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Home / Grand strategy / Trump’s ‘first resort’ use of military has succeeded but it has its limits
Grand strategy, Military analysis

January 19, 2026

Trump’s ‘first resort’ use of military has succeeded but it has its limits

The president “is reaching for the military instrument much more quickly than the past,” Rosemary Kelanic, the Middle East director of Defense Priorities, a think tank that advocates a more restrained U.S. foreign policy, told the Washington Examiner, adding that he’s “resorting to military force more as a first-order resort, rather than a last resort, like we typically see” from U.S. presidents.

 

Read at Washington Examiner

Featuring

Rosemary
Kelanic

Director, Middle East Program

Defense Priorities

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