euro-divergent
A protectionist trading stance, disregard and disrespect of military allies, violent suppression of dissidence and a heavy use of propaganda; recent developments all point to a shift from global power basing its strength on exporting culture, products and services, towards an autocratic local power, protecting its local workforce and local production. What are the U.S.A. preparing to defend against?
The Marshal plan and the post WW2 western economy boom
After WW2 the US injected a huge amount of capital in the markets of western Europe and Japan, chosen as their 'sphere of influence'. Simplifying: they wanted strong allies against communism, and better yet they wanted a big market of rich consumers ready to buy their products.
This created several "economic miracles"[1] [2]. Western Europe and Japan recovered in record time from a war that had devastated them. The US benefited by consolidating the dollar as the world reserve currency, strengthening their position in the cold war, and expanding their consumer base to effectively include the majority of what today constitutes the EU, and Japan.
From global power to local fortress
Fast forward to today, and we are seeing an increasingly rapid reversal of Liberal Internationalism: the US has consistently pulled investment in soft power and international involvement as a stabilising force (DOGE, Withdrawal from Afghanistan)
The US appear to take a step back, with the National Security Strategy explicitly mentioning the undoing of previous overextension and the necessity to dedicate a higher focus to internal subversion.
The America First policy increasingly seems like preparation to defend against something. Whether that is a propaganda strategy to justify the current internal chaos or a real international threat, I do not think us laymen can know right now.
What is increasingly clear, and very concerning, is that the current narrative in the US walks and quacks like an authoritarian duck.