The problem with professional American historians writing about
American history, is that circumstances forced them to be singularly
provincial. By that I mean, except for foreign interventions (such as wars,
blockades, threats and the like), whether America was invited in or was incited
to act by others — the country interacted very little diplomatically with other
countries.
And so, whereas America has an abundance of professional
historians writing about “presidential” history, it has not a single one, born
and raised in America, that can write intelligently about the diplomatic
give-and-take, if any, that may have contributed to moving America's foreign
policy forward. What the country has, however, is an abundance of amateur
historians, of aspiring ones, and of students of history that relish writing
about the history of America's non-diplomatic involvements abroad.
As it happens, most of these would-be historians are young, having
come of age when America had already been taken over by the Judeo-Yiddish
culture. Thus, they were raised in a climate that was dominated by the Jewish
narrative which sees world history as nothing more than a footnote to Jewish
history. And since Jewish history is but a series of predatory acts committed
against other peoples, the nascent historians of America did not spend time
looking for genuine American moments of high diplomacy. Besides, had they
tried, they would have come out empty handed.
These people wrote articles and books in which they described what
they believed was genuine American foreign policy when in fact, they were
seeing Jewish style predatory interactions between America and the other
nations. In fact, most of what they wrote under the guise of foreign policy,
centered on the wars, blockades, threats and the like, which preoccupied
America from the day of its independence to this day. Yes, America's deficiency
in diplomatic interaction with the world was this widespread.
Worse, the deficiency turned into a tragedy because the novices
who entered the foreign service, prepared themselves by reading those articles
and those books. They absorbed what was in them not knowing there was more to
foreign policy than to conquer someone lest you be conquered by them. And the
result was dire. As unrefined as any “Ugly American” could ever get, most of
the novices behaved abroad like peasants who badly needed a lesson in
diplomatic etiquette. In the end, America paid a high price for that.
An article was published the other day in which a would-be
historian that's interested in the relationships which exist between America
and the rest of the world, describes what goes on inside the foreign service
establishment where America's adventurous policies are hatched and let loose on
the world.
The article came under the title: “Donald Trump's Real Foreign
Policy Has Arrived,” and the subtitle: “Does Trump indeed mark the end of an
era? Or will he prove a transitory figure who created a mere interregnum in
America's quest for primacy after the Cold War?” The article was written by
Jacob Heilbrunn and published on February 9, 2019 in The National Interest.
It is a long article that concentrates in the main on President
Trump's vision for the future of America, and what he plans to do to realize
that vision. But there is a paragraph in the article that brings together the
elements which illustrate the thrust of this discussion. Here is a condensed
version of that paragraph:
“Does Trump mark the end of an era? Or will he prove a transitory
figure in America's quest for primacy after the Cold War? In speaking about
America's purpose, Trump made clear that he seeks to overturn what he regards
as the policies of the past. He repeatedly disparaged the notion that America
is uniquely virtuous. He thus signaled that the era of American
exceptionalism—the notion that America is an indispensable nation that can set
wrong aright—was coming to an end. We do not seek to impose our way of life on
anyone, said he”.
There is here a brief history of how America used to see itself.
There is also the view of Donald Trump who believes that — given what America
had to do to maintain that image — the country can no longer continue to go
around the globe and set every wrong aright, or impose its way of life on
others. He made clear that he is working to put an end to that era.