最初外界以为特朗普是孤立主义者，但其第二任期迅速对委内瑞拉、尼日利亚、伊朗、伊拉克、叙利亚、索马里和也门采取军事行动，并一度试图夺取格陵兰，显示“美国优先”的含义正在变化。学界将其比作19世纪的现实主义者，追逐资源与支配。特朗普按直觉行事而非意识形态，既反对“永久战争”和贸易逆差，又追求个人荣耀，这使其政策高度可变。
与此同时，MAGA阵营内部的外交理念正在分化并成形。传统内涵仍在：对华强硬、蔑视多边机构、对乌克兰兴趣寡淡。但新增内容是主导西半球：打击贩毒集团、觊觎格陵兰稀土、控制委内瑞拉石油。国家安全战略（NSS）于12月发布，提出“唐罗原则”（西半球美国主导）并警告欧洲将遭“文明性抹除”。去年，欧洲承诺将防务开支提高到GDP的5%，但限制派认为这不足以实现负担转移，真正见效至少需十年。
具体路线由顾问推动。国务卿鲁比奥以反共与民主输出为动机主导委内瑞拉行动；斯蒂芬·米勒则将移民与治安议程外部化，促成对加勒比海与贩毒集团的军事化处理。副总统万斯最具意识形态色彩，要求欧洲对抗“内部敌人”，否则美国将附条件提供保护。NSS发布后，美国对一名前欧盟委员实施签证禁令，反映文明政治的硬化。然而矛盾显现：疏远欧洲不利于对华竞争；既要减少对欧承诺又要强迫欧洲按MAGA方式治理难以并行。MAGA的世界观仍未定型，内部分歧可能升级。
People once thought Donald Trump an isolationist, but his second term brought strikes in Venezuela, Nigeria, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Somalia and Yemen, plus a bid for Greenland, showing “America First” is shifting. Scholars now liken him to a 19th-century realist chasing resources and dominance. Trump governs by instinct, opposing forever wars and trade deficits yet seeking personal glory, producing highly flexible, sometimes contradictory policy.
Inside MAGA, competing foreign-policy ideas are crystallising. Old tenets remain—hawkishness on China, contempt for multilateralism, indifference to Ukraine—but new ones emphasise dominating the western hemisphere: smashing cartels, claiming Greenland’s rare earths and commandeering Venezuelan oil. The December National Security Strategy articulated the “Donroe Doctrine” of hemispheric primacy and warned of Europe’s “civilisational erasure.” Europe pledged to raise defence spending to 5% of GDP, but restrainers say true burden-shifting would take at least ten years.
Advisers drive these paths. Secretary of State Marco Rubio led Venezuela policy with anti-communist zeal; Stephen Miller externalised immigration enforcement through militarised actions. Vice-President J.D. Vance presses civilisational conditions on allies, implying protection depends on confronting Europe’s “enemy within.” After the NSS, a visa ban on a former EU commissioner signalled hardening cultural politics. The contradictions are stark: antagonising Europe undermines competition with China; reducing commitments while coercing governance is incompatible. MAGA’s worldview remains unresolved, and internal conflict may intensify.