The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak

The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak

Trump's strategy for a diminished America

The White House just put out a National Security Strategy, laying out its principle of “flexible realism”: a dwindling and darker role for America in the world.

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Tim Mak
Dec 07, 2025
∙ Paid
US President Donald Trump attends a Cabinet Meeting on December 2, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images)

This sure isn’t Trump 1.0.

A few days ago the White House put out a new National Security Strategy that lays out how it views America’s place in the world.

It’s a vivid example of how Trump’s second term is much more beholden to the isolationist, morally ambivalent wing of MAGA.

After the paywall:
-What does Trump’s National Security Strategy say about Ukraine?
-How will America be intervening politically in European affairs?
-How does the Trump White House view authoritarianism and human rights?
–Tim’s stark assessment of the strategy.

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