<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-0"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Abraham Lincoln suggested the United States was “the <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/second-annual-message-9" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">last, best hope of Earth</a>.” Ronald Reagan celebrated it as a “<a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.c-span.org/clip/joint-session-of-congress/shining-city-on-a-hill-ronald-reagan-1988-state-of-the-union-address/4746361" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">shining city on a hill.</a>” George W. Bush <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010911-16.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">argued that</a> the nation was “the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world.”</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">But to President Trump, America is the all-powerful player in a series of high-stakes transactions.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">“You don’t have the cards right now,” he lectured President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in their extraordinary <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/us/politics/trump-zelensky-us-ukraine-russia.html" title="">Oval Office showdown</a>.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Mr. Trump is radically different from his Republican predecessors in countless ways. But rarely is the contrast starker than in his approach to American leadership in the world.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">While those Republicans sometimes spoke of global alliances in terms of <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/20/us/white-house-letter-axis-of-evil-first-birthday-for-a-famous-phrase.html" title="">good and evil</a>, Mr. Trump <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/25/us/politics/trump-diplomacy.html" title="">joined with</a> America’s adversaries to oppose a <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/24/world/middleeast/us-un-russia-ukraine-war.html" title="">United Nations resolution</a> condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/world/europe/trump-zelensky-ukraine-comments.html" title="">falsely</a> suggested that Ukraine had started the war. While they championed <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/upshot/what-is-nafta.html" title="">free trade</a>, he has <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/04/us/politics/trump-trade-war-economy.html" title="">started trade wars</a>. And while they argued that <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.npr.org/2017/04/13/523615019/president-george-w-bush-foreign-aid-in-u-s-national-security-and-moral-interest" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">American assistance abroad</a> could fend off problems at home, he has <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/05/us/politics/usaid-trump-timeline.html" title="">moved to gut</a> foreign aid.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-1"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-1"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Now, Mr. Trump’s nakedly transactional style is forcing Americans to reimagine how they see their country’s place in the world, according to interviews with roughly two dozen voters, foreign policy experts and current and former elected officials from across the country.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">“I fear we are risking what made us great over the last 80 years, since the close of the Second World War,” said R. Nicholas Burns, a former <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/11/opinion/what-america-gets-out-of-nato.html" title="">ambassador to NATO</a> and <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/10/business/nicholas-burns-ambassador-china.html" title="">China</a>. “Every president until now adhered to democratic principles and values, including the idea that America should be the standard-bearer for democracy around the world, to uphold the rule of law and defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each country.”</p><div class="css-1336jj"><div class="css-121kum4"><div class="css-171quhb"></div><div class="css-asuuk5"><noscript><div class="css-7axq9l" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="css-1b5b8u1" height="24" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24"><path clip-rule="evenodd" d="M2.5 12a9.5 9.5 0 1 1 19 0 9.5 9.5 0 0 1-19 0Zm8.5 1.75v-7.5h2v7.5h-2Zm0 2v2h2v-2h-2Z" fill="currentColor" fill-rule="evenodd"></path></svg><div class="css-6yo1no" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript-message"><p class="css-3kpklk">We are having trouble retrieving the article content.</p><p class="css-3kpklk">Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.</p></div></div></noscript><div class="css-1dv1kvn" id="optimistic-truncator-a11y" tabindex="-1"><hr/><p>Thank you for your patience while we verify access. 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