If there ever was a Biden Doctrine on foreign policy, the accompanying tagline would be “Don’t Win.” He has been consistent in this philosophy since his first term in the Senate, when he opposed supporting Vietnam in 1975, through his disgraceful exit from Afghanistan during his presidency. With the experience from his first term, Donald Trump has the opportunity to craft a strategic foreign policy doctrine consistent with his political approach. Below, are a few suggestions as pillars for a Trump Doctrine: Never start a war, but if forced into one, win it decisively. This should be the motto for a Trump doctrine, similar to Teddy Roosevelt’s “Walk softly but carry a big stick.” Democratic administrations have had a bad habit of dabbling at war. They have used military force to send conflicting and mixed signals that allow our enemies to understand perfectly how much they can get away with and how far they can push. The lesson is to never draw a line in the sand that you are not willing to enforce. Don’t engage in regime change and nation-building. We have failed miserably in every attempt at regime change and nation-building we have attempted since World War II and the Marshall Plan. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell was right when he said, “You break it, you bought it.” The same holds true with nation-building in our image. The Marshall Plan worked because it empowered populations — even Japan and Germany — that wanted to become capitalist democracies and get back on their feet. They, at least, had a foundation to build on. Most of the third-world states that we try to reconstruct in our image are nowhere near that stage. We should instead triage foreign aid to those nations that show genuine promise for realistic progress and could become useful partners. Leave the rest to the Peace Corps at minimal cost, if possible. Unleash the Israelis on the Iranians. Virtually every conflict in the Middle East is being egged on by the Iranians. The Biden administration’s attempts to engage with Iran merely rewarded bad behavior. Instead of restraining the Israelis, we should let them decapitate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, destroy oil production, and eliminate Iran’s nuclear program. This would cripple their ability to support Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. Iran is an existential threat to Israel: It is a regional annoyance to us. Engage with China but do it from a position of strength. China is a world power wannabe, but her self-centered exploitative view of the rest of the world is a key strategic weakness, as is the vulnerability of her export-oriented economy. Our real military leverage toward her is not aircraft carriers or small platoons of Marines plinking at her warships from islets and shoals in the South China Sea. Rather, it is our nuclear attack submarines. Trump should make it perfectly clear to Beijing that, if she attacks Taiwan, we can sink her amphibious fleet from a distance and then blockade her exports thereby strangling her economy for the duration of the conflict. The fly in the ointment here is that it would take our entire existing attack submarine fleet to do this. To make the threat truly credible, we need to increase the attack submarine inventory by a third to cover the rest of the world. There should also be a diplomatic element of the Trump doctrine toward China. Beijing has taken advantage of our neglect in the Pacific to expand her influence. This is particularly true of the Solomon Islands where China has turned the autocratic leader into a virtual puppet. Reversing this trend would be relatively easy and cost-effective. The president could start by inviting the heads of state of the Melanesian, Micronesian, and Polynesian nations to Washington for state visits and one-on-one conversations with him. This would build lasting friendships. There should be an economic approach as well. Significant tax breaks for investment in the Western Pacific would go a long way toward offsetting predatory Chinese infrastructure projects in the region while not significantly raising government costs. Likewise, a Radio Free Pacific effort (similar to Radio Free Asia) would be a significant, but inexpensive, way to demonstrate our interest in the region by utilizing information operations. Continue to demand that NATO partners pull their weight. Nations such as Canada and Spain, which underinvest in NATO, had good reason to mourn Trump’s election. He should continue his promise to make each NATO member pull its own weight. Emulate Teddy Roosevelt in resolving the Russia–Ukraine War. Teddy Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 by successfully mediating an end to the Russo-Japanese War. He was able to do it because the United States had no dog in the fight. Despite the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine, the United States has no vital interests in the outcome of the conflict, and Trump has a good relationship with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. His transactional approach to negotiations could help to bring about at least an armistice until a permanent end to hostilities is negotiated. Make the Navy and Marine Corps great again. Since they landed on the shores of Tripoli, the Marines have been the nation’s go-to force in a crisis, and the Navy has been their ride. No matter how hard a nation tries to avoid conflict, stuff happens. This includes national disasters and the need to evacuate American citizens from crisis areas. The value of using the Navy and Marine Corps in such situations is that they are viewed as a temporary presence. Whereas the Army, with its heavy footprint, gives the impression of an invasion. The ability to launch military operations from a ship implies an American desire to resolve the situation and be gone. This is a significant diplomatic signal. Unfortunately, neither capability exists today. The Biden administration allowed the Navy and Marine Corps to atrophy due to some very poor decisions by an egocentric and incompetent Marine Corps commandant. The Marines have morphed into a China-centric defensive force. Worse, the Corps allowed, even encouraged, the Navy to reduce the number of required amphibious ships needed to maintain a presence in the world’s three most dangerous regions. Putting America first means not getting us into situations that we can’t walk away from if needed. The capability to do that is gone with the degradation of the Marines and the Navy’s amphibious fleet. Worse still, the Marines divested themselves of the tanks, bridging, and heavy engineering assets needed to contribute materially to a major regional conflict such as Desert Storm or Iraqi Freedom. This was so they could instead buy anti-ship missiles of dubious use in a conflict and redundant with systems existing in the other services. (READ MORE: The Marine Corps Has Gone Off the Rails) Unfortunately, the current commandant has doubled down on his predecessor’s mistakes. He should be removed and replaced by someone dedicated to rebuilding the Corps, even if it means bringing back a competent general from retirement. Likewise, the chief of naval operations, a DEI quota filler, should also be removed and replaced with a warfighter who can rebuild the Navy. It will take at least a decade to restore the Navy and Marine Corps to their former greatness, but we need to start somewhere. (READ MORE: Wokeness Is Responsible for the Military Recruitment Crisis) A Trump Doctrine would need a whole-of-government approach. There are four major pillars of national power: diplomatic, information/Intelligence, military, and economic, otherwise referred to as DIME. All four need major improvements to repair the damage that the Biden administration has done to national power and prestige. Gary Anderson is a retired Marine Corps colonel. He was a special advisor to the deputy secretary of Defense and is the author of BEYOND MAHAN; A NAVAL STRATEGY FOR THE 21st Century READ MORE from Gary Anderson: The Marine Corps Has Gone Off the Rails Wokeness Is Responsible for the Military Recruitment Crisis Trump Is an Extraordinary Manager of Client Nations The post 7 Ways to Move Toward a Trump Doctrine appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.