The Republican Party’s dangerous drift towards isolationism

AMERICA’S friends across the Pacific have traditionally identified the Republican Party with former President Ronald Reagan, who led the West to victory over the Soviet Union, and efforts to spread liberal democracy worldwide.

Indeed, for much of the post-World War II era, the Republicans have been regarded as unwavering internationalists: standing up to the dictators in the Kremlin, launching the “opening” to China and strengthening United States-led military alliances. They were proponents of an international trade liberalisation agenda and advocates of opening America’s gates to immigration.

So it’s quite depressing to note, as we mark the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine, that at a time when US President Joe Biden is doing a great job in mobilising America’s allies against the Russian aggression in Ukraine, much of the domestic opposition to his policies is emanating from the Republican Party.