F. Andrew Wolf, Jr. ——Bio and Archives--January 9, 2026

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In the short twelve months since Donald Trump became president for the second time, his tenure thus far can be defined in economic and political terms: a successful tariff-driven economic program and effective efforts at cementing his legacy as the “peace president.”

The public’s perceived success of these two agendas will significantly influence the balance of Donald Trump’s presidency--the midterm elections in November will determine whether the president can continue his domestic and foreign policy initiatives relatively unimpeded by Congress.

With regard to his image as a peace-maker, considerable time and effort has been devoted to ending complicated and in some instances protracted foreign conflicts. But “Number 47” is headed into the new year with a hefty burden of unresolved foreign policy baggage: a persistent war in Ukraine, a Gaza peace plan facing a still armed Hamas, a truculent Iran and now the, ostensibly at least, democratically-elected leader of Venezuela (legitimately or otherwise) along with his wife snatched from sovereign Venezuelan territory and flown to the US to stand trial for alleged crimes against America.

And there are few signs Trump’s planning to avert his attention from geopolitics: the annexation of Greenland, continued warnings to Russia and Ukraine about stopping the war, nuclear issues with Teheran, trade issues with China, concern about the BRICS de-dollarization in trade and its advocacy with the Global South for a new multipolar world order.

Such preoccupation risks colliding with a midterm election expected to be dominated by Americans’ concerns about the cost-of-living--in other words--themselves.

Some Republican lawmakers were, even before the Venezuelan military intervention, already growing concerned at the “America First”........

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