Like the other two ageing autocrats, Trump’s vision for his country harks back to a bygone imperial past. Trump has also looked to the early 19th century for inspiration for his new bout of territorial acquisitiveness, in the form of the Monroe doctrine. “It’s not as if Trump is saying: I want to be the only empire; Trump is basically signalling and acting as if he’s absolutely fine with Russia and China being empires. Photograph: Matias Delacroix/APWhat was the Monroe doctrine? The Trump administration has revived the 203-year-old Monroe doctrine, and made it the cornerstone of its newly aggressive policy in the Americas.

Source: The Guardian January 10, 2026 09:01 UTC