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Not the President’s speech

So many people are indulging in wishful thinking about what they would like President Trump to do that I thought I would try my hand at the genre. I won’t dare to include domestic policy, as it is already absolutely clear where that is headed: toward more restrictions on voting rights, more indulgence of discrimination on the basis of alleged religious belief, less availability of health insurance, as well as tax cuts for the rich and tax increases for the lower middle class. Here is my totally unjustifiable hope for what the man says tonight about foreign policy:

My Fellow Americans,

These five weeks in office have taught me many things.

I have come to understand that America’s leadership role in the world is invaluable. It depends on our willingness to construct a rules-based international order, one that provides benchmarks for how states should behave both in relation to each other and in the treatment of their own populations.

This “liberal world order” restrains aggression, expands trade and investment, lifts people out of poverty, and ensures democracy and freedom remain goals for billions of people around the world.

This is the best! You are going to like the liberal world order. It’s great!

I’ve come to understand that putting America first requires that we make some sacrifices to sustain this global system. Our military must remain number one, but as it spends annually as much as the next seven largest military budgets on earth there is no near-term danger to our primacy.

The real need now is to build up America’s capacity to help the rest of the world resist violent extremism, autocracy, and organized crime, which will ultimately threaten our own domestic tranquility if they are permitted to grow and fester abroad. We’ve seen the damage to democracy and freedom that an autocrat like President Putin can do. We won’t allow that to continue.

The State Department and the US Agency for International Development are the vital tools for this effort. I intend to rebuild them from the ground up as a combined Foreign Office, with increased resources. You are going to love the new Foreign Office, believe me!

I will instruct this upgraded instrument of foreign policy to repair relations with the Muslim world, which my own remarks and initial travel ban have damaged. As President Bush 43 always said, we are not at war with Islam.

We are at war with extremism both at home and abroad and will use all the instruments of national power, not just the military one, to counter it. We’ll also welcome carefully vetted refugees. Who knew that we already had extreme vetting in place? Muslims are going to love me!

We will need help in this effort. I expect our many friends in Sunni Arab countries to support the fight against extremism, not only by cracking down but also by improving their governance. The voice of citizens needs to be heard and heeded even in monarchies as well as in republics.

If Russia and Iran want to cooperate in the effort against extremism they are welcome to do so. But they need to stop killing Syrian moderates and trying to establish hegemony in the Middle East. That’s going to stop, right now!

We will still expect Moscow to end its aggression against Ukraine and Tehran to observe the nuclear deal, which I’ve come to realize is far better than no deal.

China is a rising power, whether America likes it or not. We need to help ensure that its rise is peaceful. Even if Taiwan is increasingly democratic and prosperous, nothing can be gained by abandoning the long-established policy of recognizing only one China. Nor will I seek confrontation in the South China Sea, where American interests in freedom of navigation can be made compatible with solutions to the many sovereignty claims there.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I have listened attentively to climate experts and now realize that climate change is a real threat to American national security. It won’t be long before Mar-a-Lago is inundated. That isn’t going to happen, believe me!

I have also listened to the country’s economists, who warn me that the world’s trade could degenerate into tit-for-tat nickle and dime mercantilism if I persist in pursuing bilateral rather than multilateral deals.

We’re going to finish the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership my predecessor started and we’re going to revive the Trans-Pacific Partnership I abandoned. You are going to love multilateral trade deals that reduce the costs of imports and boost American exports. Believe me!

A final word about immigrants. I love immigrants! We are a nation of immigrants, many of whom fled oppression and poverty in their home countries. Let’s welcome the latest wave of immigrants, who will make America a bigger and better place well-connected to the rest of the world. That’s how to make America great again!