Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it best, before his speech for Western restoration, when he declared: “The world is changing, very fast right in front of us. The old world is gone. We live in a new era in geopolitics, and it’s going to require all of us to re-examine what that looks like, and what our role is going to be.”

This is the new American Century, one in which America no longer forces change through aggressive intervention and costly wars, but a strategic mixture of force, diplomacy, and sanctions.

The new century, with Trump currently at the helm, started with a terrorist attack: 9-11. 

American prosperity at home and naiveté worldwide had distracted us. In the 1990s, Americans felt invincible. The Berlin Wall came down, the Soviet Union dissolved, and communism collapsed. It seemed there were no more enemies to fight. Then emerged Al-Qaeda, the four hijacked planes, and three thousand American lives lost on American soil.

To her credit, America did not cower. Sadly, she rushed in heedlessly, thinking that the post-World War II consensus and military might would defeat civilizational threats.

America’s first attempt to restore its hegemony in the Middle East failed. Force alone, without wisdom or cultural transformation, would collapse. We should fault Bush (and Obama) for maintaining military efforts with no real plan in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Their military approach impoverished our country and emboldened our enemies. How could anyone have believed that the United States could reshape the world in our image, through our means, to accept our values?

Trump understood this. If you want world peace, a strong America taking care of her own problems would have to lead the way. No more misguided ventures, but the United States would not sit back and endure trauma and terror without retaliation.

With President Trump’s ascendancy arises the New American Century. A new vision of........

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