Global Order, political scientist Michael Beckley suggests that the Trump administration’s controversial foreign policy moves may signal a permanent shift away from the liberal world order that has characterized the past 80 years or so.

While I do not necessarily agree with Beckley’s perspective, here are a few of his major points:

• The American-led liberal order has outlived its original purpose, growing into a maze of burdens and vulnerabilities. It didn’t fail, but it triumphed over threats that no longer exist: the devastation of World War II and the spread of communism.

• Globalization fueled growth but hollowed out American industries and concentrated the gains. Between 2000 and 2020, U.S. industrial output (excluding semiconductors) fell nearly ten percent, and one in three factory jobs disappeared. Nearly all net job growth went to the richest 20 percent of zip codes, leaving much of the country behind. 

• The social fallout has been staggering: rising disability claims, drug overdoses, and prime-age workers dropping out of the labor force at Great Depression–level numbers. Many wounded communities retain political clout thanks to an electoral system that amplifies rural voices over urban majorities. The result: a hard pivot away from liberal internationalism and toward protectionism and border controls.

• 77 percent of young Americans are unfit to serve in the military, largely because of obesity, drug use, and lack of education. Trump plans to unveil a $1 trillion defense budget, but rebuilding the U.S. defense industrial base could take years.

• (B)y treating global affairs like a transactional hustle, the United States risks tearing down the very system that has kept the peace for generations. Trade wars don’t just raise prices. They unravel alliances and push rivals toward confrontation. That’s how the world fell apart in the 1930s: protectionism, fear, and rising powers with no way to grow but through force.

• The goal isn’t just to win a great-power contest. It’s to channel it; to fix what’s broken at home and shape a world that reflects American interests and values. A free world that works—for the United States and for those willing and able to stand with it.

HEADLINES:

• Judge Threatens Contempt Inquiry Over Deportation Flights (NYT)

• Standoff between court, Trump officials intensifies as judge launches contempt proceedings (WP)

• Van Hollen travels to El Salvador as Trump officials ramp up defense of illegal deportation (Politico)

• Fed Chair Powell gives starkest warning yet on potential economic consequences from tariffs (CNN)

• Donald Trump says Fed chair Jay Powell’s ‘termination cannot come fast enough’ (Financial Times)

• Colleges Are Fighting Trump—and Trying to Save Themselves (New Yorker)

• Trump officials threaten Harvard with foreign student ban (DW)

• How Harvard Ended Up Leading the University Fight Against Trump (WSJ)

• Transcript: Trump’s Unhinged Eruption at Harvard Reveals MAGA Weakness (TNR)

• Harvard’s challenge to the Trump administration could test limits of government power (AP)

• The threat to university research in America (Economist)

• What Harvard could lose in its battle with the Trump administration (WP)

• The Age of American Unilateralism (Foreign Affairs)

• Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s Failed Negotiations to End Antitrust Case (WSJ)

• The White House is starting a new media policy that restricts wire services’ access to the president (AP)

• CNN's data chief warned Republicans that Trump's approval rating is sinking among this key group in the polls ― and that could cost them dearly during next year’s midterm elections. [HuffPost]

• Trump’s D.C. U.S. attorney pick appeared on Russian state media over 150 times (WP)

• CDC says measles cases are most likely underreported as outbreak swells in Texas (NBC)

• UK Supreme Court says legal definition of ‘woman’ excludes trans women, in landmark ruling (CNN)

• Famine and atrocities mount as Sudan’s civil war enters its third year (AP)

• 30 Years Later, a New Look at the Oklahoma City Bombing (NYT)

• Claude just gained superpowers: Anthropic’s AI can now search your entire Google Workspace without you (VentureBeat)

• NASA Announces Bold Plan To Still Exist By 2045 (The Onion)