Trump has put USA back on top. Australia should follow his lead

The Advertiser

3 days ago

Putting aside all of Donald Trump's personal character flaws, and his contentious international and domestic policy decisions, he has kept his pledge to the "forgotten Americans," or as Hillary Clinton referred to them, the "deplorables" who voted for him.
In his first 180 days, he has restored America's position as the dominant superpower and advocate of the free world.
Beginning on day one of his administration, President Trump has been laser focused on promoting and ensuring stability, predictability, and flexibility to the American people.
He has done precisely what he said he would do during his campaign: stabilise the US/Mexican border, reforge US economic prominence, lower personal taxes, improve government efficiencies, and attempt to distance the US from the global geopolitical entanglements he inherited from President Biden.
The One Big Beautiful Bill was the crescendo of what he and the MAGA base set out to accomplish when he took office. It is now the law of the land.
More significantly, the bill signifies the passing of the Republican party mantle, undisputedly, from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump and the MAGAs.
The 1981 Economic Recovery Tax Act was the cornerstone of Reaganomics and the US's defence posture for generations.
Trump's bill is America's new foundation for delivering long-term changes, which the White House says will "unleash robust economic growth, restore fiscal sanity, and reestablish America's economic and military might globally."
Frustratingly, an unwelcome reality, despite some real economic and national security positives, is the US is still vulnerable to dangerous fiscal fluctuations.
The bill doesn't reduce the US's national debt. It doesn't improve the US's unreliable defence acquisition infrastructures.
Nor, does it unshackle the US from the conflicts in Ukraine or Gaza.
Regardless, Trump and the MAGAs see the bill as the catalyst for the US's restoration as the world's preeminent industrial power.
As such, US manufacturing and investments, within the dogma of industrial power, will be directed towards the established military-industrial complexes.
These have been the engine of trade, innovation, and prosperity in the US since World War II.
Industrial power is built on good policies and trade relationships. It's formulated by assessing a nation's security requirements based on the threat's capabilities and their industrial might.
That is why the US's planning and policy processes, logically, will look to the US's national security strategy to guide trade negotiations, defence planning and budgeting.
Described by many, including Australian politicians, as being unpredictable, President Trump is astonishingly predictable on industrial and national security matters.
He has strong convictions, some of them stretching back decades, which makes envisaging what we can expect for the rest of his presidency rather calculated.
Donald Trump believes peace is built on industrial and military strength.
He believes the only reliable way to secure industrial power and prevent aggression is by threatening rivals with unacceptable industrial - tariffs - or military consequences.
That requires the US to have a financial and defence posture second to none.
A sizeable portion of the bill restores lost capabilities within the US industrial base.
To the MAGAs, the loss of key industrial capabilities to foreign entities is more compelling than having a defence force structure that is too small.
READ MORE:
The belief is, if you can't equip your forces to deter opponents and achieve victory then you place your service members in peril, you become a strategic liability to your allies, and you are destined to lose the first battle if not the war.
Trump has little faith in alliances and defence agreements like AUKUS, however, he accepts them as a reality of global geopolitical security.
He, as well as others in his administration, have complained for decades that countries like Australia, the UK, Japan, and NATO members don't spend enough on their own defence.
He has argued that Japan and South Korea need to acquire nuclear forces to deter attacks and if they don't - they should pay America for defending them.
A condition he might cogitate for Australia too.
Trump and the MAGAs see China as the only credible superpower to America.
Although China's global economic power is wanning, its steady modernisation of the People's Liberation Army, coupled with China's subversive global activities, especially in the Timor and Coral Sea regions, make China the central industrial and military threat in all US planning scenarios and operational contingency plans.
In Trump's first term, his administration released a drastically revised national security strategy that shifted the US's focus from the global war on terror to great-power competition.
Then, US defence secretary Pat Shanahan described the focus of the new strategy as "China, China, China."
In that respect, Trump's views, along with key advisers JD Vance and Bridge Colby, remain unchanged, if not more ardent.
Specifically as it pertains to Taiwan, the principal lesson Trump has learned from the US's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan is that tech is better than boots on the ground.
In those circumstances where foreign provocations demand a US military response, Trump will habitually favour the use of remote weapons, as seen by US strikes into Iran, Yemen, Africa and the Red Sea.
During his first term, Trump used armed drones more than any of his predecessors.
Trump and his fellow MAGAs recognise that the death or capture of a single service member by a hostile force is always a divisive development in US domestic politics.
He is determined to avoid such incidents, which leaves the defence of Taiwan in a perilous predicament.
The last thing Donald Trump and his MAGA base want to see are US soldiers or marines in firefights with Chinese forces in Taiwan.
MAGA disciples such as JD Vance, Marco Rubio and Kristi Noem are Trump's champions of industrial power.
Like Reaganomics, which served the Republican party for 45 years, this cohort will be the guardians of the big beautiful bill for years to come.
The MAGAs realise that "business as usual" with respect to national security posturing is no longer sufficient by military might alone.
It's a realisation that through industrial power, both government and the private sector must determine together how to best proceed in building and sustaining national security capabilities with its foundation being "made in America."
Industrial power requires a nation to make strategic public investments designed to strengthen its economic and national security posture.
Such investments must be broader in scope than the traditional defence industries. This requires governments to ensure effective production and supply chains exist for goods and manufacturing that serve the needs of the whole economy - not just the defence industrial base.
It must be an expanded aperture that strengthens not only a nation's security but collectively strengthens the livelihood of each citizen.
Although some in Australia believe America's resolve to its allies is suspect and its global popularity is declining, a national security strategy focused on industrial power that is aligned with the US will ultimately benefit all Australians.
The US, under Trump and the MAGAs, is once again seen as the leader of a global alliance of more than 60 partner nations that collectively account for almost 80 per cent of the world's GDP.
Australia should view these nations' industrial power as a global security system that supports our industries, our national security, and most of all - our citizens.
There is a lesson here for Australia: "Made in Australia" is and always will be our most reliable national security deterrent.
Putting aside all of Donald Trump's personal character flaws, and his contentious international and domestic policy decisions, he has kept his pledge to the "forgotten Americans," or as Hillary Clinton referred to them, the "deplorables" who voted for him.
In his first 180 days, he has restored America's position as the dominant superpower and advocate of the free world.
Beginning on day one of his administration, President Trump has been laser focused on promoting and ensuring stability, predictability, and flexibility to the American people.
He has done precisely what he said he would do during his campaign: stabilise the US/Mexican border, reforge US economic prominence, lower personal taxes, improve government efficiencies, and attempt to distance the US from the global geopolitical entanglements he inherited from President Biden.
The One Big Beautiful Bill was the crescendo of what he and the MAGA base set out to accomplish when he took office. It is now the law of the land.
More significantly, the bill signifies the passing of the Republican party mantle, undisputedly, from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump and the MAGAs.
The 1981 Economic Recovery Tax Act was the cornerstone of Reaganomics and the US's defence posture for generations.
Trump's bill is America's new foundation for delivering long-term changes, which the White House says will "unleash robust economic growth, restore fiscal sanity, and reestablish America's economic and military might globally."
Frustratingly, an unwelcome reality, despite some real economic and national security positives, is the US is still vulnerable to dangerous fiscal fluctuations.
The bill doesn't reduce the US's national debt. It doesn't improve the US's unreliable defence acquisition infrastructures.
Nor, does it unshackle the US from the conflicts in Ukraine or Gaza.
Regardless, Trump and the MAGAs see the bill as the catalyst for the US's restoration as the world's preeminent industrial power.
As such, US manufacturing and investments, within the dogma of industrial power, will be directed towards the established military-industrial complexes.
These have been the engine of trade, innovation, and prosperity in the US since World War II.
Industrial power is built on good policies and trade relationships. It's formulated by assessing a nation's security requirements based on the threat's capabilities and their industrial might.
That is why the US's planning and policy processes, logically, will look to the US's national security strategy to guide trade negotiations, defence planning and budgeting.
Described by many, including Australian politicians, as being unpredictable, President Trump is astonishingly predictable on industrial and national security matters.
He has strong convictions, some of them stretching back decades, which makes envisaging what we can expect for the rest of his presidency rather calculated.
Donald Trump believes peace is built on industrial and military strength.
He believes the only reliable way to secure industrial power and prevent aggression is by threatening rivals with unacceptable industrial - tariffs - or military consequences.
That requires the US to have a financial and defence posture second to none.
A sizeable portion of the bill restores lost capabilities within the US industrial base.
To the MAGAs, the loss of key industrial capabilities to foreign entities is more compelling than having a defence force structure that is too small.
READ MORE:
The belief is, if you can't equip your forces to deter opponents and achieve victory then you place your service members in peril, you become a strategic liability to your allies, and you are destined to lose the first battle if not the war.
Trump has little faith in alliances and defence agreements like AUKUS, however, he accepts them as a reality of global geopolitical security.
He, as well as others in his administration, have complained for decades that countries like Australia, the UK, Japan, and NATO members don't spend enough on their own defence.
He has argued that Japan and South Korea need to acquire nuclear forces to deter attacks and if they don't - they should pay America for defending them.
A condition he might cogitate for Australia too.
Trump and the MAGAs see China as the only credible superpower to America.
Although China's global economic power is wanning, its steady modernisation of the People's Liberation Army, coupled with China's subversive global activities, especially in the Timor and Coral Sea regions, make China the central industrial and military threat in all US planning scenarios and operational contingency plans.
In Trump's first term, his administration released a drastically revised national security strategy that shifted the US's focus from the global war on terror to great-power competition.
Then, US defence secretary Pat Shanahan described the focus of the new strategy as "China, China, China."
In that respect, Trump's views, along with key advisers JD Vance and Bridge Colby, remain unchanged, if not more ardent.
Specifically as it pertains to Taiwan, the principal lesson Trump has learned from the US's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan is that tech is better than boots on the ground.
In those circumstances where foreign provocations demand a US military response, Trump will habitually favour the use of remote weapons, as seen by US strikes into Iran, Yemen, Africa and the Red Sea.
During his first term, Trump used armed drones more than any of his predecessors.
Trump and his fellow MAGAs recognise that the death or capture of a single service member by a hostile force is always a divisive development in US domestic politics.
He is determined to avoid such incidents, which leaves the defence of Taiwan in a perilous predicament.
The last thing Donald Trump and his MAGA base want to see are US soldiers or marines in firefights with Chinese forces in Taiwan.
MAGA disciples such as JD Vance, Marco Rubio and Kristi Noem are Trump's champions of industrial power.
Like Reaganomics, which served the Republican party for 45 years, this cohort will be the guardians of the big beautiful bill for years to come.
The MAGAs realise that "business as usual" with respect to national security posturing is no longer sufficient by military might alone.
It's a realisation that through industrial power, both government and the private sector must determine together how to best proceed in building and sustaining national security capabilities with its foundation being "made in America."
Industrial power requires a nation to make strategic public investments designed to strengthen its economic and national security posture.
Such investments must be broader in scope than the traditional defence industries. This requires governments to ensure effective production and supply chains exist for goods and manufacturing that serve the needs of the whole economy - not just the defence industrial base.
It must be an expanded aperture that strengthens not only a nation's security but collectively strengthens the livelihood of each citizen.
Although some in Australia believe America's resolve to its allies is suspect and its global popularity is declining, a national security strategy focused on industrial power that is aligned with the US will ultimately benefit all Australians.
The US, under Trump and the MAGAs, is once again seen as the leader of a global alliance of more than 60 partner nations that collectively account for almost 80 per cent of the world's GDP.
Australia should view these nations' industrial power as a global security system that supports our industries, our national security, and most of all - our citizens.
There is a lesson here for Australia: "Made in Australia" is and always will be our most reliable national security deterrent.
Putting aside all of Donald Trump's personal character flaws, and his contentious international and domestic policy decisions, he has kept his pledge to the "forgotten Americans," or as Hillary Clinton referred to them, the "deplorables" who voted for him.
In his first 180 days, he has restored America's position as the dominant superpower and advocate of the free world.
Beginning on day one of his administration, President Trump has been laser focused on promoting and ensuring stability, predictability, and flexibility to the American people.
He has done precisely what he said he would do during his campaign: stabilise the US/Mexican border, reforge US economic prominence, lower personal taxes, improve government efficiencies, and attempt to distance the US from the global geopolitical entanglements he inherited from President Biden.
The One Big Beautiful Bill was the crescendo of what he and the MAGA base set out to accomplish when he took office. It is now the law of the land.
More significantly, the bill signifies the passing of the Republican party mantle, undisputedly, from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump and the MAGAs.
The 1981 Economic Recovery Tax Act was the cornerstone of Reaganomics and the US's defence posture for generations.
Trump's bill is America's new foundation for delivering long-term changes, which the White House says will "unleash robust economic growth, restore fiscal sanity, and reestablish America's economic and military might globally."
Frustratingly, an unwelcome reality, despite some real economic and national security positives, is the US is still vulnerable to dangerous fiscal fluctuations.
The bill doesn't reduce the US's national debt. It doesn't improve the US's unreliable defence acquisition infrastructures.
Nor, does it unshackle the US from the conflicts in Ukraine or Gaza.
Regardless, Trump and the MAGAs see the bill as the catalyst for the US's restoration as the world's preeminent industrial power.
As such, US manufacturing and investments, within the dogma of industrial power, will be directed towards the established military-industrial complexes.
These have been the engine of trade, innovation, and prosperity in the US since World War II.
Industrial power is built on good policies and trade relationships. It's formulated by assessing a nation's security requirements based on the threat's capabilities and their industrial might.
That is why the US's planning and policy processes, logically, will look to the US's national security strategy to guide trade negotiations, defence planning and budgeting.
Described by many, including Australian politicians, as being unpredictable, President Trump is astonishingly predictable on industrial and national security matters.
He has strong convictions, some of them stretching back decades, which makes envisaging what we can expect for the rest of his presidency rather calculated.
Donald Trump believes peace is built on industrial and military strength.
He believes the only reliable way to secure industrial power and prevent aggression is by threatening rivals with unacceptable industrial - tariffs - or military consequences.
That requires the US to have a financial and defence posture second to none.
A sizeable portion of the bill restores lost capabilities within the US industrial base.
To the MAGAs, the loss of key industrial capabilities to foreign entities is more compelling than having a defence force structure that is too small.
READ MORE:
The belief is, if you can't equip your forces to deter opponents and achieve victory then you place your service members in peril, you become a strategic liability to your allies, and you are destined to lose the first battle if not the war.
Trump has little faith in alliances and defence agreements like AUKUS, however, he accepts them as a reality of global geopolitical security.
He, as well as others in his administration, have complained for decades that countries like Australia, the UK, Japan, and NATO members don't spend enough on their own defence.
He has argued that Japan and South Korea need to acquire nuclear forces to deter attacks and if they don't - they should pay America for defending them.
A condition he might cogitate for Australia too.
Trump and the MAGAs see China as the only credible superpower to America.
Although China's global economic power is wanning, its steady modernisation of the People's Liberation Army, coupled with China's subversive global activities, especially in the Timor and Coral Sea regions, make China the central industrial and military threat in all US planning scenarios and operational contingency plans.
In Trump's first term, his administration released a drastically revised national security strategy that shifted the US's focus from the global war on terror to great-power competition.
Then, US defence secretary Pat Shanahan described the focus of the new strategy as "China, China, China."
In that respect, Trump's views, along with key advisers JD Vance and Bridge Colby, remain unchanged, if not more ardent.
Specifically as it pertains to Taiwan, the principal lesson Trump has learned from the US's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan is that tech is better than boots on the ground.
In those circumstances where foreign provocations demand a US military response, Trump will habitually favour the use of remote weapons, as seen by US strikes into Iran, Yemen, Africa and the Red Sea.
During his first term, Trump used armed drones more than any of his predecessors.
Trump and his fellow MAGAs recognise that the death or capture of a single service member by a hostile force is always a divisive development in US domestic politics.
He is determined to avoid such incidents, which leaves the defence of Taiwan in a perilous predicament.
The last thing Donald Trump and his MAGA base want to see are US soldiers or marines in firefights with Chinese forces in Taiwan.
MAGA disciples such as JD Vance, Marco Rubio and Kristi Noem are Trump's champions of industrial power.
Like Reaganomics, which served the Republican party for 45 years, this cohort will be the guardians of the big beautiful bill for years to come.
The MAGAs realise that "business as usual" with respect to national security posturing is no longer sufficient by military might alone.
It's a realisation that through industrial power, both government and the private sector must determine together how to best proceed in building and sustaining national security capabilities with its foundation being "made in America."
Industrial power requires a nation to make strategic public investments designed to strengthen its economic and national security posture.
Such investments must be broader in scope than the traditional defence industries. This requires governments to ensure effective production and supply chains exist for goods and manufacturing that serve the needs of the whole economy - not just the defence industrial base.
It must be an expanded aperture that strengthens not only a nation's security but collectively strengthens the livelihood of each citizen.
Although some in Australia believe America's resolve to its allies is suspect and its global popularity is declining, a national security strategy focused on industrial power that is aligned with the US will ultimately benefit all Australians.
The US, under Trump and the MAGAs, is once again seen as the leader of a global alliance of more than 60 partner nations that collectively account for almost 80 per cent of the world's GDP.
Australia should view these nations' industrial power as a global security system that supports our industries, our national security, and most of all - our citizens.
There is a lesson here for Australia: "Made in Australia" is and always will be our most reliable national security deterrent.
Putting aside all of Donald Trump's personal character flaws, and his contentious international and domestic policy decisions, he has kept his pledge to the "forgotten Americans," or as Hillary Clinton referred to them, the "deplorables" who voted for him.
In his first 180 days, he has restored America's position as the dominant superpower and advocate of the free world.
Beginning on day one of his administration, President Trump has been laser focused on promoting and ensuring stability, predictability, and flexibility to the American people.
He has done precisely what he said he would do during his campaign: stabilise the US/Mexican border, reforge US economic prominence, lower personal taxes, improve government efficiencies, and attempt to distance the US from the global geopolitical entanglements he inherited from President Biden.
The One Big Beautiful Bill was the crescendo of what he and the MAGA base set out to accomplish when he took office. It is now the law of the land.
More significantly, the bill signifies the passing of the Republican party mantle, undisputedly, from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump and the MAGAs.
The 1981 Economic Recovery Tax Act was the cornerstone of Reaganomics and the US's defence posture for generations.
Trump's bill is America's new foundation for delivering long-term changes, which the White House says will "unleash robust economic growth, restore fiscal sanity, and reestablish America's economic and military might globally."
Frustratingly, an unwelcome reality, despite some real economic and national security positives, is the US is still vulnerable to dangerous fiscal fluctuations.
The bill doesn't reduce the US's national debt. It doesn't improve the US's unreliable defence acquisition infrastructures.
Nor, does it unshackle the US from the conflicts in Ukraine or Gaza.
Regardless, Trump and the MAGAs see the bill as the catalyst for the US's restoration as the world's preeminent industrial power.
As such, US manufacturing and investments, within the dogma of industrial power, will be directed towards the established military-industrial complexes.
These have been the engine of trade, innovation, and prosperity in the US since World War II.
Industrial power is built on good policies and trade relationships. It's formulated by assessing a nation's security requirements based on the threat's capabilities and their industrial might.
That is why the US's planning and policy processes, logically, will look to the US's national security strategy to guide trade negotiations, defence planning and budgeting.
Described by many, including Australian politicians, as being unpredictable, President Trump is astonishingly predictable on industrial and national security matters.
He has strong convictions, some of them stretching back decades, which makes envisaging what we can expect for the rest of his presidency rather calculated.
Donald Trump believes peace is built on industrial and military strength.
He believes the only reliable way to secure industrial power and prevent aggression is by threatening rivals with unacceptable industrial - tariffs - or military consequences.
That requires the US to have a financial and defence posture second to none.
A sizeable portion of the bill restores lost capabilities within the US industrial base.
To the MAGAs, the loss of key industrial capabilities to foreign entities is more compelling than having a defence force structure that is too small.
READ MORE:
The belief is, if you can't equip your forces to deter opponents and achieve victory then you place your service members in peril, you become a strategic liability to your allies, and you are destined to lose the first battle if not the war.
Trump has little faith in alliances and defence agreements like AUKUS, however, he accepts them as a reality of global geopolitical security.
He, as well as others in his administration, have complained for decades that countries like Australia, the UK, Japan, and NATO members don't spend enough on their own defence.
He has argued that Japan and South Korea need to acquire nuclear forces to deter attacks and if they don't - they should pay America for defending them.
A condition he might cogitate for Australia too.
Trump and the MAGAs see China as the only credible superpower to America.
Although China's global economic power is wanning, its steady modernisation of the People's Liberation Army, coupled with China's subversive global activities, especially in the Timor and Coral Sea regions, make China the central industrial and military threat in all US planning scenarios and operational contingency plans.
In Trump's first term, his administration released a drastically revised national security strategy that shifted the US's focus from the global war on terror to great-power competition.
Then, US defence secretary Pat Shanahan described the focus of the new strategy as "China, China, China."
In that respect, Trump's views, along with key advisers JD Vance and Bridge Colby, remain unchanged, if not more ardent.
Specifically as it pertains to Taiwan, the principal lesson Trump has learned from the US's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan is that tech is better than boots on the ground.
In those circumstances where foreign provocations demand a US military response, Trump will habitually favour the use of remote weapons, as seen by US strikes into Iran, Yemen, Africa and the Red Sea.
During his first term, Trump used armed drones more than any of his predecessors.
Trump and his fellow MAGAs recognise that the death or capture of a single service member by a hostile force is always a divisive development in US domestic politics.
He is determined to avoid such incidents, which leaves the defence of Taiwan in a perilous predicament.
The last thing Donald Trump and his MAGA base want to see are US soldiers or marines in firefights with Chinese forces in Taiwan.
MAGA disciples such as JD Vance, Marco Rubio and Kristi Noem are Trump's champions of industrial power.
Like Reaganomics, which served the Republican party for 45 years, this cohort will be the guardians of the big beautiful bill for years to come.
The MAGAs realise that "business as usual" with respect to national security posturing is no longer sufficient by military might alone.
It's a realisation that through industrial power, both government and the private sector must determine together how to best proceed in building and sustaining national security capabilities with its foundation being "made in America."
Industrial power requires a nation to make strategic public investments designed to strengthen its economic and national security posture.
Such investments must be broader in scope than the traditional defence industries. This requires governments to ensure effective production and supply chains exist for goods and manufacturing that serve the needs of the whole economy - not just the defence industrial base.
It must be an expanded aperture that strengthens not only a nation's security but collectively strengthens the livelihood of each citizen.
Although some in Australia believe America's resolve to its allies is suspect and its global popularity is declining, a national security strategy focused on industrial power that is aligned with the US will ultimately benefit all Australians.
The US, under Trump and the MAGAs, is once again seen as the leader of a global alliance of more than 60 partner nations that collectively account for almost 80 per cent of the world's GDP.
Australia should view these nations' industrial power as a global security system that supports our industries, our national security, and most of all - our citizens.
There is a lesson here for Australia: "Made in Australia" is and always will be our most reliable national security deterrent.