In 1796, George Washington advised in his farewell as president to avoid foreign entanglements. Although he did not use that exact phrase, he did spend a good portion of his lengthy written message cautioning against becoming so committed to and aligned with other nations that we would be obligated to come to their assistance militarily, when our own security interests were not directly threatened.

In Washington’s words, “The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connections as possible….Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enemies.”

Thomas Jefferson was more succinct in his inaugural address in 1801 about U.S. relations with other countries. They should be marked by “peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.”

President Trump is often referred to as a neo-isolationist for distancing from our alliances with Europe, his winding down of our commitment to Ukraine, his protectionist tariffs, his shutting down of the U.S. International Development Agency, the........

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