The Trump administration’s “America First” approach to international relations is transforming the democratic world order the U.S. helped create.

An internal instruction from Secretary of State Marco Rubio to U.S. diplomats may be the arrow that finishes off what the U.S. has meant to those fighting through the ballot box for freedom and democracy.

In an apparent pursuit of policies that promote “national interests,” no longer will the United States comment on foreign elections except to offer “short, congratulatory” messages “toward the winner.”

Also, such messages “should avoid opining on the fairness or the integrity of an electoral process, its legitimacy, or the democratic values of the country in question.”

The integrity of democratic elections has been a cornerstone of international law and an important source of legitimacy for sovereign governments under the United Nations Charter’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The long-accepted standard has been that the votes of citizens in a free and fair election is a fundamental right.

Elections engage every major societal institution and constitute a dramatic stress test for societies. The reaction to a stolen election can be extreme and can result in violence.

At a minimum, a stolen election undermines the legitimacy of the sitting government. An election infected by fraud that undermines a sovereign government is hardly in America’s national interest.

The U.S. has been a global leader in

© The Hill