Opinion | In the Indo-Pacific, ‘America first’ looks like American unpredictability

At West Point on May 24, Trump reiterated his “America first” doctrine, denouncing foreign entanglements and “absurd ideological experiments”. He asserted that under his leadership, the military will refocus on core missions: “crushing America’s adversaries, killing America’s enemies, and defending our great American flag”.

A day earlier at the US Naval Academy, Vance presented similar realist rhetoric to Trump’s, adding a bureaucratic lens. He said past leaders abandoned hard power for soft power and praised the administration’s use of force in Yemen as a model of clarity and decisiveness.

The US vice-president also spoke of great-power competition, especially with China, and advocated maintaining a technological edge through investment in hypersonics, drones and battlefield innovation. This fusion of restraint and readiness further muddies the message: Is America stepping back from global policing or simply recalibrating how it asserts dominance?