“We’ve given a lot to Ukraine. We’ve gotten absolutely nothing back except grief, death, tremendous monetary loss,” said the U.S. President on October 20th. This is what a policy of appeasement to Russia looks like.

“They can take out a city, let ’em take out Los Angeles, let ’em take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay,” said the U.S. President in reference to his war of choice with Iran.

“To the victor belong the spoils” the U.S. President told the UN General Assembly last month about the seizure of Venezuelan oil.

A president elected on the promise of avoiding Middle East wars and seeking plaudits for global peacemaking is failing to deliver either. The upcoming mid-term elections present Americans an opportunity to show the world it rejects this Trumpian version of U.S. leadership.

The fading credibility of U.S. diplomacy has been exposed again and again by this administration’s improvisations and amateurism. The president has repeatedly declared victory over Iran and its proxies even as the war widens. He persists in tipping the scales in Russia’s favor while its deadly assaults on Ukraine continue and its drones violate NATO territory, for a war he promised to end in 24-hours.

Beyond the hit on U.S. credibility, the economic damage from failed U.S. leadership is real and mounting—$45.1 billion spent on the Iran war, $231 billion in tariffs paid by Americans, and $108 billion in increased costs for fuel and diesel since the launch of the Iran war.

The U.S. soft power tool box is greatly diminished as a result of actions taken during the administration’s first year. Deep reductions in career diplomatic staff at the Department of State and the reckless and illegal dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have dramatically hindered U.S. capacity to negotiate minimally acceptable ends to conflicts and to respond competently and compassionately to the needs of those impacted. Capacity that took decades to build cannot be improvised by real estate dealers.

This U.S. administration shows little sign of changing course. The next one can and indeed must. Here’s how it can get started.

What a New Congress Can Do

The likely power shift coming out of the U.S. mid-term elections is an essential starting point. A new Speaker in the House, and possibly a new Majority Leader in the Senate, must reassert Congress’ Article I power to check the ongoing excesses in front of the world. Committee hearings should proceed on why the U.S. is pressuring Ukraine to capitulate, the decision to go to war with Iran, and the economic considerations informing these judgments. U.S. support for alliances and democratic principles must be expressed in a full-throated manner from at least one branch of the U.S. government. New congressional leadership should also affect more muscular moves through its power of the purse, and they should direct a Government Accountability Office review of the legality of questionable executive agreements, such as those covering Venezuela’s petroleum resources.

Restored Vision for U.S. Leadership

Secondly, those hoping to lead the next administration must shape a vision of U.S. leadership and power attractive to Americans and world citizens alike. These candidates must leave behind the moral bankruptcy of the administration’s zero-sum transactionalism and coddling of dictators to build a narrative demonstrating the better angels of the American spirit. Reagan’s “shining city upon a hill” worked because it paired optimism with trust in alliances and open markets. Today that means treating trading partners with respect, keeping alliance commitments predictable, and funding programs that visibly deliver. The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, which saved millions of lives and earned America goodwill across Africa, is the model: generosity and self-interest working together, with measurable results. The test of any such vision is whether a trade minister or a village physician can easily point to something tangible the U.S. has done for them.

Photo Credit: Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images

Strengthening Soft Power Institutions

Finally, the next administration must undo the damage wrought on U.S. institutions of soft power. The Department of State must be led by an experienced and competent chief diplomat who can master policy complexity and guide thoughtful reforms to streamline an admittedly sclerotic bureaucracy. Most importantly, the Secretary of State must stand by democratic principles and advise the President when he has gone off the rails of U.S. values and human decency—something long lacking in U.S. policy on Gaza and the recent movement towards abandonment of Ukraine. The next administration must also work with Congress to reconstitute a leaner USAID, with fewer layers of congressional directives, more funding routed directly to local partners, and published performance metrics. The case for the investment is historical. The Marshall Plan turned devastated economies into customers and allies, and more recently Baltic nations went from aid recipients to trading partners and donors. Today’s humanitarian and development partners are tomorrow’s allies.

Nearly two years of self-inflicted damage will take longer to repair than it took to cause. Trust is rebuilt through consistent behavior, not speeches and performative pronouncements. American voters appear ready to usher in a generation of leaders who understand that. The rest of the world understandably may not trust the U.S. electorate. Nevertheless, we expect most of them are rooting (and praying) for such a result.

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