In his speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, President Donald Trump spun a familiar web of rhetoric regarding U. S. foreign policy—one that highlights force as a method of achieving peace. In a speech that moved from Iran to Venezuela, Cuba, and beyond, Trump presented something approaching a foreign-policy doctrine: American military might is not the alternative to diplomacy but the leverage that makes it possible. Read More: Iran War Has Cost U. S. Nearly $40 Billion and Fueled Inflation, CBO Finds
David Satterfield, Director of Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, tells TIME that the speech Tuesday demonstrates a position held by the Trump Administration that “force is the only currency of value. ”
“The strong do as they will and the weak suffer as they must,” he says, further characterizing the approach. In Trump’s telling, strength is not merely a deterrent.