Trump refutes Sullivan’s vision for American greatness
- Rich Moniak
- Dec 12, 2025
- 3 min read
By Rich Moniak
Last week, the Trump administration released its 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS). The president called it a “roadmap to ensure that America remains the greatest and most successful nation in human history.” But in patented Trump fashion, it’s filled with contradictions.
And it refutes the image of American greatness held by Sen. Dan Sullivan.
Recalling that we once faced “economic stagnation, deep political divisions, and a crisis of confidence in our own institutions,” he credits the policies of President Ronald Reagan for turning the tide. The result, he said, was the expansion of democracy “across the globe, and most importantly, a generation of peace and prosperity that touched so many parts of the world.”
As chairman of the International Republican Institute Board of Directors, Sullivan delivered those remarks during its 2024 award ceremony. The NSS then, under President Joe Biden, devoted an entire section to Russian aggression. Starting with its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, it correctly pointed out that as a member of the United Nations, Russia was violating a fundamental principle of the UN Charter. The acquisition of territory through an act of war is prohibited.
For Sullivan, “Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine” served as evidence that the international order ushered in by Reagan was being challenged by a new “era of authoritarian aggression.” And that “represents a generational threat to the free world.”
Trump’s NSS is silent on the Russian menace. Instead, under the section titled “Promoting European Greatness,” it blames the “unrealistic expectations” of European leaders and their “subversion of democratic processes” for prolonging the war.
What they in fact oppose is any peace agreement that forces Ukraine to cede territory to Russia and lets Vladimir Putin escape accountability for the atrocities he unleashed. That’s exactly what the plan negotiated by the Trump administration and Russian officials would do.
Sullivan knows that’s wrong. Since the start of the war, he strongly defended Ukraine’s right to restore its territorial integrity. He even insisted that Crimea, which Russia seized in 2014, be returned. That American leadership would now expect Ukraine and Europe to appease Putin should horrify him.
Aside from the war, Trump’s NSS ignores Putin’s suppression of political opposition and independent news organizations. Then lectures European leaders about what he imagines to be “elite-driven, anti-democratic restrictions on core liberties.”
And in stark contrast to Sullivan’s desire for America to “work with all nations that want to preserve the free world in the face of authoritarian aggression,” Trump questions whether Europe will be able to maintain “economies and militaries strong enough to remain reliable allies.”
No wonder Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov thinks his NSS is “largely consistent with our vision."
Putin and other authoritarians must certainly recognize the contradiction between the stated NSS goal of maintaining “the United States’ unrivaled ‘soft power’ through which we exercise positive influence throughout the world.” And the fact Trump let Elon Musk’s DOGE team dismantle America’s premier soft power agency.
The U.S. Agency for International Development was established in 1961. Its mission was to provide economic aid to countries seeking to develop the principles of democratic governance while strengthening public health and education. Until Trump returned to the White House, it had always received strong bipartisan support.
DOGE also withheld congressionally appropriated funds from the National Endowment for Democracy, a non-profit founded to promote democracy and human rights around the world. Because NED provided financial support to Sullivan’s beloved International Republican Institute, it was forced to lay off two-thirds of its workforce and close 20 of its overseas offices.
Trump’s NSS earns another cognitive dissonance prize for stating he “has cemented his legacy as The President of Peace.” Without congressional approval, he’s waging a "non-international armed conflict" that authorizes extra-judicial killing of alleged drug smugglers off the coast of Venezuela.
And another prize for claiming Trump wants to protect Americans from the “hostile foreign influence” of “destructive propaganda.” As propagandist-in-chief, he shamelessly promotes lies about the 2020 election, the Jan. 6 insurrection, and much more.
Because none of this aligns with American greatness Sullivan envisioned 18 months ago, he can either accept that his three decades of public service were wasted in pursuit of flawed ideals. Or find the courage to refute the dystopian worldview of the authoritarian he helped elect.
• Rich Moniak is a Juneau resident and retired civil engineer with more than 25 years of experience working in the public sector.
