America was born into geopolitics. The Republic’s first decades were shaped by the rivalry between the British and French empires, and George Washington used his farewell address to warn his countrymen against permanent foreign entanglements. For much of the next century and a half, they listened.

Then came the World Wars, and after them a choice without precedent: not just to engage with the world but to organize it. Every American President from Harry Truman onward committed the country to leading a volatile world—building alliances, underwriting institutions, and defending a rule of law that Washington mostly chose to live within. The commitment was bipartisan, and for 80 years it held.

It no longer does. A politics of grievance has taken hold inside the U.S., reflecting a growing conviction that the old bargains no longer pay off for ordinary Americans. Much of the country has come to see its commitments to free trade, collective security, and global institutions not as sources of American primacy but as a raw deal—a way for the........

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