My remarks at Harvard's Weatherhead Forum: We have to come to grips with the errors of post-Cold War foreign policy — and not hide behind the post-1945 legacy — in order to understand the current moment and forge a better way forward. youtu.be/uGxZGIftNAE?...

I look forward to this conversation on Wednesday 9/17. Register now to join us:

Join us on September 17 @12pm ET for our first Weatherhead Forum of the year: "From Victory to Uncertainty: The Postwar Order After Eighty Years." This event is on Zoom and requires registration. For details, see our event listing: https://loom.ly/4cyzbws

🪖The title says it all. In the meantime, U.S. military spending and globalization continue to grow. @stephenwertheim.bsky.social #EmpireOfLiberty Trump Is a Situational Man in a Structural Bind www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/o...

Looking for a report card on Trump's foreign policy after six months? I recommend this Christopher Chivvis interview of @stephenwertheim.bsky.social carnegieendowment.org/podcasts/piv...

Over the past few weeks as starvation in Gaza, long in the making and orchestrated by Israel, has reached unprecedented levels, politicians have finally risked criticism of the regime responsible, Sam Adler-Bell writes.

I told @nymag.com: People have memory-holed numerous episodes in the course of the Israel-Gaza War in which there was a new swell of opposition to Israel’s conduct and then it just died out. So I worry that we’re back on that cycle. nymag.com/intelligence...

I told @foreignpolicy.com: A foreign policy grounded in realism and restraint is still far from being the dominant position in either political party. There’s no question, however, that demand for it is rising, especially on the right, but also on the left, following a period of deference to Biden.

I joined ABC Australia's Radio National Hour to analyze Trump's penchant for deadline diplomacy — the hallmark of Trump the performer beating out Trump the realist. www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

On @amprestigepod.bsky.social, @jekavanagh.bsky.social and I talked U.S. strategy toward Taiwan, arguing that in the event of a cross-strait invasion, the United States should assist Taiwan's self-defense but plan not to fight China directly. americanprestige.supportingcast.fm/listen/ameri...

I joined History As It Happens to expand on my argument that Trump faces a structural bind that inhibits him from being a peacemaker. Thanks for the fun conversation, @martindicaro.bsky.social. sites.libsyn.com/317972/trump...

Presidents can promise to be peacemakers, but the structures of U.S. primacy tilt toward war and violence. My conversation w/ historian @stephenwertheim on why it's so difficult for the U.S. to avoid "entanglements." Podcast: historyasithappens.libsyn.com/trump-and-th...

A pleasure to join @ianmastersmedia.bsky.social to discuss Trump's foreign policy vision and record to date: on.soundcloud.com/MCtkADMbEhka...

I told @nytimes.com: “It’s not that other parties are engaged in atrocities and the question is whether the United States will use its righteous power to stop [them]. In this case, the issue is that the United States is complicit in Israel’s conduct.” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/u...

We speak with @stephenwertheim.bsky.social about the good and the bad of having an amateur in the Oval Office and how Trump's lack of ideological vision is impacting our foreign policy. soundcloud.com/user-8304426...

President Trump’s M.O., especially in foreign policy, is to criticize the status quo. But, says @stephenwertheim.bsky.social, he's still stuck in it. Stephen breaks down why this is with ‪@jeetheer.bsky.social‬ for @thenation.com: www.thenation.com/podcast/worl...

Donald Trump's Foreign Policy Betrayal: really enjoyed talking with @jeetheer.bsky.social about why Trump keeps criticizing the status quo and then failing to change it. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...

"At the start of Mr. Trump’s second term, history didn’t merely repeat; it doubled down" www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/o...

OPINION | Trump Is a Situational Man in a Structural Bind www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/o...

“At the bottom of the president’s foreign-policy vision is a curious void. Mr. Trump is famously all about putting American interests first. Yet he has never figured out what he thinks America’s most basic interests are,” Stephen Wertheim writes.

Trump gets way too much credit for talking about peace without delivering it. (And much of what he says — "peace through strength," no nation-building wars — is nothing new.) Full podcast here: youtu.be/TvXCbfwQfKM?...

President Trump governs by instinct – and those instincts are “unconventional,” says @stephenwertheim.bsky.social, but a lack of a coherent strategy isn’t an asset in today’s complex geopolitical structure. Stephen explained on @morningjoe-msnbc.bsky.social 👇

I joined Morning Joe to discuss Trump's failure to end wars and avoid new ones — the standard he set for himself in his inaugural address.

Well-written, cogent, and articulate. “At the bottom of the president’s foreign-policy vision is a curious void. Trump is famously all about putting American interests first. Yet he has never figured out what he thinks America’s most basic interests are,” Stephen Wertheim writes.

“At the bottom of the president’s foreign-policy vision is a curious void. Mr. Trump is famously all about putting American interests first. Yet he has never figured out what he thinks America’s most basic interests are,” Stephen Wertheim writes.

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com “At the bottom of the president’s foreign-policy vision is a curious void. Mr. Trump is famously all about putting American interests first. Yet he has never figured out what he thinks America’s most basic interests are,” Stephen Wertheim writes.

Wed. guest list: Mike Barnicle, Ali Vitali, Ryan Reilly, Lisa Rubin, David Ignatius, Steve Rattner, Jonathan Martin, Susan Page, State Rep. James Talarico, Secy. Scott Bessent, Dave Baszucki, Sen. Chris Coons, Rep. Jared Moskowitz, Andrew Ross Sorkin, María Teresa Kumar, Stephen Wertheim

Excellent critique of American — and especially now Trumpian — foreign policy by Stephen Wertheim in the New York Times. Trump Is a Situational Man in a Structural Bind www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/o...

“At the bottom of the president’s foreign-policy vision is a curious void. Mr. Trump is famously all about putting American interests first. Yet he has never figured out what he thinks America’s most basic interests are.” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/o...

This is excellent www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/o...

Where in the world are US troops deployed? This map shows the location of US servicemembers in foreign countries and US territories. Each dot represents 50 people. 🧵

Six months into his term, President Trump doesn’t have a coherent vision on foreign policy, writes @stephenwertheim.bsky.social. In a field of allies – and adversaries – who do, that’s an obstacle to the peace he promised. More from Stephen in @nytimes.com: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/o...

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com, I write that Trump is failing to be a peacemaker. He is not on track to reduce America’s military involvement in the world and is keeping the United States in a position that invites more wars, potentially much larger ones. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/o...

"America’s closest allies never wished to form an anti-China bloc before Trump took office. Now he’s offering most of them slimmer benefits at greater risk", writes Stephen Wertheim. www.ft.com/content/b324...

FT: A new cold war with China won’t help the US www.ft.com/content/b324...

A new cold war with China won’t help the US https://on.ft.com/3ICzAmV | opinion

It's easy to criticize Trump for ceding competitive ground to China. It's harder to reckon with the limits of American power in the world after Trump — where a cold war posture toward Beijing will be less warranted and less feasible. My thoughts in @financialtimes.com: www.ft.com/content/b324...

Great fun to discuss Andrew Preston's important new book on the American origins of "national security." Thanks to @quincyinst.bsky.social for hosting. www.youtube.com/live/6V7gvDA...

@stephenwertheim.bsky.social is a historian of U.S. foreign policy. Speaking to PÚBLICO, he says he cannot recall — at least since the Cold War — a U.S. administration “staffed by people with such widely divergent views on what America’s basic role in the world should be.”

I look forward to discussing Andrew Preston's important new book, Total Defense: The New Deal and the Origins of National Security, on July 15, hosted by @quincyinst.bsky.social: quincyinst.org/events/book-...

I told @politico.com: "So long as the United States stations its military in the Middle East, it will keep bombing the Middle East and it will keep getting attacked in the Middle East." www.politico.com/news/magazin...

Our Middle East delusion, shared by Trump and the establishment: www.vox.com/world-politi...

"Art of the ceasefire: U.S. pretends to obliterate Iran's nuclear sites Iran pretends to retaliate Israel pretends to have won" - @stephenwertheim.bsky.social

"a war of unknowable scope against a country of 90 million people in a region of marginal strategic significance"

couldn't break through the paradigm established in the previous decade about Iraq's WMD nor challenge a freaked-out, post-9/11 country's drastically changed perceptions of its own security. But they were right then, and they are right now.

We are falling into the same trap now, failing to consider whether Iraq/Iran are deterrable actors even if they get WMD, and failing to balance those risks against the risks of regime change and destabilization. Some people, especially realists, called this out in 2003 but were ignored. They/

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... Excellent piece by @stephenwertheim.bsky.social. I think he leans a little too hard on the idea that WMD fears were mere pretexts, but he nails the crucial point that the premise of the 2003 Iraq debate were: If Saddam is developing WMD, we have to remove him. /

"Then Israel attacked. It acted less to preempt an Iranian bomb than to preempt American diplomacy. A new nuclear deal would have lifted sanctions ... stabilized Iran’s position in the Middle East and potentially strengthened it over time." - Stephen Wertheim