Francis Fukuyama, “The Morality of a Mafia Boss”:
Although Donald Trump is a habitual liar about issues big and small, he is occasionally capable of surprising honesty. His statement to a group of New York Times reporters, quoted above, is one example. It contains two largely frank and correct assertions: first, that American international behavior is constrained by norms (i.e. “morality”) rather than law; and second, that the applicable norms are his personal ones, and not necessarily those shared by other nations.
We should acknowledge the truth of the first, and be very frightened of the implications of the second.
Indeed, it is fair to say that international “law” is about principles and norms rather than domestic law that operates within a framework of legislation, interpretation, and application within a particular system of government. It is difficult to make positivist or formalist claims about international law. But that does not mean that the norms do not matter. I shudder to imagine the implications when the person principally responsible for U.S. foreign policy does not recognize any such norms.
See also Robert Kagan at The Atlantic, “America vs. The World”:
Americans are entering the most dangerous world they have known since World War II, one that will make the Cold War look like child’s play and the post–Cold War world like paradise. In fact, this new world will look a lot like the world prior to 1945, with multiple great powers and metastasizing competition and conflict. The U.S. will have no reliable friends or allies and will have to depend entirely on its own strength to survive and prosper. This will require more military spending, not less, because the open access to overseas resources, markets, and strategic bases that Americans have enjoyed will no longer come as a benefit of the country’s alliances. Instead, they will have to be contested and defended against other great powers.
Americans are neither materially nor psychologically ready for this future.